Sustainability Research in the Mediterranean

Editorial

Marinos Stylianou — Wed, 04 Nov 2026 00:00:00 +0100

Sustainability transitions are frequently described through objectives, indicators and regulatory commitments. In the Mediterranean, however, a more demanding proposition becomes particularly visible: transition becomes consequential only when it acquires material, institutional and social form through the infrastructures that organise resource use, technological change, mobility, cultural participation, production and everyday work. This perspective is consistent with research that treats climate change as a problem requiring coordination across regional institutions and policy systems rather than as a sequence of isolated technical interventions. Mediterranean literature has likewise shown how climatic exposure, inherited urban structures and uneven economic development interact within a densely connected territorial system (Hoffmann et al., 2024; Salvati and Vardopoulos, 2024). The same systemic reasoning underpins contemporary work on futureproofed sustainability, in which the built environment, governance arrangements, environmental accounting and technological transition are treated as mutually dependent components of urban and regional resilience rather than as separate policy domains (Vardopoulos and Passas, 2025). Infrastructure therefore matters in an intentionally broad sense. It encompasses transport networks, waste conversion systems, data centres, cultural institutions, digital platforms, monitoring arrangements and the physical environments through which work and public services are performed. These are the structures through which sustainability ambitions become observable outcomes and through which their costs are ultimately distributed.

Sustainability Practices in Greek Music Institutions: The Role of Digital Innovation

Despoina Tsavdaridou, Eirini Papadaki — Wed, 04 Nov 2026 00:00:00 +0100

This article examines the sustainability practices of four major Greek music cultural organizations: the Thessaloniki Concert Hall, the Athens Concert Hall, the State Orchestra of Thessaloniki, and the State Orchestra of Athens. Through a comparative analysis based on content analysis of official sources and semi-structured interviews with marketing directors, the study explores how these institutions engage with environmental, social, and economic sustainability, while treating digital innovation as a transversal enabling factor. Attention is given to their alignment with the 17 United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (Agenda 2030). The findings reveal a clear imbalance: social sustainability emerges as the most robust and innovative dimension across all four organizations, evident in extensive educational programs, inclusion initiatives targeting vulnerable groups, and community outreach activities. Environmental sustainability, however, remains considerably weaker and less institutionalized. Digital innovation proves to be a critical bridge, supporting both environmental goals and broader social accessibility, yet organizational challenges such as understaffing and the gap between policy and practice persist. The study concludes that Greek cultural organizations require an anthropocentric model of cultural sustainability, one that prioritizes genuine organizational cultural transformation over formal compliance with environmental, social, and governance indicators. By focusing on the Greek Mediterranean context, this research contributes timely empirical insights into sustainability transitions within culturally-rich yet resource-constrained environments.

Hydrothermal Liquefaction and Catalytic Hydrotreating of Food-Waste

Angelos Sotiropoulos, Christos Michalopoulos, George Xydis — Wed, 04 Nov 2026 00:00:00 +0100

Institutional catering facilities generate large, continuous streams of food waste whose disposal carries environmental and economic costs, particularly in Mediterranean settings where landfill capacity and waste-management infrastructure are increasingly constrained. This work reports an integrated, experimentally grounded waste-valorization pathway that converts pre-sorted food waste from a Greek military academy canteen into a hydrotreated bio-oil, developed within the MARINES project. In the first stage, hydrothermal liquefaction (HTL) of the waste was carried out in 300–600 mL batch reactors at 280–320∘C, 100–130 bar, 10–20 wt% solids loading and 30–60 min residence time. Bio-crude higher heating value (HHV) increased with temperature, reaching approximately 39 MJ/kg at 320∘C, while the highest bio-crude quantities were obtained at 310∘C. In the second stage, a pooled bio-oil sample (baseline HHV 39.1±0.4 MJ/kg, O 7.5±0.2 wt%) was catalytically hydrotreated at 300–340∘C and 70–100 bar for 2 h using zeolite, aluminum(III) oxide and nickel(II) nitrate hexahydrate (5 wt% loading). At the optimum point (320∘C, 90 bar), the nickel-based catalyst performed best, raising HHV to 40.8±0.2 MJ/kg while lowering oxygen content to 6.4±0.1 wt%, outperforming aluminum oxide (HHV 40.4 MJ/kg, O 6.7 wt%) and zeolite (HHV 40.1 MJ/kg, O 6.8 wt%). Read together, the two data sets define a coherent production-to-upgrading chain and the operating windows in which each stage performs best. Beyond its technical content, the study is directly relevant to this journal’s focus on Mediterranean sustainability: it provides empirical, policy-relevant evidence for circular-economy valorization of an everyday institutional waste stream, with implications for waste-management planning, energy security, and decarbonization of public-sector facilities in Mediterranean-type economies.

