The governance of the coastal region in Portugal: landscape as a catalyst for change.

Abstract

Most European coastal regions face multifaceted governance challenges due to climate change and to high levels of coastal landscape transformation, which are expected to increase considerably in areas with high population and infrastructure concentration (Williams et al., 2022). Despite long-term political and scientific claims advocating for the obligation to protect and enhance coastal regions, their attractiveness for human activities continues to rise. Moreover, several pressures persist, contributing to the ongoing transformation of their character. The need for substantial reform of their governance systems is evident and well-documented (Kelly et al., 2019).

The current scientific debate emphasises that coastal governance reform requires recognising the boundaries and dynamics of the coastal socio-ecological system and incorporating its specific coastal condition into the governance system, especially in planning and management instruments (Van Assche et al., 2020). In landscape research, there is a growing perception of the advantages of a landscape-governance approach. Landscape governance is advocated as being the spatialisation of environmental governance, reconnecting the politics of scale (multi-level governance) with the natural conditions of places (Görg, 2007). Landscape governance relies on the contemporary conceptualisation of the landscape concept as a bridging concept between natural and social sciences. At the European level, the Council of Europe Landscape Convention sets a robust political framework for its implementation.

So far, empirical research on landscape governance primarily focuses on landscape forest restoration in the Global South, with discussions on coastal landscapes remaining limited (Gonçalves and Pinho, 2022). This trend is also observed in coastal governance and coastal and landscape planning and management research. Considering the theoretical advantages of employing a landscape-governance approach, it is fundamental to expand our empirical understanding of the role that landscape thinking has been playing in the governance of the European coastal region.

To address this gap, we conducted an explanatory multiple case-study research in Portugal with the aim of understanding how the landscape concept has been integrated into the governance of the coastal region and to what extent this consideration has impacted its outcomes. Portugal faces several challenges regarding coastal governance and climate change, making it a pertinent case. Three Portuguese municipalities - Vila do Conde, Póvoa de Varzim and Esposende - were selected because, between 1977-1978, the landscape architect Ilídio de Araújo produced the seminal study “Coastal Zone Landscape Survey between Caminha and Cortegaça”, ordered by the General Directorate of Urban Planning. This study, a rarity for its time in Portugal, serves as a valuable resource to explore the introduction of landscape thinking in the planning governance system. The unit of analysis is the governance system, encompassing the planning instruments and actors and their effects on the system to be governed (the coastal landscape). The temporal analysis spans from the 70’s to the present day.

Results reveal variability in the integration of landscape thinking in the governance of the coastal region over time, strongly influenced by the European policy agenda. Additionally, protected areas set up decades earlier were fundamental to safeguarding the coastal landscape, which, combined with mandatory landscape instruments, have been essential to protecting the coastal socio-ecological system from urban developments. It also became evident that if landscape thinking had prevailed in the governance of the coastal region, it could have been a game-changer for a more sustainable coastal region. While acknowledging the limitations of generalisation from a case-study research, our conclusions point out the need for a transformative paradigm shift towards coastal landscape governance, anchored in the Council of Europe Landscape Convention.

Funding

Carla Gonçalves was funded by the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT) through the Doctoral Grant UI/BD/151233/2021.