Developing ecosystem-based solution for resilient European harbours and coastal waterfronts

Nearly 40 % of the world’s population lives within 100 km of the coast, with working harbours and sprawling infrastructures that are part of the fundamental fabric of those communities. As coasts become more urbanised globally, natural habitats and associated biota are damaged and lost, with consequent loss of environmental quality, vital ecosystem services and livelihoods. Yet ocean and marine environments have been virtually ignored in modern planning, policy and design of cities, and only few conservation initiatives have been carried out in urban areas where people would directly benefit from the ecological services provided by healthy marine ecosystems. New green approaches are being developed to respond in a more sustainable way to sea level rise and flood risks and to foster production of marine food and renewable energy. While these are essential elements of urban coastal planning, there have been limited attempts to develop a more comprehensive nature-based approach to the design of urban waterfronts. Despite their “novel” artificial nature, the habitats introduced by the urban infrastructures could still support a variety of marine communities and ecosystem services, making them important areas for urban conservation and ecological rehabilitation.

ECORES aims to foster a new focus on “blue” planning and design of harbours and waterfronts of European coastal cities. Building from knowledge and experience of invited participants, ECORES aims to establish a baseline of the status, threats, conflicting uses and main challenges in harbours and waterfronts, and use this knowledge to outline guiding to mitigate the escalating impacts of marine urbanisation and for sustaining marine biodiversity and potential ecosystem services in urbanised  marine environments