Building Resilient Blue Places? The importance of Equity and Blue Space in Assembling a Blue Economy in the context of Climate Change (BLUEPLACES)

BLUEPLACES is a new three-year research project that will help to increase the resilience of Norway’s coastal communities in the face of a rapidly changing climate.

The Norwegian government has ambitious plans for the nation’s ‘Blue Economy’; to ensure the future prosperity of coastal and oceanic communities. Yet, ocean and coastal spaces are increasingly under pressure and as the Blue Economy creates space and opportunities for some, others may become disadvantaged or displaced.

Coastal communities in Norway are also under pressure because of social change exacerbated by the exodus of women and young people, and climate change which is expected to have severe impacts in coastal spaces.

The question is then, how can we make Norway’s coastal communities resilient to future climate impacts at a time when the communities themselves are experiencing significant social and economic change?

In BLUEPLACES we respond to these issues by addressing the underlying economic and social composition of coastal communities: exploring the importance of equity in building resilient coastal places – places that have positive outcomes for all of society (incl. women, youth, migrants, and indigenous groups) with better capacities to adapt to urgent ongoing and future pressures of climate change.

We explore key themes on how to reduce pressures on coastal communities in developing a thriving Blue Economy: its design; impacts of climate change; how diverse groups benefit; how coastal communities’ resilience can be improved; how planning might facilitate equitable Blue Economy development; and how the future of the Blue Economy can be imagined differently.

These themes are all related to our wider purpose: to understand how an equitable Blue Economy can be envisioned, and how it can build resilient Blue Places in a climate-challenged world.