A new “sustainability thinking” for land resources, economic growth, and global change in Southern Europe

In this contribution, we reviewed recent findings in rural development and regional sustainability focusing on both environmental issues and socioeconomic dynamics with a specific focus on Southern Europe. Assuming territorial disparities as a basic engine of unsustainable development paths in the area, we discussed key ecological, social, and economic factors (e.g., population growth, urban sprawl, coastalization, agricultural intensification, and land abandonment) shaping physical quality and monetary value of land resources. According to this knowledge ground, we highlighted the intimate relationship between social processes, rural poverty, and territorial disparities based on complex dynamics of environmental and geo-economic drivers of change. The lack in multitarget and multiscale policies approaching together sustainable development, environmental quality, and territorial disparities was finally debated as an original contribution to the study of Mediterranean rural systems.