Designing and building infrastructure works in coastal areas, such as harbor developments, coastal protection works or energy harvesting installations, poses technical and governing challenges that are unseen of on land. Therefore, in order to realize such projects, all attention is devoted to solving the project-specific challenges. As a result, the vast majority of coastal infrastructure works serve one single goal: harbor developments increase harbor capacity, coastal protection works safeguard the hinterland from storms and offshore wind farms generate green energy.
However, with the increasing pressure on coasts from stakeholders on the one hand, and the grand challenges (social, economic and ecologic crisis) on the other hand, competition for one of the most valuable coastal attributes, space, will continue to grow. We therefore see a shift in focus of large infrastructural project from single use to multi-use. These projects are often integrated in long-term “master plans” that combine innovation, vision and ambition.
Unfortunately, realizing those master plans, even in a staged approach, brings new challenges: governing processes become even more complex, financial close is even more difficult to obtain, the number of stakeholders grow and the technical difficulties increase in quantity and complexity.
During Littoral2012, we want to discuss the future role of single use and multi-use infrastructure projects in coastal areas, and learn how they can help to get to a truly integrated and sustainable management of the coasts of tomorrow. This theme can be cross-linked with the themes on coastal productivity and nature conservation.
Participants are invited to present papers that cover any of the following subjects related to on- and nearshore infrastructure:
- Examples of successful implementation of multi-use infrastructure projects;
- Issues related to the complexity of realizing managing multi-use coastal infrastructure projects;
- Ideas for combining several functions through innovative design;
- Critical reflection on ambitious coastal infrastructure projects;
