The volume deals with the recovery and enhancement of minor centers, especially under today’s pandemic crisis, when a spontaneous movement from larger cities towards neighboring occurs. These small towns are a great resource of the Mediterranean Cultural Heritage, tangible and intangible, that must be safeguarded and re-evaluated. This volume collects the essays of the members of the Mediterranean CIVVIH Sub-committee presented within the 2021 Webinar, as a comparison between different minor contexts throughout the EU countries around the Southern and Eastern Mediterranean Basin. Promoting participation in new urban models seems to be a good opportunity for the revival of the abandoned villages.

How has Covid-19 changed society and ways to live urban environment? How has it changed the understanding of urban space and urban lifestyles? How has it changed education and research and how pre-Covid research goals could be put under discussion in the post-Covid City? The book illustrates research fundings and investigations on how Covid-19 contingency has changed nowadays society and the ways we make research. The book is divided in three parts: Part One is trying to give some answers on how research priorities have been changed during the lockdown and how pre-Covid research goals could be put under discussion within the post-Covid City. Part Two explores contemporary attitudes regarding theoretical and practice-based research in urbanism and architecture. Part Three is dealing with Higher Education.

This book explores the role of cities and the urban–rural linkages in spurring innovation embedded in spatial planning, strategic and economic planning, and decision support systems. In particular, the contributions examine the complexity of the current transitional phase towards achieving smart, inclusive and sustainable growth, and investigate the post-2020 UE cohesion policy.The main topics include: Innovation dynamics and smart cities; Urban regeneration – community-led and PPP; Inland and urban area development; Mobility, accessibility, infrastructures; Heritage, landscape and Identity; and Risk management, Environment and Energy.The book includes a selection of articles accepted for presentation and discussion at the 3rd International Symposium New Metropolitan Perspectives (ISTH2020), held at the University of Reggio Calabria, Italy on 22–25 May 2018. The symposium, which addressed the challenge of local knowledge and innovation dynamics towards territory attractiveness, hosted the final event of the MAPS-LED project under Horizon2020 – MSCA RISE.