Assessing beach attendance and practices in a large coastal city. A case study in Marseille (France) Samuel Robert Avignon University, France Marie-Laure Trémélo Avignon University, France This is a section of Tenth InternationaSymposium Monitoring of Mediterranean Coastal Areas: Problems and Measurement Techniques(DOI: 10.36253/979-12-215-0556-6) by Laura Bonora, Marcantonio Catelani, Matteo De Vincenzi, Giorgio Matteucci Firenze University Press Florence 2024 https://doi.org/10.36253/979-12-215-0556-6.45

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In large coastal cities, beaches are very important public open spaces. However, except in a few studies investigating interactions between uses and environmental beach quality, beach attendance and practices are generally poorly studied. In this context, this paper deals with a research initiative developed in Marseille (France), in order to: 1) assess beach attendance in summertime, 2) survey users’ practices, habits and preferences, and 3) interview municipal beach managers. Between 2016 and 2020, we collected data from 8 am to 8 pm on several summer days, following different time frames (three consecutive days, a full week, and the same weekday in July). We operated in three different beaches, one being studied every year. Attendance was assessed hourly, and practices were evaluated through face to face questionnaires on the field. The results obtained present interesting findings on several aspects. They help to better understand beach attendance as a system within the city at various time scales and throughout different geographical locations. They also help providing guidelines to set up a more ambitious and complete system to monitor beach attendance and practices.

 Beach attendance Beach practices Assessment Large city Marseille

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