Coastal Resilience

“Resilience” is a powerful lens through which researchers and practitioners assess, discuss and make plans for dealing with shocks and uncertainties in the face of environmental, social and economic crises. In spatial sciences resilience is widely acknowledged as promising for incorporating uncertainty into governance strategies, in particular with respect to climate change and flooding. Research conducted under the umbrella of “Coastal Resilience” topic area critically explores the “resilience turn” in spatial sciences. We focus on vulnerable and coastal areas to analyze the ethical, social and political issues at stake when trying to operationalize and use the concept of resilience in practice. Our research is empirically grounded in the Wadden Sea region, drawing from long-standing links with partner-universities in North Germany (University of Oldenburg, University of Bremen, University of Hamburg) and partners such as the Waddenacademie. In addition, our international case-studies explore flood resilience in the context of different European as well as Asian countries. The annual Trilateral Wadden Coastal Research and Education Workshop (Tri-Wad CREW), organized since 2009, has become a platform for sharing research ideas on this topic area. Coastal Resilience Research Group

People

• Elen Maarja Trell (coordinator)
• Annet Kempenaar
• Christina Prell
• Cors van den Brink
• Erik Meijles
• Frank Vanclay
• Frans Sijtsma
• Gunnar Mallon
• Gwenda van der Vaart
• Jos Arts
• Jouke van Dijk
• Margo van den Brink
• Wim Leendertse