5th ISA Forum of Sociology (6-11 July 2025)

The session we propose takes inspiration from a research network called VILMOUV (Villes en mouvement) whose aim is to study the link between mobility and urban transformations in the Mediterranean, in a context of major political and socio-economic changes. It relies on a multidisciplinary team of urban, mobility and migration specialists (see also https://vilmouv.cnrs.fr/). Different types of mobilities are considered in their interdependencies (tourist mobility, international migration, student migration, daily mobility, commercial and consumption circulation). VILMOUV studies the urban impacts of these multifaceted mobilities, as well as the inequalities and legitimate and illegitimate presences that they generate in Mediterranean cities.

Our aim is to gather scholars and experts dealing with the making and remaking of the Mediterrean as a peculiar urban area of the planet, marked by circulations, connections and encounters. Having in mind the intellectual legacy of historians such as Braudel or geographers as Leontidou, we would like to contribute to the renewal of the scholarly field of Mediterranean Studies by adding new theoretical, analytical and empirical insights.

In order to do so, we would welcome interventions on the following issues:

• The Mediterranean as a space of encounters and conflicts, in its geopolitical, economical and socio-spatial dimension.
• The networks of cities across the Mediterranean as a continuing exchange area
• Mobilities across the Mediterranean, both human and non-human
• Trafficking, smuggling and ongoing circulations between cities and harbour-cities
• Mass tourism, gentrification and change in the urban Mediterranean