Abstract
Coastal and marine areas experience physical and ecological as well as social and economic change, caused by pressure from climate change and globalization related processes. This change may include changes in species composition, hydrodynamic and morphological patterns, but also new patterns of land and sea use, all together translating into challenges for planning and management. As a response new forms of coastal (and marine) management approaches like Integrated Coastal Zone Management (ICZM), Ecosystem Based Management (EBM) and Adaptive Management evolved as alternatives or additions to traditional ad hoc and sector-based planning and management. Within this context inter- and transdisciplinary research, which addresses the numerous ecological, perceptual, normative, cultural and economic interactions between society and coastal (eco)systems becomes more and more prominent. The LOICZ R&S Report No. 36 describes the German research project Zukunft Küste - Coastal Futures (in short: Coastal Futures) as an example of an interdisciplinary research approach. Coastal Futures was LOICZ affiliated project and one out of two research projects funded by the Federal Ministry for Education and Research (BMBF) from 2004 – 2010. In order to accompany the process of developing a national ICZM strategy for Germany the Coastal Futures approach analytically integrates not only results of social and natural science investigations, but also links qualitative empirical research and quantitative modelling. The approach aims to understand the impacts of offshore wind farming as part of a wider systems perspective. It had been designed to gain new insights into the complex social-ecological system of the German North Sea coast by applying a range of tools from natural and social sciences and linking them together as part of a common methodological framework and by focusing on a particular case study.