Liveability and cities “in the middle”: an analysis of urban wellbeing from a foundational economy perspective

This article examines liveability within the Italian urban system through the lens of the foundational economy. Existing approaches to liveability have increasingly relied on standardized and competitiveness-oriented frameworks, often overlooking the territorial and relational specificities of different urban contexts. Intermediate urban areas, despite their strategic role within national settlement systems, remain underexplored in current debates. To address this gap, the article focuses on cities “in the middle,” understood as medium-large urban centres occupying an intermediate position between large metropolitan hubs and marginal areas. Their middle condition refers to a specific socio-relational configuration shaped by demographic relevance, political-administrative centrality, service provision, and cultural and human-capital functions. Drawing on the foundational economy perspective, urban liveability is conceptualised as a multidimensional condition grounded in everyday life and articulated through three interconnected dimensions: foundational services, social infrastructure, and income. The empirical analysis develops a composite Liveability Index based on municipal-level indicators and applies it to 109 Italian provincial capital municipalities using ISTAT data. Results show that middle cities occupy a distinctive position within the Italian urban hierarchy, combining levels of foundational services and income comparable to those of larger urban centres but social infrastructure characteristics closer to those of smaller urban contexts. In particular, the social infrastructure dimension is a particularly discriminating dimension among cities in the middle but it is influenced by historical spatial divides between the northern and southern regions of the Country.