Coastal residents’ support for marine spatial planning: The role of values, place attachment, and community impacts

Coastal environments worldwide are subject to rapid transformations, including to mitigate against climate change, biodiversity loss, and pollution. The potentially significant impacts of these transformations on coastal communities makes it imperative to understand their response to Marine Spatial Planning (MSP) decisions. Our research applied a value-based approach to understand how place attachment and the perceived community impacts of policy interventions influence coastal residents’ support for different MSP options that vary in emphasis between economic exploitation and nature protection. We engaged with residents around Dundalk Bay, Ireland, using a survey which presented two evidence-based MSP options (describing the status quo implying a moderate Marine Protected Area [MPA] co-existing with economic activities, versus a highly protected MPA) in randomised order. We captured participants’ personal values, economic and natural place attachment (EPA; NPA), and the perceived community impacts of each MSP option. We conducted regression analyses and a parallel-serial mediation analysis to determine each factor’s direct and indirect effects on MSP support. Most respondents preferred a shift towards stronger nature protection in the bay. Our analysis supports a multidimensional approach to place attachment and indicates that the alignment of biospheric values, NPA, and perceived community impacts is important for MSP option choice. This is less the case for EPA and its associated perceived community impacts. Overall, perceived community impacts most strongly predicted which MSP option people will support. Considering the drivers behind residents’ support for different policy options can help policymakers improve the design and communication of future MSP proposals.