Special Issue Introduction: Sustainable Coastal Development

This special issue examines the Eastern Mediterranean as a critical laboratory for understanding how global crises intersect with regional fragility, environmental vulnerability, and governance constraints. Spanning contexts from Malta and Cyprus to Greece, Lebanon, and Syria, the contributions highlight how global capital flows, real estate speculation, tourist-driven development, and weak regulatory frameworks intensify housing unaffordability, coastal privatization, and social and environmental inequality. The articles demonstrate that one-size-fits-all planning models—often imported from the Global North—are ill-suited to the region’s geopolitical volatility, post-conflict realities, and institutional fragmentation. Instead, the findings emphasize the necessity of context-sensitive, integrated, and inclusive approaches, including adapted forms of Integrated Coastal Zone Management and bottom-up planning practices. Collectively, the issue argues that sustainable and resilient futures in the Eastern Mediterranean depend on locally grounded governance reforms, strengthened legal frameworks, and participatory strategies capable of addressing instability, speculation, and ecological stress in a holistic manner.