Urban Transformation of the Coastline from a Landscape Perspective. Analysis of Cases on the Costa del Sol (Spain)

Malerba, Alessandro; Noblejas, Hugo Castro; Barrionuevo, Juan Francisco Sortino; Rodríguez, Matías Mérida

doi:10.1007/978-3-031-06825-6_161

Cited by 2 publications

(1 citation statement)

References 31 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Characteristic hotspots of coastal urban development related to mass tourism are identified on the Adriatic coast of Italy [19], on the Cote d'Azur in France [20], in Costa Blanca and Costal del Sol along the Spanish Mediterranean coast [21][22][23][24], in island states like Malta [25] and Cyprus [26], and also in emerging tourism destinations along the Dalmatian coast [27,28]. In Greece, signs of overtourism have already been identified [29][30][31][32], especially affecting highly reputable destinations like the South Aegean islands, Ionian Islands, and Crete, while intense coastalization is also affecting mainland coastal areas like Chalkidiki and Pieria in the Central Macedonia region, Attica, and certain parts of the Peloponnese [33], among other areas.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Impervious Land Expansion as a Control Parameter for Climate-Resilient Planning on the Mediterranean Coast: Evidence from Greece

Lagarias

2023

Land

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Impervious land expansion is linked to ecosystem fragmentation and degradation, posing threats to nature conservation and multiplying climate change impacts. This is particularly true on the Mediterranean coast, where persistent urbanization is coupled with tourism development, further intensifying coastal erosion, flood risk, heat stress and biodiversity loss, while decreasing carbon sequestration. In this research, high-resolution imperviousness data were analyzed through a geospatial methodology to detect patterns and processes in a heavily burdened Mediterranean coastal area, namely Greece. The methodology was structured on a set of GIS tools, analyzing the distribution of new impervious cover between 2006 and 2018, to evaluate pressures exerted on coastal territories and on the environmental protection network. The results revealed relatively slow rates of impervious land expansion at a nationwide scale, mostly attributed to the economic recession period in Greece. However, certain locations exhibited continuing artificialization of land even within Natura 2000 areas, while future pressures on coastal territories are expected to increase due to the restarting of construction activity and the continuing dynamic of the mass tourism sector. The conclusions imply that controlling for imperviousness is important in order to develop spatial planning policies for climate resilience, which should be decisively enforced in the Mediterranean to prevent a business-as-usual scenario.

show abstract