Smart strategic planning in multiethnic environments: Mazara del Vallo as a Mediterranean gateway city

The paper offers a critical account of the strategic planning process carried out in Mazara del Vallo, a medium-sized Sicilian city whose development model has been characterised by the dominant role of the local fishery economy. From the 1970s onwards, the workforce employed in the fishery industry was mostly of North African origin (particularly Tunisian). In the past few years, rising economic and social processes have put into question the survival of the North African population in the city, the presence of which could be a strategic asset in light of the following future Euro-Mediterranean integration scenarios: (a) the deep crisis in the fishery sector, which is calling into question…