Ecocultural networks as grounds for spatial planning. A psychosocial approach applied to coastal development

Abstract

PurposeThis work critiques the situation of the ecological and cultural heritage in many coastal territories and analyses how current land planning methodologies are responding to it. The study builds a new integrated approach founded on ecocultural values and local knowledge as resources for an effective territorial planning and sustainable development.Design/methodology/approachThe proposed framework was developed through: (1) analysing coastal planning needs and problems in European coastal areas; (2) identifying ecocultural values, including local knowledge, in such areas; (3) selecting best approaches and tools in spatial planning; (4) applying the selected planning approaches to use ecocultural values as resources for spatial planning and sustainable development; and (5) validating the final methodology.FindingsA dynamic approach for maritime-land planning was developed projecting coastal waters and river basins as strategic drivers for sustainable development, based on the natural capacity of water to shape and integrate the ecological and cultural territory. A participatory governance planning methodology supports the new articulations of space based on ecocultural value chains and networks as synergistic vectors, focusing on local knowledge as psychosocial capital for a collective mapping of cultural, historical, social, economic and ecological values into ecocultural littoral plans.Originality/valueThe results show the potentials of combining new approaches applying cultural and ecological heritage into an effective strategy of integration between society and territory as a powerful driver for effective sustainable planning and development.

Mapping Local Perceptions for the Planning of Cultural Landscapes

“…In these cases, authors often refer to participatory mapping input as local spatial knowledge, spatial values, place values, landscape values, meaningful places, sense of place, social values, place attachment, etc. (McCall, 2021;Gottwald et al, 2021;Alvarez Larrain & McCall, 2019;Brown et al 2020;Gandarillas & McCall, 2021). In this study, which focuses on the cultural landscape, the authors will refer to them as 'local heritage perceptions'.…”

The characteristic of a coastal landscape ecosystem at Simeulue Island, Aceh Province

“…The coastal landscape is an area located between land and ocean areas, which provides natural resources to meet people's living needs. The coastal landscape has a function as a provider of natural resources, provider of life support services, provider of comfort services and a recipient of waste from development activities on land such as residential activities, trade activities, fisheries and industrial activities [1] [2].…”

How do aesthetics and tourist involvement influence cultural identity in heritage tourism? The mediating role of mental experience

“…Until 2022, China owns 56 World Cultural and Natural Heritage Sites recorded on UNESCO’s World Heritage List, making it one of the countries with the most complete types of World Heritage Sites in the world ( Dai et al, 2022 ). Heritage tourism research began in the 1990s with a group of European scholars who were the first to explore the topics like heritage establishment and conservation, and gradually expanded by North American scholars who focused on natural heritage conservation and sustainable development in the context of protected areas and national park systems ( Harvey, 2008 ; Harrison et al, 2020 ; Smith, 2020 ; Gandarillas and McCall, 2021 ; Santoro et al, 2021 ). Since China joined the UNESCO World Heritage Committee, heritage research has gradually flourished and the primary studies can be summarized in the following four themes: fundamental issues of heritage sites and sustainable development ( Shen and Chou, 2021 ; Zhang and Lee, 2022 ; Zhou et al, 2022 ), heritage tourists ( Fang et al, 2021 ; Gao et al, 2021 ; Xu et al, 2022 ), benefits of heritage tourism stakeholders and heritage communities ( Chen, 2022 ; Zhang and Brown, 2022 ) and heritage tourism activities ( Zhang and Lee, 2022 ).…”