Nature Conservation and Sustainable Tourism in a Former Baltic Sea Coastal Military Area

The coastal zone consists of diverse littoral habitats, which we categorize into two primary types: linear and areal. Investigating linear littoral habitats is crucial for resolving the ‘coastal squeeze’ phenomenon in coastal and marine protected areas and in seaside resorts. Our research aims to id...

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Main Authors: Egidijus Jurkus, Julius Taminskas, Arvydas Urbis, Ramūnas Povilanskas
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: MDPI AG 2025-04-01
Series:Land
Subjects:
Online Access:https://www.mdpi.com/2073-445X/14/4/887
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author Egidijus Jurkus
Julius Taminskas
Arvydas Urbis
Ramūnas Povilanskas
author_facet Egidijus Jurkus
Julius Taminskas
Arvydas Urbis
Ramūnas Povilanskas
author_sort Egidijus Jurkus
collection DOAJ
description The coastal zone consists of diverse littoral habitats, which we categorize into two primary types: linear and areal. Investigating linear littoral habitats is crucial for resolving the ‘coastal squeeze’ phenomenon in coastal and marine protected areas and in seaside resorts. Our research aims to identify the critical conditions for the conversion of defunct seaside military training areas as brownfields into coastal protected areas and small-scale seaside resorts and their sustainable planning and management. The development of seaside tourism facilities is taking place both on the coast and in the hinterland, but the coast is used for tourism much more intensively than the hinterland. It is challenging to ‘pull’ tourists away from the linear beach to the areal hinterland. We argue that the distinctiveness of the resource use conflicts in coastal and hinterland tourism lies in an essential difference between the system’s linear and areal littoral habitats, as 78% of summer visitors in Pajūris Regional Park in Lithuania come for active leisure in nature. The results of our study show that combining the GIS interpretation algorithms, supported by the innovative conjoining of DPSIR and Delphi analytical tools, ensures site-tailored integrated management of the linear waterfront and the areal hinterland.
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spelling doaj-art-6a2d1f68b51547538558dca97d868c0d2025-08-20T02:28:24ZengMDPI AGLand2073-445X2025-04-0114488710.3390/land14040887Nature Conservation and Sustainable Tourism in a Former Baltic Sea Coastal Military AreaEgidijus Jurkus0Julius Taminskas1Arvydas Urbis2Ramūnas Povilanskas3Nature Research Centre, 08412 Vilnius, LithuaniaNature Research Centre, 08412 Vilnius, LithuaniaDepartment of Social Geography and Tourism, Klaipeda University, 92294 Klaipėda, LithuaniaDepartment of Social Geography and Tourism, Klaipeda University, 92294 Klaipėda, LithuaniaThe coastal zone consists of diverse littoral habitats, which we categorize into two primary types: linear and areal. Investigating linear littoral habitats is crucial for resolving the ‘coastal squeeze’ phenomenon in coastal and marine protected areas and in seaside resorts. Our research aims to identify the critical conditions for the conversion of defunct seaside military training areas as brownfields into coastal protected areas and small-scale seaside resorts and their sustainable planning and management. The development of seaside tourism facilities is taking place both on the coast and in the hinterland, but the coast is used for tourism much more intensively than the hinterland. It is challenging to ‘pull’ tourists away from the linear beach to the areal hinterland. We argue that the distinctiveness of the resource use conflicts in coastal and hinterland tourism lies in an essential difference between the system’s linear and areal littoral habitats, as 78% of summer visitors in Pajūris Regional Park in Lithuania come for active leisure in nature. The results of our study show that combining the GIS interpretation algorithms, supported by the innovative conjoining of DPSIR and Delphi analytical tools, ensures site-tailored integrated management of the linear waterfront and the areal hinterland.https://www.mdpi.com/2073-445X/14/4/887Baltic Seacoastal squeezeDelphi methodDPSIRGIShinterland
spellingShingle Egidijus Jurkus
Julius Taminskas
Arvydas Urbis
Ramūnas Povilanskas
Nature Conservation and Sustainable Tourism in a Former Baltic Sea Coastal Military Area
Land
Baltic Sea
coastal squeeze
Delphi method
DPSIR
GIS
hinterland
title Nature Conservation and Sustainable Tourism in a Former Baltic Sea Coastal Military Area
title_full Nature Conservation and Sustainable Tourism in a Former Baltic Sea Coastal Military Area
title_fullStr Nature Conservation and Sustainable Tourism in a Former Baltic Sea Coastal Military Area
title_full_unstemmed Nature Conservation and Sustainable Tourism in a Former Baltic Sea Coastal Military Area
title_short Nature Conservation and Sustainable Tourism in a Former Baltic Sea Coastal Military Area
title_sort nature conservation and sustainable tourism in a former baltic sea coastal military area
topic Baltic Sea
coastal squeeze
Delphi method
DPSIR
GIS
hinterland
url https://www.mdpi.com/2073-445X/14/4/887
work_keys_str_mv AT egidijusjurkus natureconservationandsustainabletourisminaformerbalticseacoastalmilitaryarea
AT juliustaminskas natureconservationandsustainabletourisminaformerbalticseacoastalmilitaryarea
AT arvydasurbis natureconservationandsustainabletourisminaformerbalticseacoastalmilitaryarea
AT ramunaspovilanskas natureconservationandsustainabletourisminaformerbalticseacoastalmilitaryarea