Marine Spatial Planning for Professionals

About the course

Human activities along the coast and at sea — such as fishing, shipping, energy and material extraction, and recreation — have followed a near-exponential growth curve since the 1970s. As a result, the need for marine planning and management has grown accordingly. At the same time, marine spatial planning and management are becoming increasingly complex as demands on the marine environment continue to rise. In recent years, the regulatory framework for the marine environment has changed substantially. The EU adopted the Marine Strategy Framework Directive in 2008 — the largest single piece of environmental legislation ever enacted — which, among other things, obliges Sweden to regularly report marine monitoring data in order to protect and preserve the marine environment. This was followed in 2015 by the Maritime Spatial Planning Directive, which requires all EU member states to develop national marine spatial plans. In Sweden, these plans are prepared by the Swedish Agency for Marine and Water Management and adopted by the government.

Content

The course is organised into four parts:

The state and the municipality The marine environment Planning and design methodology The demands and environmental impact of shipping

The first part outlines the respective responsibilities and authority of the state and the municipality in Swedish marine spatial planning. This includes describing how responsibility and authority are distributed across the different planning levels and how this is addressed in legislation. The first part also points you toward where to find knowledge resources and geographic data for municipal marine planning.

The second part covers knowledge of the marine environment and the particular conditions it presents for planning, including the structure and ecology of the sea. It also addresses planning in relation to bodies of water and environmental quality standards, and how ecosystem services can be used and affected by human activity and by the competing claims different stakeholders place on the sea as a resource.

The third part focuses on planning and planning methodology. It covers the specific conditions that apply to marine planning, as distinct from planning on land, while also showing how the planning process can be applied and shaped to address complex societal challenges.

The fourth part deals with shipping — its demands on marine space and its substantial environmental impact, which is not yet fully accounted for in marine spatial planning. This part provides an overview of the different ways shipping affects the marine environment, methods for quantifying that impact, and possible solutions for reducing it.

The course offers a dynamic learning environment with short videos, in-depth materials, and exercises.

The course was developed by Chalmers. The County Administrative Board and the Swedish Agency for Marine and Water Management have contributed as co-creators, with experts featured in the video material and participating in the reference group.

When and how?

All parts of the course are free of charge. The course consists of self-study, so you choose when and at what pace to work through the material. It is taught in Swedish, and the estimated time to complete the course is 35–50 hours, depending on how much of the optional material you choose to study. The course lets you tailor your learning to best support your professional development. We recommend taking the course together with colleagues, to share what you learn and anchor it in your everyday work — though this is not a requirement.

Contact

Nils Björling 

Senior Lecturer in Urban Planning and Design, ACE Research Area Leader, Local-Regional Transformation (ACE) Nils.bjorling@chalmers.se

0733-86 49 10

Ida-Maja Hassellöv 

Professor, M2 Theme Area Leader, Ocean

ida-maja@chalmers.se

031-772 31 39

Contributing experts

Cecilia Lindsten, ArkitekturVerkstad Carl Dahlberg, Sustainable Perspectives CD Unni Liljegren, County Administrative Board of Västra Götaland Joacim Johannesson, Swedish Agency for Marine and Water Management Stina Norén, Lysekil Municipality Charlotte Bränström, Orust Municipality