Exploring land-sea interactions: Insights for shaping territorial space

Abstract

The interactions between land and sea are fundamental to human wellbeing. Within Europe, the 2014 Directive establishing a framework for maritime spatial planning (MSP Directive), which requires EU coastal member states to have marine spatial plans in place by 2021, also requires that MSP authorities should explicitly take into account land-sea interactions. This has stimulated a new phase of investigation into land-sea interactions in Europe. This paper aims to contribute to marine and coastal planning debates by reflecting on one of these investigations, the Maritime Spatial Planning and Land Sea Interactions (MSP-LSI) project. The paper starts by providing a historical overview of the growing attention being paid to LSI within the context of European policy making. This sets the context for the MSP-LSI project and the approach to exploring land-sea interactions it developed is outlined. The paper then uses examples from the project’s case study investigations to highlight and illustrate some of the wider insights the project revealed, both in relation to the extensive spatial footprint associated with selected maritime sectors and how marine space is being shaped by, and contributing to landward activity and governance agendas. It concludes by presenting a case not only for adopting a ‘one space’ perspective in MSP, but in territorial spatial planning and management regimes more generally.