The Effects of Urban and Economic Development on Coastal Zone Management

Abstract

The land transformation process in the last decades produced the urbanization growth in flat and coastal areas all over the world. The combination of natural phenomena and human pressure is likely one of the main factors that enhance coastal dynamics. These factors lead to an increase in coastal risk (considered as the product of hazard, exposure, and vulnerability) also in view of future climate change scenarios. Although each of these factors has been intensively studied separately, a comprehensive analysis of the mutual relationship of these elements is an open task. Therefore, this work aims to assess the possible mutual interaction of land transformation and coastal management zones, studying the possible impact on local coastal communities. The idea is to merge the techniques coming from urban planning with data and methodology coming from the coastal engineering within the frame of a holistic approach. The main idea is to relate urban and land changes to coastal management. Then, the study aims to identify if stakeholders’ pressure motivated the deployment of rigid structures instead of shoreline variations related to energetic and sedimentary balances. The influence of coastal protection (described by an indicator taking into account the linear density of the rigid protection extension alongshore) measures have been considered. Finally, the economical performances in the period just after the land transformation have been studied by means of a dimensionless index based on the concept of the local unit. The method has been applied to the case study of the Abruzzo Region. Results reveal a large urbanization growth and a generalized over-protection of the coast with a resulting spatial alternation of shoreline retreat and advance. On the other hand, the analysis of the local economy reveals that the presence of tourism activities does not necessarily lead to an increase in the local economy. Indeed, the most important improvement in local economies in the region can be associated with coastal stretches characterized by a high environmental value.

County-level environmental carrying capacity and spatial suitability of coastal resources: A case study of Zhuanghe, China

“…The background evaluation of the spatial natural resources, production environment, and meteorological environment of the coastal zone all require deepening the spatial evaluation of the coastal zone and the protection of important functional areas such as fishery production and ecological protection. (1) Suitability evaluation of urban construction (SEUC) was addressed by considering land resources, water resources, climate resources, the ecological environment, and socio-economic indicators (Pasquali and Marucci, et al, 2021;Caviedes et al, 2022). ( 2) Suitability of agricultural production (SAP) considered such evaluation indicators as land resources, climate resources, and water resources, while superimposed ecological function was applied for correction (Wang et al, 2022;Wu et al, 2022).…”

“…Moreover, most previous studies were focused on the environmental assessment of a single resource, which has left gaps in our understanding of the layout, conflict of spatial utilization, and spatial suitability in coastal zones. As coastal zone management is becoming increasingly comprehensive (Caviedes et al, 2020;Pasquali and Marucci, 2021;Caviedes et al, 2022), the evaluation of coastal zone resource and environmental carrying capacity and spatial suitability has also become an important element of coastal management practice (Schipper et al, 2021). Overall, the dilemma of integrated coastal zone management requires deeper examination.…”

Beach Drainage System: A Comprehensive Review of a Controversial Soft-Engineering Method

“…The shoreline dynamics must be considered also in view of the current beach erosion that could be exacerbated by future possible climate change scenarios (i.e., sea level rise). Therefore, without interventions aimed to stabilize the shoreline position, an increase of coastal vulnerability (hence coastal risk) may happen [2,3]. Even if it is sometimes defined as "acute erosion" [4], the shoreline retreat is often temporary.…”

“…Indeed, they provide a series of benefits, ranging from the restoration buffer to extreme storms, to the increase of recreational attractiveness [25], to the avoided lack of sand on the adjacent beaches. Their temporary nature (i.e., they do not solve the cause of erosion itself [26], rather supply for a local sand deficiency) can be enhanced by the "hybrid" or "mixed" deployment of solutions [2], whose main goal is to retain the added sand by increasing the lifetime of nourishment projects. The environmental sustainability of beach nourishment can be maintained by the adoption of low-impact solutions, both structural (i.e., low-crested submerged breakwaters) and non-structural.…”

Investigation on the Reflection Coefficient for Seawalls Protected by a Rubble Mound Structure

“…They are effective in stabilizing the coast from wave-induced erosion, but they are also used for contrasting overtopping and consequent flooding of the inland areas with possible damage to infrastructures (i.e., roads, and buildings). These aspects are crucial within the frame of coastal risk assessment (e.g., [1][2][3][4][5]).…”