Designated by the UNESCO a World Heritage Site in 1988, it is a typical example of the architecture of the early centuries of Islam in Maghreb.

The Medina of Sousse is located in the Tunisian Sahel and forms an outstanding archeological site.

Its architectural style, from the time of the Aghlabid, is representative of the military coastal constructions of the era, meant to be stout and imposing, so as to ward off foes.

As a coastal heritage site, Medina of Sousse is vulnerable to sea level rise.

In 2022, the IPCC Sixth Assessment Report included it in the list of African cultural sites which would be threatened by flooding and coastal erosion by the end of the century, but only if climate change followed RCP 8.5, which is the scenario of high and continually increasing greenhouse gas emissions associated with the warming of over 4 °C.,[2] and is no longer considered very likely.