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The present study aims to understand how a culture associated with proximity to the Mediterranean Sea transcends political boundaries fostering common values and beliefs across three countries.

Semi-structured interviews were conducted in Italy, Spain and France to assess similarities and differences between respondents. The qualitative data were augmented with the literature pertaining to Mediterranean identity, culture and the influence of contextual factors on its development.

The three geographically proximate countries all border on the Mediterranean Sea. The interviews revealed common cultural elements that transcend political boundaries suggesting that the common context fosters similar cultural elements. At the same time, there are important cultural elements that are uniquely associated with each country.

The geographic composition of the sample limits the generality of the results. By design, it focuses on three countries to limit other sources of variation such as affluence and religion. A sample across additional countries would have provided greater confidence in the results, although the selected countries are representative of a large portion of the Mediterranean area, especially in terms of values. Inclusion of respondents from countries with different levels of wealth, religious and political ideologies would likely uncover additional facets of Mediterranean identity.

A key implication relates to the extent that similar values and beliefs appear to cut across political boundaries suggesting the existence of transnational segments. It also suggests the importance of considering contextual factors when developing an understanding of consumer behavior.

The paper provides insights into the concept of Mediterranean identity, through an examination of the literature and respondents’ perceptions and attitudes about the sense of belonging and attachment to Europe, their country of birth and about being Mediterranean. The notion of a Mediterranean culture has been examined conceptually, but not empirically. This study begins the process of establishing the degree to which Mediterranean identity and the extent to which it exists across multiple countries.

Tourism is growing globally and expanding into increasingly differentiated thematic areas and places that have thus far been unknown. The Mediterranean region is one of the leading tourism areas in the world accounting for one-third of global tourism receipts and half of global tourism arrivals. However, the countries of this region, undoubtedly attractive for their natural and cultural sites, history and traditions, must face the continuous challenges that the highly competitive global market and the sustainability of the environment and resources pose.

This chapter aims to examine and discuss the relationship between tourism and economic growth in the Mediterranean region, specifically, the issue of economic growth led by tourism and its central focus in public policy. The tourism–economic growth relationship will also highlight the different challenges between the developed and the developing countries. The relationship between tourism and sustainability in the Mediterranean region is the second theme of this contribution. The concept of ‘slow tourism’ as an operational proposal for sustainable tourism is also discussed; specifically, the natural environment and the cultural heritage need to be preserved by all tourism stakeholders.

The purpose of this paper is to provide a measurement scale that captures elements of Mediterranean identity.

A scale was developed from items drawn from existing scales and from a qualitative study that examined how respondents viewed their national identity as well as the concept of a Mediterranean identity. The literature pertaining to Mediterranean identity, culture and the influence of contextual factors on its development were reviewed. The scale revealed four dimensions of Mediterranean identity: traditions, relationships, ethnocentrism and a bond with the Sea.

The scale successfully discriminated between those living by the Sea and those living inland. At the same time, it did not differentiate between respondents living in the north from those living in the south. The study suggests that context, specifically proximity to the Sea, helps shape some of the regional variation in values and beliefs.

The geographic composition of the sample limits the generalizability of the results. A sample across additional countries would provide greater confidence in the results, although much of the theoretical work on Mediterranean thinking has focused on Italy. Further, it was desirable to keep as many factors as possible constant to limit extraneous variation. Inclusion of respondents from countries with different levels of wealth, religious and political ideologies would likely uncover additional facets of Mediterranean identity.

The results have broader implications for identifying transnational segments that may exist around the Mediterranean. A key implication relates to the extent that similar values and beliefs appear to be associated with proximity to the Mediterranean Sea. It also highlights the importance of considering contextual factors when developing an understanding of consumer behavior.

Mediterranean identity has been examined conceptually, but a systematic means to measure is lacking. The essence of Mediterranean thinking embodies the importance individuals place on adhering to traditions, the value they attach to personal relationship, a certain degree of ethnocentricism, and of course the bond with the Sea. The results also suggest that differences that have been attributed to a north/south divide, needs to be reexamined.

