Ethnicized marginality and governance discontinuity: The contentious embeddedness of Roma settlements in Naples

Abstract

Urban marginality is increasingly shaped by the intersection of infrastructural exclusion, governance fragmentation, and ethnicized stigmatization. This article investigates these processes through an in-depth analysis of Roma settlements in the Metropolitan region of Naples, where patterns of extreme marginalization emerge from the convergence of infrastructural deficits, governance discontinuities, and normative conflicts. Drawing on 62 semi-structured interviews, extensive participant observation, and documentary analysis, the study develops the concept of governance discontinuity to capture the multi-scalar and relational character of exclusionary dynamics. Empirically, the findings reveal how the daily lives of Roma residents are structured by persistent infrastructural decay, the absence of coordinated institutional interventions, and the production of territorial stigma, which collectively reinforce durable forms of spatial injustice. Theoretically, the article advances urban sociology by illustrating how micro-level solidarities, meso-level mediation mechanisms, and macro-level governance gaps interact within fragmented metropolitan settings. Particular attention is given to how infrastructural materialities and symbolic stigmatizations co-produce processes of urban exclusion, revealing the need for relational and conflictual approaches to understand advanced urban marginality. By situating Roma settlements within broader debates on segregation, housing precarity, and governance discontinuity, the study contributes to ongoing efforts to theorize the embeddedness of urban inequalities in the socio-political and material fabric of contemporary cities.