With the launch of its Sea and Coastal Plan in 2019, the Region has made maritime issues a central theme of its future policy. Noting that its coastline, over 900 km long, was home to the vast majority of its population and economic activities, the Region wanted to understand why its inhabitants did not perceive it as an active maritime territory, and entrusted the Maison méditerranéenne des sciences de l'homme with the task of proposing an interdisciplinary assessment of these issues. Hosted by the Institut d'Études Avancées d'Aix-Marseille Université (IMERA), the conference will alternate between participatory round tables and scientific presentations on the roots and legacies of maritime identity in the Southern Region, compared with those of other maritime regions, and will look at the challenges of a policy that respects people's environment in order to propose other models of territorial development and economic and cultural functioning.