Beyond a fragmented and sector-oriented knowledge for a sustainable and resilient urban development. The case of the Metropolitan City of Naples

Numerous scholars have recently focused on the multiple challenges—from the environmental crisis to the impacts of climate change and natural and man-made hazards—threatening cities’ future. Most of them have clearly highlighted the increasing interdependencies among these threats, their close dependency on urban development processes, as well as the need for avoiding “policy silos and promoting cross-sectoral strategies in the face of these challenges. In this line, the contribution explores the interactions among urban development processes, loss and/or degradation of natural resources, climate change and disaster risks. Then, focusing on the Metropolitan City of Naples, it highlights difficulties and opportunities arising from a better integration of the available fragmented and sector-oriented knowledge, as a key step to provide planners and decision makers with a comprehensive understanding of human and natural dynamics capable to support cross-sectoral strategies for a sustainable and resilient urban development.