Geoinformation representation of maritime knowledge flows: new frontiers of coastalization

Abstract

Marine and coastal economies are the drivers of growth for many nations around the world. Close proximity to the sea generates positive externalities being especially strong in coastal areas, whose effective governance is a challenge. The greatest challenge to date is ambiguity in delimitation of a coastal zone, as static criteria based on density of population and industry, are limited in our understanding of the functional connectivity of the sea and land. This article studies functional boundaries of a coastal zone by focusing on the geoinformation analysis of marine-related R&D. We hypothesize that maritime knowledge flows between the customers and contractors of R&D projects can outline the actual configuration of coastal zone in its knowledge production domain. The research data is sourced from ROSRID database of 2017-2019, covering 1,773 marine-related R&D projects funded or executed by entities located across 119 municipalities of 64 regions in Russia. The results of the study showed that maritime knowledge flows are not limited to coastal municipalities or even coastal regions. Some research areas, such as Fisheries, aquaculture and marine life studies, are more localized in coastal zones than others, although featuring an overall strong interconnectedness between inland and coastal territories. Functional delimitation of coastal zone management areas using dynamic data on spatial networks can enhance the effectiveness of coastal zone management.