The Management of Urban Coastal Resources

Urban populations are generating intense pressures for the utilization of coastal resources. Coastal management programs must be concerned with expanding the opportunities for use of the coastal zone as well as with the protection of the natural environment. One way to respond to social and economic demands for coastal resources is to increase the carrying capacity of the coastal zone in urban areas. This paper analyzes public ownership and leasing, which is a management tool that allows private development to occur within a framework of public control. Marina del Rey, the world´s largest small craft harbor, is a multi-activity coastal community created through such a leasehold system, which serves a diversity of uses within one overall project. If efforts to protect natural coastal areas are to succeed, it will be necessary to determine ways to accommodate pressures for coastal activities through the development and redevelopment of the urban coastal zone.