Good marina design isn't just about building infrastructure at the lowest cost. Instead, it aims to create maximum value across all aspects of the project. Sustainable marinas should offer clear benefits in many areas. This means carefully considering natural processes, how ecosystems work, and involving all key stakeholder groups. They should also implement strategies that improve navigation and support nature, creating value on multiple levels, offering shared benefits, and ensuring flexibility and resilience.

The WwN philosophy proposed by PIANC advocates the following steps: 

1. Establish project need and objectives 
2. Understand the environment 
3. Make meaningful use of stakeholder engagement; identify win-win options 
4. Prepare project proposals/design to benefit navigation and nature 
5. Monitor and adapt 

There are numerous ways in which WwN can be implemented for marina projects. WwN assumes the use of best practices in market studies, comprehensive master planning (life cycle flexibility), engineering studies of the physical system, as well as environmental understanding for the proactive inclusion of ecological features and maximising social benefits

This approach helps by 'asking the right questions,' identifying value, and creating effective and innovative solutions.

The Environmental Dimension of Sustainable Marina Design 

Once the environment is understood, planning and design best practice requires protecting natural (physical and ecological) functions and finding opportunities to enhance the ecosystem benefits of the project by proactively including ecological features in the marina design, alongside the other marina development goals. 

Marina landscape and waterscape ecological features 

Environmental features can be part of landscape aesthetic design, complement pedestrian walkways, contribute to guest amenities, be included in recreational spaces, or be integral to educational opportunities. Environmental design can also result in enhancing a sense of place that mirrors the surrounding natural and cultural environment, generating areas where local community members interact with guests. 

First: Do No Harm 

Typical development impacts that WwN can avoid, minimise, and mitigate: 

• Ecosystem damage or habitat loss (coral reefs, mangroves, seagrass beds, oyster beds, mud flats, coastal lagoons, salt ponds, dune ecosystems, etc.). 
• Disruption of physical dynamics of coastal, lagoon, estuarine, delta, river, or lake systems, such as circulation and mixing patterns, sediment transport, salinity, etc. 
• Sediment transport changes (scouring, erosion, or deposition) and impact project performance or ecosystem functions. 
• Water quality degradation (increased concentration of pollutants, suspended sediment, and nutrient loading)

Building with Nature

Types of design solutions that emerge by embracing this approach include natural and nature-based features (NNBF) and nature-based solutions (NbS): 

• Protecting and leveraging engineering functions of existing natural systems (islands, marshland, mangroves, coral reefs) as part of the marina project, such as protection from extreme weather events or carbon storage.
• Designing new or improved artificial reefs, islands, and coastal wetlands to provide additional coastal protection and climate adaptation functions.
• Using ecosystem functions in stormwater management, landscape and utilities infrastructure design.
• Ensuring marina basin water circulation to reduce pollutant loading, leading to better water quality for marine life.
• Including living shorelines or altering the surface / texture of in-water structures to enhance aquatic habitats.

By adopting nature-based solutions, marinas can create more sustainable and resilient environments, enhance biodiversity, adapt to climate change, and provide a better experience for boaters and visitors. These solutions not only offer ecological benefits but also contribute to cost savings, operational efficiency, aesthetic value, and long-term viability for marina operations. 

Typical environmental design solutions with potential economic benefits include: 

• The use of sloped vegetated shorelines or the creation of landscaped stormwater retention and filtering areas with habitat ecological functions.
• Retaining waterfront areas as project features, either via protection or recreating a living shoreline, reduces construction costs. 
• Rock revetments combined with native vegetation are more economical than vertical walls and can also offer a cost-effective way to manage the impacts of sea level rise.
• Creating a vegetated intertidal flat is less expensive than reclaiming to a safe construction elevation and landscaping, especially where fill is costly. The “lost” area that results from reducing the reclamation surface area becomes a landscape design feature.
• Small islands designed to include intertidal shorelines, lagoons, and rocky features can use dredged material and provide wave protection, habitat opportunities and enhanced landscape value.

