The morphology of coasts around the world are shaped and structured as a result of coastal systems or subsystem like the morphology of a delta, the morphology of an estuary, the morphology of a beach, the morphology of a bedform. The coastal morphology is fundamental to the relation between land and water, and the global challenges that we are facing like seal level rise and the environmental crisis. This theme focusses on coastal port cities in deltas as the intersection of the axes delta system and human transport system. The delta system is the (defense) line along the coast and the section over the delta: the deltaic system of rivers and regional water system. The axis of the human transport city is about the regional relations between the port city and the hinterland. In port cities these two regimes are under great tension of the global challenges and research by design is necessary how to transform this relation into a sustainable future.
In this theme a dedicated research effort on the determinants of coastal port cities persistence in the history of taming the delta is proposed, with the potential to significantly advance the scientific understanding of economic sustainability of coastal port cities today. Coastal port settlements (cities, towns, villages) are locations with two key attributes: 1) they frame human economical interactions and activities in space, and they are where people dwell or live 2) they respond to the coastal morphology. Sustainability, in this case, focuses on the capacity of structures and functions of a settlement system (geography, demography, institutions) to provide for continuity of safe and economical healthy habitation. The field of economical sustainability lacks a firm scientific foundation for understanding the longue durée, relying instead on narratives. We argue for the development of a new interdisciplinary research effort to establish scientific understanding, a scientific foundation will generate novel insights to advance the field of economical sustainability in coastal port cities.
The research will focus on the longue durée of the two-axis deltaic system and transport. Developing the repertoire in the spatial, morphological reciprocity between the two axes in order to – with research by design – project economical sustainable futures. The research thus couples the other themes in the PCF research in this specific approach.
