In this research, we set out to investigate the phenomenon of ‘co-design’ and explore the applicability of co-design in the complex coastal context. We have turned to investigating design-oriented, collaborative activities aimed at innovative coastal solutions (co-design) and how they strengthen the development of solutions for coastal problems. Co-design provides a means of realising various ends. We observed, for instance, co-design activities with the goal of collaboratively designing engineering solutions to coastal problems. In other situations, the goals of the co-design activities were wider or were aimed at adapting policy. In general, we see that co-design activities aid in identifying (value) dilemmas, clarifying the diversity in actor perspectives, and broadening the potential space for solutions. Co-design activities ideally give different actors the room to work together in a creative and open manner. Local, scientific, practice-based and other forms of knowledge are ideally used in an egalitarian fashion in the search for solutions to coastal management problems. The thesis ‘co-design in the coastal context’ contributes to insights in how to design the co-design activities, reflects upon insights offered by a broad range of literature on co-design in complex systems, and offers usable and practical methods to evaluate such co-design activities.

Pilot projects are favoured instruments for exploring and perhaps realising policy change. The challenges that coastal policy faces, the frequency with which pilot projects are implemented, and the criticisms regarding their efficacy make it interesting and relevant to study pilot projects in this policy field. This dissertation on ‘Narrative perspectives on the development of coastal pilot projects’ aims to deepen understanding of the development of pilot projects in their actor-networks. It utilises the concept of narratives both in the conceptualisation of the development of pilot projects and in the design of a research strategy, choosing to learn from the experiences of actors involved in coastal pilot projects.

The Sand Engine in the Netherlands and Ystad’s sand nourishment project in Scania, Sweden, are the two coastal pilot projects from which empirical data are drawn. Retrospective biographies of the Sand Engine pilot project, and the narrative competitions active in both the Sand Engine and Ystad cases were identified using deductive and inductive narrative analysis methods. This thesis highlights that pilot projects function not only as learning instruments for understanding the (bio)physical system, but also as instruments where actor-based learning is storified and success can be claimed and institutionally anchored.