--Overview--

This International Conference on Coastal Cities has evolved from a series of meetings organised by the Wessex Institute in the past, dealing with the Coastal Environment, Coastal Processes and City Sustainability. It felt necessary to convene a conference dedicated to the presentation and discussion of issues related to the integrated management and sustainable development of coastal cities.

Coastal zones are the most attractive areas of the world, where land, sea and air interact, leading to highly complex dynamic processes. The growth of world population and the preference for living in coastal areas has resulted in their ever-increasing development.

Coastal areas are the most common destination which brings in economic growth but implies additional urban development and increases the need for resources, infrastructure and services.

The strategic location of coastal cities for instance, facilitates transportation and the development of related activities, but this requires the existence of large ports, with the corresponding increase in maritime and road traffic with all its inherent negative effects.

The above-mentioned activities and others common to coastal cities require the development of well-planned and managed urban environments, not only for reasons of efficiency and economics, but also to avoid inflicting environmental degradation that causes the deterioration of quality of life and human health.

To resolve these problems it is necessary to consider coastal cities as dynamic complex systems which need energy, water, food and other resources in order to work and generate diverse activities, with the aim of offering a socioeconomic climate and better quality of life.

As a consequence, the integrated management and sustainable development of coastal cities is essential, with science, technology, architecture, socio-economics and planning all collaborating to provide support to decision makers.

Due to the complex nature of the problem, the planners need the support of computational models to explore different options and forecast future services and plans. These models seek to simulate the dynamic of coastal cities leading to potential solutions.

This International Conference on Coastal Cities and their Sustainable Future aims to provide a multi-disciplinary forum to discuss a wide range of scientific, technological and socioeconomic issues related to the development of sustainability in coastal cities.

--Conference Topics--

Landscape and urban planning and design
The coastal city and its environs
Infrastructures and ecoarchitecture
City heritage and regeneration
Urban transport and communications
Commercial ports, fishing and sports harbours
Energy systems
Water resources management
City/Waterfront interaction
Coastal city beaches
Quality of life and city leisure
Tourism and the city
Coastal processes
Water pollution
Air pollution
City waste management
Acoustical and thermal pollution
Coastal risk assessment
Coastal flooding
Landslides
Emergency plans and evacuation systems
Health services management
Intercity issues
Socio-economic issues
Legal aspects
Modelling and simulation of coastal city systems