Coastal Cities for and with Local and World Citizens

Abstract

Present and future citizens are the political stakeholders of cities in an increasingly multipolar and interconnected world. They have the right to consultation on investments of the future and the duty to exercise democratic scrutiny of policies. Climate change and the path to sustainable development have encouraged the emergence of multiple forms of active citizenship. New governance architectures seek to enhance the potential of all invisible hands of urban societies and economies and to build a social consensus on a future vision and the steps and means to make it become true on land and the sea. Citizen empowerment is a mobilising force and public-private partnerships are recognised drivers of transformational change.