Urban Beach Management: A Comparative Analysis of Governance Processes in Pocitos (Montevideo, Uruguay) and Central (Balneário Camboriú - SC, Brazil) Beaches

Abstract

Traditionally, beach management has not encouraged governance, which is essential for the sustainability of these coastal environments, as it promotes actions for the common good. This work aims to understand and compare the governance processes in the management of Pocitos beach (Montevideo, Uruguay) and Central beach (Balneário Camboriú-SC, Brazil). The goals were to characterize the institutional framework of the beach management, the stakeholders involved, and the results achieved in both cases suggesting adjustments to the current designs and tools. Semi structured interviews based on six components of governance were conducted and classified. The institution responsible for beach management and the stakeholders were approached via Snowball Sampling technique. On Pocitos beach, management activities are performed through a participative and integrative process, mainly involving government divisions that conform a committee meeting weekly. This committee allows the implementation of governance processes. However, improvements are needed, especially in terms of participation of a wider range of stakeholders. On Central beach, management activities show a weak integration between the municipal government divisions, and the participation of  stakeholders.  A management alternative similar to that of Pocitos beach is suggested for Central beach. The main contribution of this work is the proposal of a recommendations set for the management of the two beaches addressed, as well as a generalization for other beaches in both countries. We highlight the need for beach management processes characterized by being local, public, participatory, formalized and integrated.