Which shadow in the cities of sun ? The social division of space in the cities of the south.

To understand in a more realistic way urban dynamics and ways of living in different cities we must go over an approval use of interpretive categories that are widely used for any context. Compared to the peculiarities of the Mediterranean cities of southern Europe, where the 'informal' is very much present as historically weak is the presence of the main state institutions, where the ownership of the housing stock is fragmnented, the categories of social polarization, slum and gentrification are less suitable, in part misleading. Bearing in mind the structural factors, it is necessary to do field surveys, to study the life trajectories of individuals and social groups, to map the social profiles and the morphologies of the social division of space within which, even in the shade, millions of people survive and realize life strategies.