South-eastern Sicily: a counterfactual post-metropolis

Abstract

Postmetropolis is an ambitious term that could be summarized as the "postmodern metropolis." With it Edward W. Soja (2000) aims to define the globalized city that he supposes to be involved in a radical transition process that began with the post-modern city. In relation to these considerations, the article explores the post-metropolitan profile of South-eastern Sicily through: a socio-economic outlook describing the characteristics of demography, employment and income in this part of Sicily; a spatial analysis of housing and land use; and finally an institutional description of the administrative state of the art in Syracuse, Ragusa and their surroundings. Each section describes the most consolidated trends in this area, but also discusses the most innovative changes and the challenges Southeastern Sicily is facing in the last years. The final section points out some concluding remarks and puts this Sicilian case within the theoretical framework of the post-metropolitan discourse in Italy.