Urban gardens in the city of Naples: An empirical analysis

The urban garden is a plot of land situated in an urban area which is used for the production of flowers, fruit, vegetables, etc..It can be considered as the expression of a more general process of changing needs. The idea within this paper is that the urban gardens are the expression of a more general evolution process of the environmental, social and economic needs In Italy the urban gardens are developing through both public and private initiatives. Starting from the concept of the urban garden and evaluating its historical and structural evolution, this paper analyses the data obtained from a survey distributed to Neapolitan farmers with the aim of highlighting the environmental, social and economic features of urban gardens. In addition, a SWOT analysis was performed in order to assess the advantages, the criticalities and opportunities of urban horticulture practices. The project was created with the aim of developing a common decision-making path for a new concept of the urban area in accordance with farmers.