Sustainable and Resilient Coastal Cities: Trigger to Enhance Nature-Based Solutions to Climate Change/Sea Level Rise – The Belgian Case

Abstract

One of the geographical areas where the effects of climate change manifests itself clearly is the coastal zone. Cities and municipalities on the coastline assume that the current efforts to protect the coast from the impact of climate change in the short and medium term will be sufficient. There is a genuine problem concerning stakeholder awareness and durable partnerships. Apart from the ("imposed") interventions, additional efforts are limited. The measures are primarily aimed at the "sea side" and implemented as grey infrastructure while measures should also be considered in the corresponding urban littoral area. We note that the need to make more use of climate adaptation, for example (fresh) water storage and retention areas, are rarely included in spatial plans and permits. Climate change is, unfortunately, not seen as an opportunity to progress new urban coastal landscapes and spatial innovations. In each of the ten cities and municipalities on the Flemish coastline (northern part of Belgium), there are ongoing projects on climate change adaptation and innovation. Nature based solutions (NBS) are essential when implementing a sustainable and resilient coastal area. These include hard and soft measures to raise the weakest areas of the coastline to a higher safety level, the possible adaptation of the morphological situation at the seaside, adaptive and robust town scaping. Due to the uniqueness of the urban zone, area-specific tailoring is preferable. These are the key elements of the INTERREG 2Seas project "Sustainable And Resilient Coastal Cities" (SARCC) in which nature based solutions (NBS) are demonstrated.