This chapter presents an overview of the ‘big’ data of Mediterranean agriculture, with a special focus on the four EU countries (Portugal, Spain, Italy and Greece), in order to provide a backdrop for the rest of cases analysed in the volume. In this regard, two thesis are discussed: the assumption that farming systems in the South have not followed the process of ‘productivist modernisation’ characterising post-war Northern European agricultural change, and that, precisely due to this reason, most holdings and regions from the South would have more possibilities to adapt to new approaches of multifunctional rural development.Thus, the chapter tackles both the static and dynamic structural traits of Southern agricultures and their differences with the North, as well as several aspects of the organisation of farming in the Mediterranean and other key components of productivist modernisation: farm intensification and specialisation. Later, the diffusion of multifunctional dynamics is addressed, in order to introduce some reflections about their meaning and scope in the Mediterranean regions. The chapter ends with a straightforward typology of Southern farming systems and a concluding section, which goes back to discuss the two initial theses.

This study aims to explore the risk level of pufferfish and lionfish by comparing them among Turkish marines. In addition, this study focuses on comparing pufferfish with lionfish to determine which one is more dangerous for marine economics in Türkiye.

This study employs descriptive content analysis to give some qualitative evidence for the related literature. As a sample case, Türkiye was selected in the context of being a country in the Mediterranean Basin. By reviewing recent news, reports and publications, this study firstly will conclude how invasive alien marine species affect Turkish marines. Then, pufferfish and lionfish will be compared together to determine the risk level of these species for Turkish marine economics.

As a result of descriptive findings, it is seen that captured fishery has been declined in Turkey recently due to many factors including climate change, global warming, overfishing, environmental pollution and attack of invasive alien species. Pufferfish and lionfish are seen as the most spread marine species in Turkish marines. When comparing pufferfish with lionfish, it is seen that pufferfish is more dangerous than lionfish for Turkish marine economics.

This study provides descriptive and original findings as a result of comparison of pufferfish and lionfish due to their impact on Turkish marine economy. It is thought to give useful importation for the fight against invasive alien marine species in the Mediterranean Basin. Future studies can investigate different invasive alien marine species and their impacts on marine economics in the Mediterranean Basin.

Based on the Turkish cases, it is determined that there should be different policies for fight against invasive alien marine species in the Mediterranean Sea. Each marine species has different impacts on seafood market. Some of marine species can be consumed as a seafood product but some of them can't be consumed that policy makers should develop other strategies such as catching them to reduce their population in the local marines.

The spread of invasive alien marine species is still continuing in the Mediterranean Basin. Each country has been affected by the attack of invasive alien marine species. To keep sustainable seafood market and marine economics, countries should both implement common policies and develop policies specific to threats in their own countries.

This study reveals key points in the rise of invasive alien marine species in Turkish marines at first. The main contribution of this study is to be a recent sample for a country which is under attack by invasive alien marine species by giving a comparison of pufferfish and lionfish.

Introduction: Performance evaluations are a critical tool in evaluating tourism development of countries where the tourism industry provides a significant share of the GDP. One of the measures used in performance evaluation of the financial decision-making units is economic efficiency. Aim: This study aims at measuring tourism-related technical efficiency performance of six European countries: Spain, Greece, Turkey, France, Italy, and Portugal. Method: Tourism revenue and visitor numbers are referenced as output variables. Within the model, the natural and sociocultural index and substructure index were formed. Data envelopment analysis was applied for these datasets. Results: Considering tourism revenues, Spain, Italy and Greece managed to use their natural and cultural resources efficiently. In contrast to these countries, inefficiency level scores were measured for Turkey, Portugal and France. In the model based upon the number of visitors, all other countries apart from Turkey and Portugal achieved the most efficient score. As for substructure index, the score of decreasing returns to scale for the countries of Italy and Spain in terms of tourist numbers is noteworthy. Conclusion: The implementation of efficient tourism policies and strategies hold great importance in terms of tourism efficiency. Implications: Even though Portugal and Turkey are rich in both natural and cultural assets, low scores seem to stem from failure to realize their potentials. Strategies should be developed to diversify tourist products. Originality of the Paper: This study differs from other studies in the literature with regard to the composition of the wide input components.

