Strategies for Transforming Coastal Governance: Addressing Interdependent Dimensions

 Coastal areas are places where land and sea meet. These places offer many socio‐economic opportunities
 but also face profound social and environmental challenges that are often exacerbated by limitations in
 current governance systems. These limitations include a lack of coordination, unclear mandates and roles,
 fragmented knowledge, power dynamics, and insufficient stakeholder involvement. Transforming coastal
 governance is therefore needed to enhance the effectiveness and legitimacy of governance systems and
 their institutions, but current practices and past experiences have shown that changing governance is
 anything but easy. In this article, we analyse how three critical governance dimensions: (1) forms of
 integration of land and sea management; (2) forms of knowledge mobilized; and (3) forms of democracy in
 their interplay, shape possibilities and limits for transforming governance. Drawing on insights from the
 literature and three case studies from Spain, the UK, and Norway, we highlight how these different
 governance dimensions are strongly interrelated and should be addressed in coherent ways to make
 governance more effective and legitimate.