Regional Planning and the Environmental Impact of Coastal Tourism: The Mission Racine for the Redevelopment of Languedoc-Roussillon’s Littoral

Abstract

Research on the coast has highlighted the role of mass tourism as a driver of littoral urbanization. This article emphasizes the role of public policy by focusing on Languedoc-Roussillon in Mediterranean France. This littoral was the target of a state-driven development initiative known as Mission Racine, which aimed to promote the growth of what was seen as a backward area via the development of seaside tourism. For that purpose, the Mission promoted coordinated interventions including forest management, eradication of mosquitoes, construction of resorts, and transport infrastructure. This large-scale redevelopment significantly reshaped the littoral environment, severely impacted pre-existing forms of coastal activities and launched a new tourism industry. The legacy of the Mission, however, also included innovative land-use planning, which established protected areas and sought to contain urbanization. This case study illustrates the ambiguities of public policies for the coast, which can act alternatively as drivers of development or conservation and at times of both, and therein lies the importance of a contextual analysis of their role.

Matrix of Architectural Solutions for the Conflict between Transport Infrastructures, Landscape and Urban Habitat along the Mediterranean Coastline: The Case of the Maresme Region in Barcelona, Spain

“…This research can be understood as an opportunity to solve these problems in a coherent way with the littoral landscape not only in one specific location, but also in other similar places all along the Mediterranean coastline following the methods presented [ 15 , 16 , 17 , 18 , 19 , 20 , 21 ]. Furthermore, in these littoral areas, there is a common conflict between the management of the different implicated administrations [ 22 ] (e.g., municipalities, provinces and government) and also between different infrastructures (e.g., railways, roads and ports).…”

Tourism in Continental Ecuador and the Galapagos Islands: An Integrated Coastal Zone Management (ICZM) Perspective

“…Coastal tourism management can be defined as a set of actions that leads to the achievement of certain tourist objectives (e.g., increasing the supply of services and destinations, participation of tourism in sustainability, institutional efficiency, development of talent) in coastal environments through the combination [26], distribution and disposition of material and human resources, the coordination, guidance and motivation of the different agents involved, and the evaluation of the effects according to the set objectives [27]. Tourism, as a collective social practice that generates economic activity, is essentially required to properly create and manage employment and public wealth by making efficient and sustainable use of available, scarce and often irreproducible resources [28,29].…”

Delivering Tourism Sustainability and Competitiveness in Seaside and Marine Resorts with GIS

“…Natural recreational resources, such as climate or landscape diversity, are not the only factors determining the attractiveness of coastal and maritime areas for tourism development [36]. The leisure potential of the coast and nearshore depends on many other factors, e.g., social and economic conditions, infrastructure development and accessibility by transport [37]. In the case of Karklė resort, the Littoral Regional Park Management Plan (adopted in 2016) is the primary document defining the recreational management of the beaches, nearshore and hinterland.…”