Impact of Climate Change and Other Disasters on Coastal Cultural Heritage: An Example from Greece

Protection of coastal cultural heritage is among the most urgent global priorities, as these sites face increasing threats from climate change, sea level rise, and human activity. This study emphasises the value of innovative geospatial tools and data ecosystems for timely risk assessment. The role of land administration systems, geospatial documentation of coastal cultural heritage sites, and the adoption of innovative techniques that combine various methodologies is crucial for timely action. The coastal management infrastructure in Greece is presented, outlining the key public authorities and national legislation, as well as the land administration and geospatial ecosystems and the various available geospatial ecosystems. We profile the Hellenic Cadastre and the Hellenic Archaeological Cadastre along with open geospatial resources, and introduce TRIQUETRA Decision Support System (DSS), produced through the EU’s Horizon project, and a Digital Twin methodology for hazard identification, quantification, and mitigation. Particular emphasis is given to the role of Digital Twin technology, which acts as a continuously updated virtual replica of coastal cultural heritage sites, integrating heterogeneous geospatial datasets such as cadastral information, photogrammetric 3D models, climate projections, and hazard simulations, allowing for stakeholders to test future scenarios of sea level rise, flooding, and erosion, offering an advanced tool for resilience planning. The approach is validated at the coastal archaeological site of Aegina Kolona, where a UAV-based SfM-MVS survey produced using high-resolution photogrammetric outputs, including a dense point cloud exceeding 60 million points, a 5 cm resolution Digital Surface Model, high-resolution orthomosaics with a ground sampling distance of 1 cm and 2.5 cm, and a textured 3D model using more than 6000 nadir and oblique images. These products provided a geospatial infrastructure for flood risk assessment under extreme rainfall events, following a multi-scale hydrologic–hydraulic modelling framework. Island-scale simulations using a 5 m Digital Elevation Model (DEM) were coupled with site-scale modelling based on the high-resolution UAV-derived DEM, allowing for the nested evaluation of water flow, inundation extents, and velocity patterns. This approach revealed spatially variable flood impacts on individual structures, highlighted the sensitivity of the results to watershed delineation and model resolution, and identified critical intervention windows for temporary protection measures. We conclude that integrating land administration systems, open geospatial data, and Digital Twin technology provides a practical pathway to proactive and efficient management, increasing resilience for coastal heritage against climate change threats.