Nowadays many seaside towns, economically based on marine tourism, need operations to reinvent and recovery their own image and to define a new strategy of urban development. The presence of the sea is of primary importance and it should be considered not only as an economic resource, but mainly as a strong element of identity that must interact with the urban landscape.

Haliç (The Golden Horn) is a mythical place that belongs not only to the history of Istanbul but to the whole of Europe. At Haliç land and sea merge: the natural harbour of ancient Constantinople, home to the naval arsenal and place of delights, it saw its natural and urban state change completely in the final phases of the Ottoman Empire. Its recent history has been marked by a process of intense industrialization, developing uncontrollably on its banks between the 19^th and 20^th centuries.

The Netherlands has a coastline of over 400 miles but they have always been characterized by an uneasy relationship with the sea. Because of geomorphology that puts the country on average 5 meters below sea level, the Dutch urban planning, at all levels of government, has always questioned the need to defend themselves from river and marine flooding; over the centuries it has developed a pragmatic approach , enshrined in various national laws and in the establishment of the Ministry of Water Management, which has set as its main objective the defense of the territory from the water.