Tourism is one of the most important and rapidly growing sectors for economic, cultural and global development of a country. Competition between tourist destinations is increasingly intense and is played internationally in a globalized scenario, where each destination competes with new and different competing destinations. In view of this, the tourism sector has had to equip itself with appropriate decision-making tools for studying and analyzing the competitiveness of the destinations. This chapter focuses on its analysis on the countries bordering on the Mediterranean Sea, one of the areas with the greatest worldwide attractiveness to tourists, characterized by different levels and models of tourism development. There are areas traditionally dedicated to hospitality, considered world leaders (such as France, Spain and Italy) and countries that have grown rapidly in their wake (Croatia and Greece), and on the other, more recently emerged destinations (Egypt, Morocco and Tunisia) that compete very well, focussing on an ‘exotic’ seaside offer accessible to all. The aim of this chapter is to carry out a research on the tourism competitiveness of Mediterranean countries. The analysis is based on the 14 pillars described in the Travel & Tourism Competitiveness Report 2019. In order to see how the 14 pillars of the competitiveness index are grouping on the countries, we applied the principal component analysis and hierarchical cluster analysis.

This paper aims to present some challenging issues concerning urban space management in the Mediterranean region, with a special focus to sustainability.

It is structured around the outcomes of the SB05MED International Conference titled “Sustainable Construction: Action for Sustainability in the Mediterranean Region,” held in Athens in June 2005, which is the main subject of this special issue. It will present the main outcomes related to existing approaches of environmental quality in buildings as well as methodologies, policies and standards for environmental quality in buildings and cities. Furthermore, it will present future trends and explore the current situation of projects, systems and operations, as well as performance assessment tools and financial instruments and mechanisms towards sustainable construction in the Mediterranean region. Each major scientific topic is presented and analysed. Finally, a synthesis of outcomes is presented.

The paper demonstrates the links between developments in the field of sustainable building in the Mediterranean region and relates them with future developments and perspectives at a macro‐regional level.

This overview paper can be used as the starting point of future research as well as a reference paper.

To contribute to the design of the energy service companies (ESCOs)' environment in the Mediterranean countries, mainly focusing on the constraints this company's environment face and the actions that can fulfil its needs and aims, taking also into consideration the opportunities and threats emerging from the energy liberalization and climate change.

The methodology that was followed (based in a large part on the context of two projects targeted to the Mediterranean region and funded by the European Commission) incorporated four steps, the desk analysis for energy efficiency potential in the Mediterranean, the data collection, the assessment of the constraints and the final assessment of the ESCOs' environment.

Provides information regarding the current status of ESCOs' development, in the dimensions of the ESCOs' environment (political/legal, economical/financial, social/cultural and technological), both in the European Union (EU) (Cyprus, France, Greece, Italy, Malta and Spain) and non‐EU (Algeria, Egypt, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, Syria, Tunisia and Turkey) Mediterranean countries.

There are no papers investigating the activation environment of ESCOs in a coherent and integrated way in the Mediterranean. This paper provides to decision makers a supportive framework for policy design and formulation of policy priorities for ESCOs development in the region.

The purpose of the paper is to present and compare collective efforts of higher education institutions working through regional networks in introducing and promoting education for sustainable development (ESD) and environmental education (EE) in two most significant EU boarder regions. Efforts to support EE/ESD in higher education are usually undertaken at individual universities and, in some cases, at national level, still remaining very fragmented; therefore, the examples of University networks in the Baltic and the Mediterranean regions are of particular interest and importance. Both regions have regional conventions, protocols and strategies for the relevant seas, bringing EU and neighbouring countries of the regions together for the protection of the environment and the promotion of sustainable development (SD) within which EE and ESD are embedded.

This paper presents the driving forces for the establishment, evolution and design of relevant activities of these two networks, making also a few inter-comparisons and recommendations for further improvements.

Both regions, the Baltic and the Mediterranean, have multiple needs and high potential for more efficient linking of SD with higher education. Early enough it was realised that regional networking could stimulate countries and universities towards this task. Two networks were set up: the Baltic University Programme (starting already in 1991) and the Mediterranean Universities Network for SD focusing on ESD (starting in 2007). The paper reviews main activities of the networks together with lessons learned and gives directions for their future operations.

This paper is one of the rare case studies related to higher education networking on ESD and demonstrates how networking on ESD, apart from enhancing professional development, supports also SD and promotes cooperation and peace in regions that have a history of frequently turbulent relationships.