The Culture axis focuses on challenges 4 (sustainable ocean economy), 5 (climate change), and 9 (capacity development and ocean literacy). The main knowledge and expertise areas are sociology, urban planning, creative arts, psychology and civil engineering.

The two actions proposed are the following:

Personal experiences and perception shape our understanding and attitude towards the ocean. The way we understand our connection to the urban ocean will determine responses and willingness to change behaviour. This project will work to highlight the degree to which the ocean is part of peoples’ identity of coastal cities, their health, well-being and heritage, amongst others. Ocean literacy and increased awareness will be central elements of this action. Concepts such as the connection between marine science and art, raising awareness, blue health, urban artisanal fisheries, citizen science or coastal cultural identity, amongst others, will be explored.

When considered as a whole, a city becomes a dynamic complex system. Thus, cities build a heterogeneous relationship with the urban ocean that needs to be further described and addressed. Traditionally the coastline has been regarded as a limit of the city, instead of a transition area between two environments. The possibility of naturalized coastal infrastructures beyond civil infrastructures (such as urban outfalls, ports, promenades, land reclamation projects or coastal protection infrastructures) will be examined. New ways to make permeable and even erase the land-ocean limit will be explored, such as renaturalization pilot projects or blue health-focused urban planning.