Abstract
Heavily urbanised coastal areas are socio-ecosystems subject to significant anthropogenic pressures, most often for several centuries. Shaped by artificial structures (ports, seawalls, beaches, landfills, etc.), these territories are densely populated, have a high level of tourism, a wide range of deep-rooted uses and multiple forms of governance over a limited space. At the same time, they benefit from financial, technical, and intellectual resources that are conducive to experimentation and innovation. In this context, which is both constrained and rich in potential, coastal development still mainly relies on conventional engineering approaches. Nature-based Solutions (NbS), defined as actions aimed at protecting, sustainably managing, or restoring natural or modified ecosystems to address societal challenges while providing benefits for biodiversity, are relatively little used. Yet these solutions could provide an alternative to address issues related to climate change, health, or risk management, while generating benefits for biodiversity. Thus, the potential of NbS in urban coastal environments deserves to be explored: What types of NbS are feasible and effective in this context?This poster proposal is based on research conducted as part of the Human-Environment Observatory (OHM) Mediterranean Coast and the “MedCoast” Living Lab of the French national research program SOLUBIOD. It focuses on three main areas: (1) Benchmarking of scientific literature and NbS projects in urbanised coastal environments to identify trends, gaps, costs, impacts, and factors for success or failure; (2) Conducting interviews with coastal managers in Marseille to understand their perceptions and representations of this concept, as well as the obstacles and enablers; (3) Collaborative partnership with the City of Marseille, including a collective intelligence workshop on a key site to evaluate the integration of NbS into a coastal development project.