Routledge Towards Coastal Resilience and Sustainability (The Dynamics of Economic Space)

Coastal zones represent a frontline in the battle for sustainability, as coastal communities face unprecedented economic challenges. Coastal ecosystems are subject to overuse, loss of resilience and increased vulnerability. This book aims to interrogate the multi- scalar complexities in creating a more sustainable coastal zone. Sustainability transitions are geographical processes, which happen in situated, particular places. However, much contemporary discussion of transition is either aspatial or based on implicit assumptions about spatial homogeneity. This book addresses these limitations through an examination of socio- technological transitions with an explicitly spatial focus in the context of the coastal zone.The book begins by focusing on theoretical understandings of transition processes specific to the coastal zone and includes detailed empirical case studies. The second half of the book appraises governance initiatives in coastal zones and their efficacy. The authors conclude with an implicit theme of social and environmental justice in coastal sustainability transitions.Research will be of interest to practitioners, academics and decision- makers active in the sphere of coastal sustainability. The multi- disciplinary nature encourages accessibility for individuals working in the fields of Economic Geography, Regional Development, Public Policy and Planning, Environmental Studies, Social Geography and Sociology. About the Author C. Patrick Heidkamp is an Associate Professor in, and chair of, the Department of the Environment, Geography & Marine Sciences at Southern Connecticut State University in the USA and a visiting Lecturer in the School of Natural Sciences and Psychology at Liverpool John Moores University in the UK. He is also the co- director of the Connecticut State University System Center for Environmental Literacy and Sustainability Education and an affiliate of the Economic Rights Research Group at the University of Connecticut. He is an environmental economic geographer with a research focus on sustainability transitions.John Morrissey is a Lecturer in Geography at Mary Immaculate College, University of Limerick, Ireland. His research is focused on issues of sustainable development, particularly socio- technical transitions, low- carbon development and challenges of low- carbon economy for urban and coastal communities. His work is informed by environmental economic geography with a focus on socio- spatial differentiation of transition processes.