| Summary: | The historic centre of Naples, a Unesco World Heritage Site, is affected by a significant decay. As a response, in 2009, the Municipality of Naples launched the Great Programme Naples Historic Unesco Centre: a comprehensive strategy that combines the rehabilitation of built heritage with a wider urban redevelopment. One of its main operations is the reconversion of the bassi traditional dwellings into shops. Most of the bassi are located in the Quartieri Spagnoli, which is today a significant poverty pocket but also a territory with high potential and value due to its proximity with the Toledo main shopping street of Naples. By analysing the practices of the bassi, and of the public space in this central urban area, one can question how urban planning can function as a domination and deligitimization tool of the poorest dwellers identity and practices. Could urban planning reflect the desire to dominate poor groups in the city most coveted area?
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