Barrier island settlement and landuse evolution: A Gulf Coast model

Meyer-Arendt, Klaus J. (Author)
Meyers-Arendt, Klaus J. (author)
Lynch, M. P. (editor)

Proceedings of the tenth national conference:Estuarine and Coastal Management: Tools of the Trade, New Orleans, Louisiana

415

422

1987

The Coastal Society 1987

For coastal planners to make effective zoning decisions in their respective seaside communities, it is important not only to understand the physical processes at play but also the cultural-historical antecedents of the present landuse patterns. Often the various components or an established American beach resort's urban morphology originated spontaneously (i.e. unguided by zoning), and distinctive patterns of landuse evolved. At present, many coastal resort communities are approaching their areal . limits to growth, and pressures to intensify landuse (i.e. "redevelop") may threaten the ''vernacular" seaside urban morphology. The aim of this paper is to present a background of the geography of coastal resorts and to offer a schematic explanatory model of resort evolution based on research conducted along the Gulf of Mexico littoral. Three seaside resorts--Fort Myers Beach and Pensacola Beach in Florida, and Grand Isle, Louisiana--are briefly described in terms of resort evolution, settlement morphology, and conformity to the proposed model.

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