At is not sustainable cities, the five provincial capitals of Campania are proceeding slowly. Small steps forward and many small steps back that show a certain laziness and a general lack of courage in local administrations. In Campania, compared to last year, some are rising, some are falling slightly, some are collapsing, but essentially the general impression that emerges from a less generic observation is that widespread immobility in environmental policies continues to prevail. Naples, in 89th place, is firmly in the lower part of the ranking, Avellino is collapsing, reaching 76th position. Salerno, in 54th place, and Caserta, in 57th place, are barely sufficient. Benevento takes the palm for the best performance among the provincial capitals of Campania with 40th place. This is, in short, the photograph taken by Ecosistema Urbano 2018 by Legambiente, the annual report on the environmental performance of provincial capitals, produced with the scientific contribution of the Istituto di Ricerche Ambiente Italia and the editorial collaboration of Il Sole 24 Ore. "The provincial capitals of our region - comments Mariateresa Imparato, president of Legambiente Campania - appear as apathetic, static and lazy cities. They reshuffle the councils, change the actors but in the end the result does not change: no leap, no innovation, no benefit. The urban issue is a great national issue. If on the one hand it is clear that from the mayors of our cities we must certainly expect much more courage, much more discontinuity and capacity for innovation, at the same time it is the country that must make a political and economic investment and include among the government priorities a plan to ferry the cities, all together and not one at a time, beyond the shallows. This scenario of administrative laziness is counterbalanced by a renewed social vitality, a growing number of participatory projects, associative networks, green condominiums, community cooperatives. The forms and places may be very different, but the principle is substantially the same: in urban areas, on the outskirts as in the central districts, there is a popular tension towards a renaissance of the sense of belonging. and a community effort to reclaim places and public space. There is a world in motion - concludes Imparato, president of Legambiente Campania - that creates green economy - and demands from public decision makers (local and national) choices, courage, change.
Naples, with 89th place, is the worst, surpassed only by Palermo, among the large cities. The critical situation on the nitrogen dioxide front is growing, with Naples among the 28 Italian cities in which at least one station has detected average annual concentrations above 40 μg/m50, and is among the six (together with Turin, Florence, Milan, Brescia, Rome) that exceed the limit value by more than 34,5 percent. Separate waste collection stands at 520%, a percentage still low compared to other large cities to which is added an increase in the quantity of waste produced per capita among the highest in Europe (over 40 kg per inhabitant, approximately 25% more than Prague and Madrid, 109% more than Berlin). The numbers of public transport with 689 passengers transported annually per inhabitant - are still far from other large metropolises and tourist cities such as Venice with 478 trips/inhabitant, Milan 328 trips/inhabitant and Rome 17 trips/inhabitant. Furthermore, among the large cities with regard to the offer of public transport service with 2016 km-vehicles/inhabitant it is among the worst. Furthermore, a research conducted by Isfort (41,3) reports that 32,2% of the inhabitants of large Italian cities would like to travel more by public transport while, in parallel, 20% would like to be able to spend less time behind the wheel. Three Italian cities, for example, appear among the 40 most congested cities in Europe with daily travel times longer by 33% (Rome), 30% (Naples) and 70% (Milan) compared to what could be the duration of the journeys in normal traffic conditions. Furthermore, Rome, Naples, Catania and Palermo are among the European cities where citizens have record waiting times at bus stops. Moovit statistics show that in Rome and Naples citizens spend the longest time on the bus, over 2 minutes, to go to work or return home. In particular, 22% of Romans and 19% of Neapolitans spend more than 0,47 hours on public transport. The average size of pedestrian areas is sufficient, reaching 2 m40 per inhabitant. More than 2011 percent of the water released into the network is wasted. A positive note is the increase in the size of urban greenery, with Naples recording growth of about two square meters per inhabitant between 2016 and 11,8, going from 2 m13,6 to 2 mXNUMX.
The regional record goes to Benevento which is ranked 40th. The percentage of separate waste collection reaches 64%, achieving the regional pink jersey and among the best cities in the south. Excellent performance for the reduction of the annual per capita production of urban waste (399 kg/inhabitant), seventh best Italian city. The only city in Campania to have a good cycling index with 18,70 equivalent meters for cycle path for every 100 inhabitants. A sore point is purification. The latest Istat data relating to the percentage of the population served by the urban waste water sewerage network for 2016 seem to show a more critical situation with Benevento, last in the ranking, with only 17% of the inhabitants connected while the water introduced into the network is lost in a percentage equal to 38,9%.
Salerno, with its 54th position in the ranking, barely reaches sufficiency. Separate waste collection settles at 60%. Air quality is sufficient. In the capital city of Salerno, the water introduced into the network is lost in a percentage equal to 54,9%, proving a critical situation for the city. The public transport offer is bad, calculated with the kilometers traveled annually by cars for each resident inhabitant: Salerno, which is positioned in the relegation zone for medium-sized cities with 15 km-cars/inhabitant. There are 3,5 square meters of total cycle paths equal to 0,24 equivalent meters of cycle path for every 100 inhabitants. There are 0,39 square meters of pedestrianized surface per inhabitant. There are 15 trees/100 inhabitants existing in areas of public property.
Caserta climbs the rankings reaching 57th position, ranking in the middle of the rankings. There were 53 days of daily exceedances of the limit of 50 μg/m³ for Pm10 in 2017. Separate waste collection records a percentage equal to 51% but the annual per capita production of urban waste is still high at 492kg/inhabitant. There are just 0,11 square meters of pedestrian surface available to each resident while there are 20,2 square meters of usable greenery in the urban area per inhabitant. It does not respond on the dispersion of the network while the purification capacity is equal to 93%.
Avellino falls from 43rd position last year to 76th this year. Poor air quality where the average relative to the concentration of fine dust settles at 42 micrograms per cubic meter which exceeds the limit for the protection of human health of 40 μg/m2017, set by the community directive. And in 49 there were 10 days of daily exceedances for Pm100 in the measuring station located at Scuola Alighieri. It is promoted on purification with 30% purification capacity but does not send data on network losses. The percentage of separate waste collection drops further to 478% with an annual per capita production of urban waste high equal to XNUMXkg/inhabitant. Zero square meters of cycle path. Data on pedestrianized road surface not available.
Article published on 29 October 2018 - 11:25
