Best Practice Coastal Development Design

5. BEST PRACTICE COASTAL DEVELOPMENT DESIGN

This section has been provided to assist people who are involved in the practical aspects of developing land within the coastal environment and who wish to incorporate best practice coastal design elements into their development.

Whangarei Coastal Development (Credit: Raewyn Peart)

There are some key questions that need to be addressed when designing coastal development, which are:

  1. Should there be development on the site at all?
  2. If the answer is yes, where on the site should there be development, at what density and of what type?
  3. How can the design serve to preserve, enhance and restore important natural and cultural values of the site?
  4. How can the design foster sustainability in the long-term?

These questions can be answered by adopting a design process which incorporates three conceptual stages:

✓ Identify
✓ Maintain and enhance
✓ Create

How much work is required for each of these stages will depend on the characteristics of the land and the surrounding coastal environment. Larger projects will require more sophisticated assessment and design than smaller projects.

Last updated at 2:12PM on February 25, 2015