Does the Future Belong to Mediterranean Cities?

Abstract

Post-modern human beings are in search of an alternative to the global lifestyle model, and Mediterranean cities, with different social foundations and economic cultures, could fulfill this requirement. Mediterranean cities and lifestyles exceed the current global model, which have not actually been influenced as they continue to preserve their previous customs. In this sense, the complexity of Mediterranean cities is the essence of post-modernism, which reaches its highest expression in the combination between modern and post-modern tradition. The aim of this paper is to reflect on the features of Mediterranean cities in post-modern terms to rediscover their potential as cities that are able to respond to post-modern social, cultural, and economic demands. After a slight digression relating to the main ideas about post-modernity, I analyze the features of the Mediterranean cities that must and want to rediscover their potential, their history, and their topicality. To do so, I apply the methodology from the urban interpretation that the geographers, Ash Amin and Nigel Thrift (2002), created considering Anglo-Saxon cities and which, in reality, can be used to rediscover Mediterranean cities, revealing substantial coincidences with the nature of the latter. In conclusion, I show how post-modernity allows for a revival of Mediterranean cities in that the Mediterranean model could become a solution to the linearity crisis of modern times.