Art-based third sector organizations and urban regeneration in depressed neighbourhoods: the case of Naples, Italy.

The importance of the creative and cultural capital in the economic development of post-industrial inner cities has been widely demonstrated by urban development literature as it interacts with the physical environment and sustains regeneration processes. However, also in depressed and peripheral neighbourhoods, creative firms, museums, art-based nonprofit organizations, cultural associations, and independent artists can be identified as actors of substantial urban revitalization. The main purpose of this contribution is to understand the potential of third sector organizations related to the arts and culture in the emergence of virtuous patterns in urban regeneration strategies. Data and case study about not-for-profit entities engaged in revitalization projects through innovative artistic expressions in deprived areas of Naples, Italy, are analyzed. Within the general framework of urban redevelopment processes through specific not-for-profit models and tools, this research aims to understand if these actors can be identified as engines of urban regeneration and what lessons policy-makers may learn by these practices.