Empowering Communities on the Urban Coastline: Co‐Creation and Conservation in Relational Landscapes

In a rapidly urbanized world, coastal cities are key arenas for the challenges encountered by coastal communities in the context of sustainable transformations. Among the landscapes most vulnerable to climate impacts and biodiversity loss, urbanized coastlines see heightened frictions between urban transformation, environmental (in)justice, and the unequal politics of coastal planning. Key habitats that could empower communities to better navigate these challenges—wetlands, lagoons, and coastal lakes—increasingly face threats such as land grabbing, overtourism, and ecosystem degradation. Conversely, practices that conserve these spaces have the potential to foreground blue justice and position urban coastlines as places human and nonhuman life can co-evolve through adaptive, caring, and regenerative relationships. Focusing on Burgas, Bulgaria, and drawing on insights from a series of NGO-led projects and initiatives over the last two decades, this article traces practical experiences with co-creative and empowerment practices from urban coastal wetland conservation. Based on this empirical context, the article argues for a more relational approach to advancing blue justice, empowerment, and co-creation in the urban coastal context.