Landscape science, coastal instruments, and landscape change: Evolutionary insights from Portugal

Since the mid-20th century, European landscapes, especially coastal regions, have faced significant transformations influenced by global and national trends, mainly driven by coastalisation. While studies have explored various aspects of coastal landscape changes across Europe and beyond, a fundamental gap remains: understanding how the conceptualisation and integration of landscape within coastal planning instruments impact broader landscape change evolution. This study addresses that gap through an evolutionary explanatory multiple case studies analysis of three municipalities in the Northern Region of Portugal, examining how the conceptualisation and integration of the landscape within three regional coastal planning instruments influenced coastal landscape changes from 1965 to 2018. Findings indicate that the degree of landscape integration varies among the coastal planning instruments, directly impacting the level of landscape protection. Our research suggests that higher levels of landscape integration could significantly enhance coastal landscape protection. An unexpected finding emerged regarding the conceptualisation of the landscape. While one might expect that a holistic conceptualisation would lead to high levels of integration, this was not always the case. Results also highlight how underlying narratives, strongly influenced by the European Union, shaped the interpretation and practical management of coastal landscapes. Our research concludes with a call for further empirical research across diverse geographies to deepen understanding of coastal landscape governance. It also emphasises the need for political will to embrace risks and foster a radical, transformative shift to approach and conceptualise the governance system in line with the changing dynamics and socio-ecological values of coastal landscapes towards coastal landscape governance.