Climate change is one of the most challenging global issues facing humanity. The impacts of climate change and its associated events such as shoreline erosion, sea-level rise, coastal flooding and water pollution will affect coastal areas in a variety of ways. Alongside the effects of climate change, confronting existing challenges about environment and development are also of concern (Romero-Lankao, 2008; Romero-Lankao and Dodman, 2011). However, addressing the additional stressors of climate change and sea-level rise may require new approaches to urban planning and land, water, waste and ecosystem management along the coast.

As a country located in southeast Asia, with...

Situated beside the Thi Nai lagoon, Quy Nhon City has undergone dramatic changes in its land-use patterns due to very rapid urbanisation and industrialisation. The physical growth of the city was caused by the development of residential and industrial activity around the city, particularly since the 1960s.

Quy Nhon is the capital of Binh Dinh Province and is also under its administrative jurisdiction. The city has a total area of 285.5 km² and a population of over 280,000 people (Quy Nhon sub-Office of Statistics, 2013). It includes 16 wards and five communes. Established in 1898 as a small trading town,...

Quy Nhon has large-scale plans for development and growth, but it also faces possibly severe impacts due to climate change. So this study’s objectives ― to understand the consequences of shoreline modification and urbanisation in a context of climate change ― are very important.

A number of different methodologies were used in this study, as explained in this section.

Satellite remote-sensing imagery provides the advantages of broad area coverage, systematic observations and the ability to use standardised and repeatable analyses to characterise the Earth’s surface. In short, remote-sensing imagery offers opportunities for monitoring change over a time period at a...

By comparing satellite imagery over long periods of time, it is possible to determine how much shorelines are changing including changes caused by natural coastal processes as well as by human activities. Using a series of remote-sensing data, coastal erosion can be observed in certain places. To verify the indoor processing results, fieldwork surveys were conducted and integrated with existing data of urban planning and irrigation to understand the driving forces behind the changes.

The information on river dykes in the estuaries and human construction on the shoreline are very important in this study. A list of acquired data on...

The impacts of climate change and sea-level rise are imperceptible over a short time-period. However, during the focus group discussions with Group 2 (experts with a local background and interest in climate change impacts in Quy Nhon) extreme climate events such as the 2009 flooding were discussed and some other issues related to the advantages and disadvantages of climate change (Box 1). The flood in 2009 was considered the biggest flood in the last 50 years.

Climate change-induced erratic and abnormal weather conditions (such as the heavy rains in 2009) affect agricultural production and people’s lives. In 2009, in Nhon...

This study has underlined the spatial nature of the urban planning process, which needs to be supported by multi-disciplinary studies taking into account issues from social aspects to the natural conditions of the urban territory, and should also consider city development in the global context. In particular, urban planning processes become more complex when considering a developing city in the context of rapid urbanisation and industrialisation combined with the added uncertainty of climate change impacts, as in Vietnam.

This study has been innovative in its use of a mix of methodologies to demonstrate their value to urban planning processes. Remote...