A manifesto for coastal landscape governance: Reframing the relationship between coastal and landscape governance

Abstract

There is an urgent demand for substantial reforms in the governance of coastal regions. Recent research advocates for a transformative shift in European coastal governance system towards a landscape governance approach. This perspective, informed by a narrative literature review on coastal and landscape governance, explores the potential value of coastal landscape governance, drawing on the Council of Europe Landscape Convention. Our results, presented in the form of a manifesto, underscore the need to move beyond political administrative boundaries and address all coastal landscapes as socio-ecological systems. It emphasises the necessity for the State to recognise them as a public and common good, establishing a specific governance arena with dedicated actors and institutions. The manifesto also advocates for landscape justice through knowledge co production, urging transformative change and landscape based regional design to envision alternative futures. Additionally, it calls for regionalising coastal landscape governance and invites scholars from other transdisciplinary and interdisciplinary perspectives to contribute to this research agenda.