Socio-spatial Dynamics in Mediterranean Europe : Exploring Metropolitan Structural Processes and Short-term Change

This book analyses the most recent socio-territorial trends that are developing in the Spanish metropolitan space. The first part focuses on the most recent metropolitan dynamics and demographic changes in Southern Europe. The second part discusses the most important processes in metropolitan areas: the problems of increasing social and residential vulnerability and the problems of diversity management. The third part analyses some concrete cases of the main changes and complexity in the spatial dynamics of metropolitan areas in Southern Europe. Finally, the fourth and last part provides an overview on the instruments and the resources put in place by some Southern European cities for the development of governance and citizen participation as an instrument of reaction to the social, economic and COVID crisis. By discussing the main changes and uncertainties derived from the social scenarios after the pandemic, the dynamics of social dualisation of the city, as well as the necessaryinstruments for its analysis and the main challenges in urban governance with special attention of Southern European context, this book provides an interesting read for spatial demographers, human geographers, social scientists and spatial planners.

José M. Feria-Toribio has been Tenure Professor of Human Geography at the Universities of Seville, Huelva and, since 2002, at the Pablo de Olavide University, Sevilla, Spain. He has a PhD in Geography from the University of Seville and Master of City Planning from the University of Pennsylvania, USA, founded by a Fulbright scholarship. His work as principal researcher covers more than thirty projects related to urban and metropolitan processes, on the one hand, and heritage and territorial development, on the other. It encompasses national, regional and international projects. He has more than a hundred and fifty publications in the form of monographs, journal articles and collective editions in relation to these topics. Among the publications, articles in Spanish and foreign scientific journals should be noted, with a majority in JCR and Scopus journals. Likewise, he has participated and participates in numerous  Regional Spatial and City Land-use plans and Urban Strategic plans. He is also the author of an extensive corpus of policy oriented reports for public administrations in the aforementioned fields.

Ricardo Iglesias-Pascual is associate professor in the Department of Geography, History and Philosophy at the Pablo de Olavide University. He holds a PhD in Geography and a degree in Social and Cultural Anthropology. His research focuses on two main areas: the qualitative analysis of perceptions and social imaginaries and their influence on socio-spatial processes, migrations and residential segregation in the city.  From a quantitative approach, he analyses the socio-environmental and political factors involved in the growing processes of social inequality. He has participated in different national and international conferences, has published and reviewed papers in prestigious journals such as Cities, Population Space and Place, Political Geography, or Journal of Ethnics and Migration Studies. He is currently a member of the editorial boardof Journal of Regional Research and of Humanities and Social Sciences Communications.

Federico Benassi is assistant Professor in Demography at the Department of Political Sciences, University of Naples Federico II, Italy. Previously, he was a researcher at the Italian National Institute of Statistics (Istat). He graduated with honours from the University of Pisa and received his Ph.D. in "Demography and Economics of Geographical Areas" from the University of Bari "Aldo Moro", Italy.  His research interests include spatial demography, human mobility (migration and commuting), residential segregation and spatial inequalities, urban growth and regional demographic development, and foreign presence in Italy. On these issues he published in some of the major international journals and participated as a lecturer to national and international conference and meetings. Currently, he is part of the Editorial Board of “International Journal of Population Studies” and of “Spatial Demography”.