The Social Dimension of Sustainable Marina Design 

Best practice in marina design seeks a balanced urban integration that optimises community benefits and avoids conflicts. Physical planning can enhance the visitor authentic experience and honour local heritage, while creating community recreation areas and facilities for economic activities by local businesses. 

 
Social Sustainability and the Guest Experience 

One pathway to sustainability is for the local population to benefit directly from economic activity by enhancing the authenticity of the marina as a destination with a thriving culture. Economic benefits may be achieved when the local community is involved in the provision of high-value experiences, in addition to other support services. Visitors will recognise, understand, and respect the local culture and community, leading to meaningful positive economic impact.

 
Experience Economy vs. basic community needs

The best human resources for memorable, authentic, profound guest experiences are in the local community. However, in many places, the community members are not ready to provide formal services at the necessary level. For maximum local authenticity potential, the marina developer and local governments can collaborate with the local communities by supporting:

• Community infrastructure, services (water, sewage, waste removal), and governance
• Education, including language, technical and business programmes
• Small business support and business incubators
• Training
• Financing

Types of businesses and programmes emerging from this approach include: 

• Eco-tour operators licensed to access marine protected areas
• Sea-to-table programmes for sustainable fishing
• Experience retailers, art workshops, traditional certified handcraft markets
• Water sport operators 

A similar approach can be applied to a broader range of Blue Economy businesses, including technical services for beach erosion monitoring, reef restoration, coral nurseries, mangrove restoration, etc.

 
Design for climate change adaptation and mitigation 

Given the multiple expected impacts of climate change, both adaptation and mitigation considerations are inherent to the best practice in marina design. Climate adaptation functions contribute to economic sustainability.

Marina developers, owners, investors, and lenders must incorporate climate considerations in the development and redevelopment of projects, as they will be required in the future to document and disclose the financial impacts of climate change (TCFD).

 
Climate Adaptation – design for physical impacts of climate change

Climate change will cause increasing physical impacts on coastal facilities, including marinas. Despite numerous uncertainties regarding storm frequency and intensity, future-proofing engineering design can be based on the certainty that sea level is rising at an increasingly accelerated rate. This is especially significant because the design and development regulatory framework (including building codes and engineering standards) in most countries has not yet been updated to account for climate change.

Climate adaptation considerations may include:

• Studying storm impacts and tidal flooding vulnerability under different future sea level rise conditions
• Designing wave protection and shoreline structures to withstand a certain amount of sea level rise, with the necessary features to facilitate future adaptation.
• Land development and land use regulations to accommodate future needs for setbacks and shoreline structures to adapt to sea level rise, including fill elevations, areas for future structures and easements for construction.
• Space allocation and construction access for breakwater future structural adaptation needs.

Climate Mitigation – design GHG emissions reductions and capture

Climate change is caused by anthropogenic GHG emissions, so incentives and regulations are being implemented to eliminate or significantly reduce GHG emissions and enhance opportunities for GHG capture and storage (decarbonisation).

From the point of view of GHG emissions accounting, the standard classification of emissions includes:

• Scope 1 emissions stem from sources that an organisation owns or controls directly, such as burning fossil fuel by marina-owned vehicles and generators.
• Scope 2 emissions are caused indirectly when energy purchased and used by the company is produced, i.e., electricity purchased to run marina offices and workshops.
• Scope 3 emissions - are not produced by the marina itself, nor the result of activities from assets owned or controlled by them, but instead, generated by parties within its value chain – for example, fossil fuel sold to boaters. 
  Marinas can make significant contributions to Scope 3 reductions.

The recreational boating industry will be making significant changes to vessel propulsion systems to facilitate decarbonisation. Marina facilities should thus support those efforts by providing relevant necessary infrastructure, whether plug-in hybrid, full-electric, hydrogen, methanol, drop-in low emission fuels, etc). 

Scope 1 and 2 reductions can be achieved by marina utility design and equipment that is focused on energy-efficiency and decarbonization technological solutions.

Marina design should also incorporate project features that provide greenhouse gas (GHG) sequestration, such as wetland ecosystems, which can also provide other co-benefits.