Securing the Baltic Sea’s built seascapes: Balancing innovation, security, and sustainability

Securing the Baltic Sea’s built seascapes: Balancing innovation, security, and sustainability Karina Barquet, Hans Liwång, and Torsten Linders explore how the Baltic Sea is evolving into a ‘built seascape.’ They highlight the necessity for cooperation and security strategies, alongside renewable energy and improved digital connectivity developments, to harmonize innovation with environmental protection. The Baltic Sea is transforming. Once defined by natural marine ecosystems and traditional maritime activities, it is now evolving into a ‘built seascape’ – a marine environment increasingly shaped by human infrastructure. Offshore wind farms, subsea cables, and digital monitoring systems are expanding rapidly, driven by the need for renewable energy, improved digital connectivity, and enhanced security (Paolo et al. 2024). These changes bring significant opportunities and present complex challenges that demand new governance, cooperation, and security approaches.