Social Coast: Coastal Law, Management and Human Dimensions

Coastal systems are socially constructed places, shaped by human institutions, norms, and decisions. As coastal populations grow, so can conflicts about resource use and development. Mix in climate change, sea level rise, and increased storminess, and the dynamism of "life on the edge" can increase. This course combines legal and socio-cultural approaches to understand coastal systems. It introduces relevant laws and policies, explores resulting management regimes and implications, and moves beyond an understanding of management predicated on regulating human activities to examine how the human dimensions of coasts, including values and perceptions, inform behavior and contribute to policy and decision-making.