Walkway collapse at Naples ‘Gomorrah’ housing complex 2

[LittleWheels]

Two dead after a walkway collapse of an aging Italian housing estate.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/article/2024/jul/23/walkway-collapse-naples-le-vele-di-scampia

 

[Sym P. le]

No doubt, Google Maps

 

[bones206]

Yikes

 

[Murph 9000]

Just like so many other grand social housing projects from the 60s and 70s. It's clearly been left to slowly decay and deteriorate for decades. I bet it looked amazing, modern, probably even futuristic when built, and for a little while afterwards. It could probably have even remained that way with sufficient ongoing investment to maintain and police the estate, prevent the serious decay setting in, etc. Part of the blame does go to the authorities who originally commissioned the project and the architects, as the complex structure would likely have been expensive to properly maintain and the warren like nature can tend to attract crime with insufficient police/security to keep things under control.

 

[XR250]

I wonder if the design actually "worked" prior to deterioration. Those struts are pretty shallow.

 

[Murph 9000]

Empirically, they seem to have worked for 50+ years, despite the general neglect.

 

[Alistair_Heaton]

The neglect will have been in relatively recent years.

Much like the RAAC issues in UK with public buildings.

Even 20 years ago water leaks and general cosmetic fixes were dealt with. Zero chance of that getting past an accountant these days. If it doesn't have a red line failure bit of paper zero will be done. It will be someone else's problem.

 

[Tomfh]

Italians seem to have a few issues with dilapidated corroded concrete structures.

 

[Alistair_Heaton]

So do all countries in Europe.

 

[lexpatrie]

Six seconds in and the computer engineer knows what the problem is.

It looks like if you actually read the article above, you'd learn most of the structures were demolished, starting in 2020. But I'm just skimming.

 

[3DDave]

So, they were sufficiently unsafe before 2020 that demolition was scheduled and now, 4 years later, they still have people living in unsafe buildings?

It doesn't need a structural engineer to determine that's a bad situation, but it does take a structural engineer to sign off that it's OK to allow people to remain there.

 

[lexpatrie]

I think it was the last building standing, all the others were demolished in a more timely fashion. Let's not forget 2021.

I don't know the regulations in Italy. Not licensed there. I can order grappa, coffee, and gnocchi (potato dumplings, more or less), although I sometimes confuse it with gnocci (nuts), and get hotel rooms, train tickets, museum tickets, and vaporetto rides. There are a lot of moving parts in Italy.... what was that John Berendt book? City of Falling Angles?