Background Coastal areas are threatened by increasingly serious conflicts amongst their users, and by institutional and political problems that may lead to a progressive, sometimes irreversible, decay. There is a lack of a holistic and integrated approach to address these problems but this is not due to an absence of tools, and rather to lack of coordination amongst stakeholders. Objectives This project aimed to: Develop a model for planning and integrated management of coastal areas under pressure from urbanisation; Test a strategic approach to planning and implementation of actions; Apply EU guidelines to integrate competences, needs, techniques and resources; Test a model of concerted actions, participation and dissemination; Test a multidisciplinary training model representing different interests concerned with coastal zones; and Carry out pilot actions in coastal areas to improve environmental and social conditions, with the aim of wider and sustainable use of cultural resources. Results The project was unable to achieve these goals and experienced a number of internal management challenges that resulted in the project being terminated early. Some preliminary actions were carried out such as: the creation of a scientific group linked with national and European networks and projects; 18 of the planned 30 thematic maps were produced; and an impact assessment for the pilot project Selinus was also partially completed. The majority of the project’s other proposed actions were not able to be finalised and the approval of the blueprints by the competent authorities is still uncertain. Although the project did not produce any environmental benefit nor policy implications, the beneficiary still recognises the importance of improving coordination between stakeholders in coastal area planning and acknowledges that this continues to remain a challenging objective.