Spatial imaginaries of 'coast' : case studies in power and place

Abstract

UK land use policy since the mid twentieth century has recognized the ‘coast’ as representing key economic, ecological and cultural resources for development and management. However, the definition, understanding and role of coastal space in planning processes has attracted limited research interest until recently. The context for including coastal space in UK planning policy has changed radically in the last few years, with, for instance, new horizons in minerals and fuel extraction, nuclear power and renewable energy affecting the land/sea interface directly. At the same time, the introduction of new spatial planning systems for marine space, requiring integration with land use planning, has shifted the institutional and conceptual parameters of development policy and regulation. This PhD thesis uses case studies in two cross-border regions of the northern UK to examine how framings of spatial imaginaries of ‘coast’ operate in consolidating or challenging dominant development discourses. It takes a relational approach to the understanding of coastal space, recognizing its discursive construction by policy actors. It examines the ways in which such constructions are being harnessed within national and local planning processes, by drawing on critical discourse analysis of the positioning and mobilization of coastal imaginaries in development policy-making. Both case study areas have extensive environmental designations of international significance. The findings point to the ways in which different imaginaries of ‘coast’ in these areas are conscripted into competing discourses of local development. The discursive harnessing of spatial imaginaries of coast by dominant economic development agendas is an active mechanism of inclusion and exclusion. These findings highlight the importance, in development policy analysis, of recognizing spatial imaginaries of ‘coast’ as the focus of agonistic and deliberative debates, rather than as functional entities per se.