“See Naples and Die?” Media, Territorial Stigma, and the Erosion of Place-Based Agency in a ‘Left-Behind’ City

Territorial inequalities are commonly analyzed through structural and economic lenses, yet the symbolic and representational processes that shape perceptions of places remain underexplored. This paper develops a conceptual framework that integrates research on media representation, territorial stigma, and place-based agency in regional development to illuminate how mediated images influence perceived opportunity spaces and constrain local agency in “left‑behind” places. Drawing on systematic document analysis of national and international media narratives and official indicators, it illustrates how dominant crisis‑centred framing and emotionally charged exemplars can contribute to the production of territorial stigma – a symbolic penalty that influences external reputations and internal self‑perceptions. The case of Naples, Italy, is used heuristically to unpack the processes through which historical stereotypes and contemporary media practices reinforce stigmatizing framings that obscure substantial socio‑economic and cultural capacities. While Naples faces genuine structural challenges, official statistics and institutional evidence reveal dynamic technological and entrepreneurial sectors, civic engagement, cultural dynamism, and academic excellence that diverge from popular media portrayals. By foregrounding symbolic power as a co‑constitutive element of spatial inequality, this paper argues that territorial stigma amplifies agency‑reducing dynamics by narrowing imaginaries of possibility and conditioning development trajectories. The analysis underscores the importance of addressing both material and symbolic inequalities in regional development and argues that expanding perceived opportunity spaces in stigmatized left-behind places requires coordinated institutional and representational interventions, including more balanced public representations, stronger institutional recognition and support, and policies aimed at enhancing local capacities and future-oriented development. The paper concludes with a research agenda advocating more methodologically varied and comparative studies to further examine how place representation intersects with local development dynamics.