Preservation of the Mediterranean Identity: An Intra-City Analysis Towards a Macro-Regional Approach for the Characterisation of Urban Sustainability

Globalisation combined with high urbanisation trends affects not only the traditional pillars of sustainability (environment, society, and economy), but also local identity. Customs and traditions are fading away and alienation is the result of new lifestyles deriving mainly from high interaction between locals and foreigners (focus on tourism). Facing the challenge of characterising urban sustainability, reflection on special characteristics of the urban fabric that are affected (spatial dimension of sustainability) is not always considered. Even though a lot of research is dedicated to the characterisation of urban areas’ sustainability, the element of local, regional, and macro-regional identity seems not to be systematically incorporated. This work attempts to develop and test a methodological framework to identify and prioritise the common symbolic elements that constitute the identity of a group of cities and that need to be sustained. The study focuses on the Euro-Mediterranean region. A survey is addressed to 64 scientists from five cities: Dubrovnik, Genoa, Rhodes, Valencia, and Venice. “Urban structure” is revealed as the most important element that constitutes the “Mediterranean identity”. Moreover, the level of threat deriving from mass tourism on the “Mediterranean identity” is estimated. The survey provides insight into the definition of the spatial dimension of sustainability and the determination/weighting of the case-specific component of an integrated urban sustainability assessment tool.