Paper short abstract:

How can residential tourists in the Mediterranean transition from a consumption-driven logic to one of landscape care, connecting fieldwork on specific materials in tourist destinations and origins. It reimagines tourism as a catalyst for ecological stewardship amid shared climate challenges

Paper long abstract:

This paper explores how the logic of consumption that drives residential tourism in Mediterranean destinations might transition into a framework of landscape care. It examines how Northern European visitors, initially engaging with Mediterranean environments as consumers, often through second-home purchases, might adopt more sustainable practices attuned to local ecosystems. Drawing on fieldwork conducted with residential migrants at Mediterranean destinations through a housing design agency, the study investigates the cultural and environmental shifts required for such a transition.

The analysis extends to the tourists' places of origin, such as Aberdeen, a city tied to the North Sea’s offshore gas economy. Here, the common language of onshore and offshore reflects extractive logics similar to those driving coastal developments in the Mediterranean. By juxtaposing the North Sea and the Mediterranean, the paper highlights parallels in resource exploitation and the contrasting rhythms of their ecosystems.

Through these lenses, this study seeks to reimagine how seasonal migration, currently dominated by consumption patterns, could evolve toward cycles of care and ecological stewardship. Focusing on specific patterns of materials as water and plants, it questions what cultural, economic, and design interventions might enable this shift, proposing speculative narratives that connect the weather and social cycles of both seas. Ultimately, the Mediterranean becomes a testing ground for new imaginaries of shared responsibility, offering insights into how tourism and migration might help address the climate crisis rather than exacerbate it.