Regional Architecture in the Mediterranean Area

Today, when the contemporary society is experiencing a crisis in the process of globalization and European Union is confronting with the extension of its boundaries, the debate on the regional dimension becomes central.
Two are the possible scenarios: - a complete planetary uniformity of behaviours, economies lifestyles and urban environments dominated by a reduces number of industrial and tertiary conglomerates creating a sub-urban environment characterized by the system skyscrapers-highways-suburbs;
- a globalization developed through enhancing regional characters: natural and urban environments, food, culture, habits, and lifestyles, construction techniques, urban and architectural types.
According to the second scenario, inspired by the creation of a world enriched through the variety of differences, the search for a regional dimension in architecture becomes the key factor as an alternative to the diffusion of a sub-urban condition at a world scale.
This book generated by the MIUR Research Program in 2004-2006 coordinated by Professor Carlo Aymerich - University of Cagliari, with the contribution of the Polytechnic of Bari (directed by Professor Paolo Pastore), the University of Bologna (directed by Professor Adolfo Cesare Dell'Acqua), the University of Ferrara (directed by Professor Gabriele Tagliaventi), and the University of Palermo (directed by Professor Giovanni Fatta), aims at systematically analyzing the main features of Traditional Architecture and Urban Fabric in the Mediterranean Area in relationship with a wider European context where the Region is recognized as the fundamental actor of a sustainable development in the Age of Globalization.