INTRODUCTION

During the second half of the 20th century, most Mediterranean cities underwent major exchange phenomena such as immigration and tourism, and also emergency scenarios such as wars or natural catastrophes. Those have led and will continue leading the destruction of the city’s urban form and will hasten new urban opportunities. During this period, most cities grew away from the centre in the form of large-scale scattered extensions of housing areas, which misunderstood the modern-movement typologies and urbanism. New ghettos emerged due to a bad relationship with the historical city, lacking of public space, and introducing low construction quality and non-flexibility in housing typologies.
Common aspects may be found in the specific geographical area, which is complex and diverse, of the Mediterranean sea-shore cities, from North to South and from West to East. These cities are located in a context very different from those in the vast central European or the American continents, because they find themselves on the verge of an intellectual and physical context that is struggling and thinking its urbanism and its way to settle on the territory. We may also point out a specific and common Mediterranean climate that undoubtedly affects most of the form and environment situations that led to the modern-movement principles and basic aspects: a common cultural and historical development. These cities settle in their territory providing concrete answers to different conditions. These answers merit a specific analysis and deserve to be related to their specific future solutions.

EDUARD BRU