Predicted and Documented Construction-Stage Impacts of Urban Mega Infrastructure Projects: Environmental Follow-Up, Material Circularity and Social Acceptance in Athens Metro Line 4

Simos Tsilikas — Wed, 04 Nov 2026 00:00:00 +0100

Urban mega infrastructure projects are justified by long-term mobility, and environmental and social benefits, yet their construction imposes pressures that are concentrated in particular neighborhoods and periods and whose magnitude is rarely quantified at the assessment stage. This study examines the relationship between anticipated and documented construction-stage impacts in Section A of Athens Metro Line 4, from Alsos Veikou to Goudi, and extends the comparison to excavation-related material flows and to the conditions of social acceptance. A qualitative case-study design analyses the environmental permitting framework, the annual environmental reports of Elliniko Metro S.A. 2021–2025, the applicable waste legislation and the relevant literature, applying an analytical sequence that links predicted pressure, documented condition, management response, residual effect, resource-recovery pathway and social relevance. The documentation confirms that management mechanisms corresponding to the anticipated pressures were in place for noise, vibration, dust, traffic and public-space occupation, although it does not allow their effectiveness to be verified quantitatively. The clearest documented outcome concerns materials, since excavation products were directed to quarry restoration, fill and cover applications and cement production, while construction and demolition waste (C&DW) arising from archaeological works and utility relocations was transferred to licensed facilities. The findings indicate that separating excavation products from C&DW is necessary for an accurate reading of project circularity and that social acceptance can be addressed only conceptually in the absence of representative survey data. The framework offers a transferable basis for construction-stage follow-up of mega infrastructure projects and waste-management facilities.

Green Digital Transition and Sustainable Technology Supply Chains in the Mediterranean

Nikolaos Tsoromokos, Panagiotis Kritikos, Dimitrios Tsoromokos — Wed, 04 Nov 2026 00:00:00 +0100

The rapid expansion of the digital economy poses dual challenges for the Mediterranean region: managing the surging energy and cooling demands of cloud infrastructure and mitigating electronic waste (e-waste) within fragile coastal ecosystems. This paper adopts a comparative qualitative synthesis of publicly available corporate sustainability disclosures, institutional environmental evidence, scientific and policy literature, and European Union regulatory sources to examine how the corporate models of Microsoft Corporation and Apple Inc. interact with sustainability challenges in the Mediterranean context. By contrasting Microsoft’s cloud-first, R&D-driven infrastructure expansion with Apple’s globally distributed, supplier-heavy hardware production model, we analyze key environmental risk vectors – specifically Scope 3 emissions, water scarcity in data center cooling, and e-waste management under the EU Circular Economy Framework. Ultimately, the study offers actionable policy and managerial recommendations for implementing Green IT and sustainable supply chain practices across Southern Europe and the wider Mediterranean policy context.

A 380 Response Survey Dataset on Visitor Site Infrastructure Occupational Well-Being and Framing Effects among Tour Guides in Greece

Panagiotis Mavrakis, Alexandros Apostolakis — Wed, 04 Nov 2026 00:00:00 +0100

Tour guides work at the point where destination infrastructure, visitor safety, cultural interpretation, and service delivery meet, yet datasets on their working conditions remain limited. This paper describes a survey dataset recording the perceptions and experiences of licensed tour guides in Greece regarding public infrastructure at archaeological sites, museums, and other organized visitor attractions, together with occupational stress and quality of life outcomes. A Greek language online questionnaire was distributed through the Panhellenic Federation of Tourist Guides and five regional guide associations. All 1,206 registered members in the sampling frame were invited, and 380 valid responses were obtained, corresponding to a response rate of 31.5%. The instrument contains 20 numbered questions covering respondent characteristics, perceived infrastructure quality and safety, delays and operational incidents, guide and visitor injuries, intervention during visitor emergencies, fatigue, psychological strain, remuneration adequacy, and intention to leave the profession. Two otherwise identical questionnaire versions were used: 185 respondents received the standard version and 195 received a version preceded by a three paragraph framing text describing how infrastructure may affect guides’ well-being and performance. The dataset combines nominal, ordinal, 5-point response, and multiple response variables. It can support descriptive analysis, association testing, ordinal and binary regression, subgroup comparisons, and analysis of framing effects. Its principal value lies in linking destination infrastructure to the experiences of a nationally distributed frontline tourism profession.