Environmental Planning for Oceans and Coasts

Michelle Eva Portman is Assistant Professor at the Faculty of Architecture in Technion - Israel Institute of Technology, Haifa, Israel. She is an international expert on marine and coastal policy and management; she has studied and worked in the field of environmental planning for over two decades. Her current research program focuses on the Mediterranean Sea. Among the topics her research addresses are: marine protected areas, marine spatial planning, the contribution of marine infrastructure to marine conservation, land-based sources of marine pollution and water sensitive urban development policies. 

Connections: Environmental Planning for Oceans and Coasts.- Why this book is needed.- Planning for Coasts and Oceans.- Managing of coastal and ocean environments.- "Walk through".- How this book can be used.- Definitions and Fundamental Concepts.- When? Historical considerations.- Who? Institutions and Legal Considerations.- What? Planning and management principles.- Why? Special Challenges.- New Horizons.- Coasts and Oceans physical and socio economic characteristics.- Climate Change Impacts.- Mitigation, adaptation, resilience.- Ocean Development.- Coastal Megacities.- Rivers and Inland Water bodies.- Principles of Integration.- What is integration and why is it important?.- Integrated Coastal Zone Management.- Integrated Marine Planning.- Integrated Watershed Planning.- Ecosystem based Management.- What this approach means.- Coastal ecoSystem-based management.- Marine ecosystem based management.- Implementation.- Ecosystem Services.- Overview.- The Services.- ES Assessment.- Assessment Methods.- Coastal Tourism Planning.- Overview.- Socio economic considerations.- Coastal Ecotourism.- Public Participation.- Marine Spatial Planning.- Marine Protected Areas.- Decision Support Tools.- Water Sensitive Urban Development.- Case Study I.- Case Study II.- Case Study III.

"This book can and should be used as a tool by planners, policy makers, and others to stop or even reverse the human-led detrimental process of ocean and coastal pollution and degradation. The book's largest contribution lies in the fact that unlike other scientific literature on the subject, it specifically focuses on planning and provides planners (and others) the tools to make a change in an area that desperately needs one." (Yael Teff-Seker, Journal of Planning Education and Research, May 2017)

"Portman (architecture, Technion-Israel Institute of Technology) examines how planning can advance environmental conditions in ocean and coastal areas. ... The text includes a generous number of high-quality photographs, figures, and tables. Each chapter contains references, and the work provides a much needed list of abbreviations. The value of the book is its comprehensive treatment of planning needs for ocean and coastal areas. Summing Up: Highly recommended. Upper-division undergraduates through researchers and faculty; professionals." (J. B. Huffman, Choice, Vol. 54 (4), December, 2016)