Students step into the many lives of Naples

The one-week interdisciplinary module brings together second-year bachelor students in architecture, civil engineering, and environmental engineering. The aim is to enable students to gain practical experience through interdisciplinary projects based on current issues, while offering teachers from different fields the opportunity to jointly design a thematic program as part of a three-year cycle. Accordingly, the Forma Urbis cycle was launched, exploring urban form with a first edition in Naples. For one week, students worked on this issue in mixed teams, bringing together representatives from the three sections of ENAC.

“We chose to explore the concept of palimpsest, which refers to the multiple historical, cultural, archaeological, architectural, and anthropological layers that make up the city,” says Florence Graezer Bideau, CDH/ENAC adjunct professor of urban anthropology and head of the Heritage, Anthropology and Technologies (HAT) research group, and one of the organizers of this week.

“More than just a concept, heritage is also a tangible and intangible legacy that is not meant to remain static over time, but rather to be constantly renewed and reappropriated by different communities in response to changing contexts,” says Florence Graezer Bideau. “We have designed a role play to help students better understand how the city was gradually constructed and how decisions were made.” A role play is an educational or recreational activity in which participants assume specific characters or roles to explore situations, issues, and points of view through simulation. In concrete terms, this approach invites them to put themselves in the shoes of fictional characters and imagine how they would act and how they would perceive the city.

Throughout their week in Naples, EPFL students engaged with the historical center to appreciate how heritage operates as a living concept that is negotiated and continually re-activated. The week combined lectures, guided tours, and field research, promoting an approach that was both analytical and immersive. They were hosted by the École française de Rome and the Department of Architecture at the Federico II University, and guided through Pompeii by an archaeologist.

“I chose the week in Naples because, to be honest, the idea of travelling and discovering new things is exciting,” says Layla Delachaux, one of the students participating in the program. “When I read the course description, I made this ENAC week my first choice. First, because of the destination, and second, because of the program, which was quite fun and interesting for an architecture student.”

During the week in Naples, the students conducted research on the roles they had been assigned beforehand, ranging from priest to pizzaiolo, real estate agent to transportation engineer, student activist to mayor. Each participant had received a detailed profile in advance and prepared a short presentation to reflect their character’s logic and interests. Once there, they enriched this preparation by collecting materials — such as photos, sketches, observations, and interviews — to refine their understanding of the urban context and help them embody their roles.

“My role in the game was the ‘green guardian’,” says Layla Delachaux. “I'm not quite as eco-friendly as I imagine my character to be, but to prepare for the role, I read the studies that were provided to us and imagined what this young woman might be like. In addition to that, we were given a clear explanation that provided us with a solid foundation for better understanding the city of Naples. Once I arrived on site in character, I was able to observe the city with a keen eye, different from the one I would have had if I played another role. For example, public transportation, waste management, greenery in the city, etc. One of my friends was given the role of a bicycle delivery person. She noticed that there weren't many bicycles in the city and that cycling, especially in the historic center, was particularly difficult. This experience of playing a character allowed us to be attentive to certain aspects in a different way.”

Upon the return to EPFL, the role play concluded with a two-hour simulation of an extraordinary assembly held in the historic center following a major earthquake, an event to which Naples is frequently exposed. The students then confronted the crisis and the dilemmas it raises regarding heritage preservation, public safety, infrastructure, and social justice, adopting the perspectives of the roles they had been assigned.

“We designed this scenario with a view to incorporating historical, social, political, and anthropological dimensions as effectively as possible,” says Anna Karla Almeida, a postdoctoral researcher with the HAT group, which created the role-playing card game and illustrated the 25 characters. “Once they were familiar with their characters, we asked them what they would have done in a crisis scenario.”

Two ‘micro-scenarios’ were also introduced to structure the debate: (1) should a historic building be demolished to build a new metro line, and (2) how should the chaos following the earthquake be dealt with? The students debated, mobilized action cards forming alliances or counterarguments, and were regularly challenged by teachers playing the roles of journalists, civil protection agents, or ministry officials. Each participant had to speak publicly at least once in each scenario.

“It was up to them to propose a solution to this dilemma between destruction and preservation. The positions were contrasting and gave rise to lively discussions; at the end of the game, they collectively reached a final decision.”

The role play encouraged students to think beyond the boundaries of their own disciplines and to formulate arguments that they might not have expressed in a normal academic context. At the same time, they prepared visual storyboards depicting their characters, the knowledge they acquired about Naples, and their interpretations of the city’s many dimensions and complexities.

The program will continue this year in Rome. Anna Karla Almeida, now a postdoctoral researcher at TU Delft, will return for the occasion to facilitate another role-playing game in collaboration with the teaching team.

“The game proved to be a particularly effective teaching tool, both for the students and for us, teachers,” says Florence Graezer Bideau. “It allowed us to grasp in concrete terms what interdisciplinarity means and to understand the different layers that compose a city.”