Cn - Coastal Metropolis - Coastnet The Edge Autumn 2007

Webwise – Coastal cities

Coastal metropolis Megacities of the world (10 million+ inhabitants), have soared from two (Tokyo, New York) in 1950, to 20 in 2005 (UN Population Division, 2005). And of those 10 largest megacities in the world, seven are coastal (see Table 1). City coastal living has never been so popular. The benefits to settlers of a coastal location are immense: transport trading routes, plentiful food and water resources,

international trading, natural resources to name a few. Add to that the fact that our coastal cities represent some of the most culturally-rich and diverse settlements in the world and are centres, not only of communication, finance and government but also creative and artistic magnets, it’s not difficult to understand the urban coastal appeal.

Table 1: World’s top 10 largest megacities

City

Country

Coastal/Inland

Population, millions

1 Tokyo 2 Mexico City 3 New York 4 Sáo Paulo 5 Mumbai 6 Delhi 7 Shanghai 8 Kolkata (Calcutta)

Japan Mexico USA Brazil India India China India

Coastal Inland Coastal Inland Coastal Inland Coastal Coastal

35.2 19.4 18.7 18.3 18.2 15.0 14.5 14.3

9 Jakarta

Indonesia

Coastal

13.2

10 Buenos Aires

Argentina

Coastal

12.6

Worldwide City mayors and city flooding www.citymayors.com/environment/flooded_citi es.html Cities and oceans Good general resource www.thew2o.net/events/cities_oceans

Europe New Epoc port cities network www.new-epoc.net/project-cities Information, expertise and guidelines related to the regeneration process of port cities. MEDOCC SPACE Network www.eukn.org Search ‘MEDOCC space network’ Promotes a network of coastal cities, universities and agencies in Italy, Greece, Spain and Portugal. Croatia Coastal Cities Pollution Control Project www.web.worldbank.org Search under ‘Projects and operations’ Improving the quality of Croatia’s Adriatic coastal waters to meet EU environmental requirements.

USA Urban Coasts Theme Team Identifying research needs related to urban coasts along US marine and Great Lake waters. www.usc.edu/org/seagrant/UrbanCoasts/ Coastal Cities Project (see page 7) www.ruf.rice.edu/~soci/corrul/coastalcities.html

Source: UN Population newsletter, June 2006 Today, however, coastal cities face a hugely complex task of balancing all those socioeconomic goals (quality of life, tourism, ports, transport, housing etc) with the need to offset the effects of such development and preserve and conserve that which has made the coast unique and desirable in the first place. Pollution, human health, water management, species and habitat conservation, planning, mitigation and adaptation to climate change are just a few of those challenges. In this issue of The edge we have looked at four projects that are grappling with the coastal city phenomenon.

Assessing public attitudes towards challenges for coastal cities Amy Jaffe reports on the sociologicallybased Coastal Cities Project, currently working with various research institutions in China and the US to understand current public attitudes towards the challenges facing major coastal cities in both countries – Page 7

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The edge Autumn 2007

Climate change Gordon McGranahan reports on research that for the first time, maps the location of low-lying, coastal urban centres around the world, clearly highlighting how many of our most densely populated cities will be increasingly threatened by climate change due to their positioning in the coastal zone – Page 10.

Species diversity Gee Chapman, reports on research at Sydney Harbour which is looking at ways to minimise the impacts of shoreline development on other species diversity – Page 12.

Coastal management in Tokyo Bay Steve Fletcher explores some coastal management tensions present in the largest megacity in the world, Tokyo – Page 14.

Asia Reducing megacity impacts on the coastal environment. Final report from the Unesco project re waste management in Jakarta and the Seribu Islands www.unesco.or.id/images/pub/publications/20_ paper6_reducingmegacity.pdf

Australia Cities project Perth www.ga.gov.au/urban/projects/nrap/perth_repor t.jsp Report on completed natural hazard risk assessment project based in metropolitan Perth. Urban Stormwater Initiative (USI) www.environment.gov.au/coasts/pollution/usi/ index.html Reports from the Initiative tackling water quality in the waterways of major coastal cities by improving stormwater management. Centre for research on ecological impacts of coastal cities (see page 12) www.eicc.bio.usyd.edu.au/projects/