A comprehensive understanding of mechanisms underlying metropolitan growth provides a more general contribution to the clarification of economic and social development processes on a local and regional scale. Thus, placing the territory at the center of the debate on sustainable, spatially balanced, socially cohesive, and environmentally friendly models of urbanization. In this sense, cities are no longer places of tradition and history. Over time, they have become regions of increasing complexity in all the pillars of sustainability. The most recent international reports on urban growth have highlighted how cities play a never secondary role in the increasingly pervasive global transformations that we persistently observe on our planet. This includes climate change to water scarcity, and poverty to environmental migration. The inherent difficulty in analyzing how urban systems are articulated, and consolidated, gradually growing or declining, highlights the complexity of this issue. Research tools should therefore adhere to a multidisciplinary vision that integrates different methodologies and empirical approaches. Based on the use of a large collection of indicators, our book allows the investigation of integrated dynamics of growth and development at different observation scales in a specific class of European cities, highlighting common growth paths and peculiar individual behaviors. Focusing on Mediterranean urbanities, the book traces back to specific historical phases, regional social contexts, economic cycles, thus contributing to the understanding of how urban development can adhere to long-term sustainability principles.
