Introduction: The Future of Coastal Areas – Challenges for Planning Practice and Research

Abstract

Pressures on coasts and seas affect coastal and marine ecosystems as well as social and economic systems through changing patterns of resource use. Inter- and transdisciplinary research approaches are becoming increasingly prominent in assessing these changes. At the conceptual level, integrated concepts are expected to address the interactions between society and coastal ecosystems. The global research programme Land-Ocean Interactions in the Coastal Zone (LOICZ) and the German research project Coastal Futures are examples of this. At the implementation level, the concept of Integrated Coastal Zone Management (ICZM) has evolved as an alternative to traditional ad-hoc and sector-based approaches to planning and management. The article provides a brief overview of these developments and serves as an introduction to a series of articles in GAIA where selected issues of coastal change and coastal governance are addressed.