The importance of studying coastal areas is justified by their resources, ecosystem services, and key role played in socio-economic development. Coastal landscapes are subject to increasing demands and pressures, requiring in-depth analyses for finding appropriate tools or policies for a sustainable landscape management.

Cultural ecosystem services are gaining increasing attention in the scientific literature, despite the conceptual and methodological difficulties associated with their assessment. We used a participatory GIS method to map and assess three cultural ecosystem services, namely, (a) outdoor recreation, (b) aesthetic enjoyment, and (c) sense of place, in the Madrid region (Spain). The main goal of the study was to identify cultural ecosystem service hotspots in the region and to explore the relationships among the three ecosystem services mapped.

Demand for resources and changing structures of human settlements arising from population growth are impacting via the twin crises of anthropogenic climate change and declining human health. Informed by documentary research, this article explores how Urban Resilience Theory (URT) and Human-Nature Connection Theory (HNCT) can inform urban development that leverages urban green infrastructure (UGI) to mitigate and meditate these two crises.