Review of coastal land reclamation situation in the world

Abstract

Análisis de los efectos de los dragados y los rellenos en las principales urbes del planeta, especialmente en las obras gigantescas de Asia.
Land reclamation from the sea has been occurring since ancient times, especially in harbors. The vast majority of the
world's docks now occupy spaces that were once water and this heavily influences the coastal landscape. Japan has
been one of the country’s most needing to expand into the sea due to its topography and land requirements for
agriculture, urbanization and, especially, industries and port facilities. Ninety per cent of Tokyo Bay’s coastline is
reclaimed land, which is almost 250 km2 of new land. In the 21st century, this disproportionate conquest of the sea
has shifted to other countries. In the Persian Gulf, the coast has been indiscriminately occupied
with artificial island projects for residential purposes. Some of them are finding some difficulties, such as "The
Palms" and “The World” in Dubai, with a loss of sand, which is effect of currents and waves. In China, due to
economic expansion and export needs, industrial areas are spreading on the coast. Caofeidian (Bohai Bay) is the
largest landfill island in the world with 150 km2, more than twice the sum of Dubai islands area. This disproportion
of public works in Asia contrasts with the rest of the world. For example, the Bay of Algeciras (Spain-UK) is the
largest container traffic Port in the Mediterranean with 2.5 km2 of reclaimed land, 100 times less than Tokyo Bay.
A further problem associated with this practice is liquefaction, caused mainly by earthquakes, leading to
ground subsidence in buildings, such as in Niigata (1964) or in San Francisco (1989), all on reclaimed land. This
research paper aims to study land reclamation in the World with current statistics, geotechnical problems,
the impact on the coastal landscape and future developments.