Does landscape play a role in the governance of the coastal region? An evolutionary perspective from Portugal since 1950

Abstract

The landscape crisis and the climate crisis strongly affect coastal landscapes in many coastal regions worldwide. Evidence shows that the difficulty of governing coastal regions has increased alongside the attractiveness of contemporary societies for settlements near the coastline. There is a growing debate in landscape governance conceptualisation and operationalisation, in landscape research. Despite the significant progress on this theme, empirical discussions on coastal landscapes are scarce, a trend already followed by landscape and coastal planning and management debates, highlighting the need for empirical research. This article explores this research gap, conducting an evolutionary analysis of the governance of the coastal region in Portugal, tracing the co-evolution of its institutions and actors since 1950 to understand whether the landscape concept has been integrated into the governance of the coastal region. Our research design comprised two main parts. Firstly, we conducted a literature review comparing the Portuguese landscape and coastal governance diachronic analysis with the evolution at the European level. Secondly, we undertook a content analysis of the principal legislative institutions over the analysed time frame. Results reveal that Portuguese governance evolution diverges somehow from European trends, particularly after the European Landscape Convention, and show that the integration of the landscape concept into the coastal governance system was strongly dependent on powerful actors, their particular interests, values and stocks of knowledge. Along its evolutionary path, the imperative for coastal landscape governance arises from recognising its pivotal role in addressing the intricate and interconnected challenges inherent to coastal regions, needing further research to advance its theoretical and empirical knowledge.