If you build it, who will come? Rethinking living shoreline site selection through integration of equity index and human well-being benefits using geospatially integrated method

Living shorelines (LS) are an emerging nature-based method to reduce erosion and storm damage while enriching shoreline habitat and providing adjacent communities with human well-being benefits derived from access to nature. Existing geospatial methods for selecting LS sites consider physical and ecological factors but rarely human well-being or equitable distribution of benefits. This research integrates these considerations into LS site selection through a desktop-based geospatial Living Shoreline Equity Index (LSEI) to streamline prioritization of LS sites that maximize equitable access to human well-being benefits. Equity was defined using a combination of equality-based-equity and needs-based-equity definitions. Index variables were identified and ranked using the Delphi Method: total population and vulnerable population within walking distance, creation of new access to blue/green-spaces, and accessibility to bike trails and bus stops. Dasymetric mapping was used to determine population distributions. The LSEI ranked 105 potential LS sites in Pinellas County, identifying 10 in four clusters as target areas for improving equity of access. The LSEI is designed to be user-friendly and can be applied by any municipality with basic demographic data and GIS capabilities. It aims to refine biophysical assessments by incorporating an equity lens, but should always be followed by community engagement. • o Developed GIS-based equity index to rank potential living shoreline sites. • o Living shorelines provide human wellbeing benefits as blue-green spaces. • o Index measures population within walking distance, targets blue-green space voids. • o Replicable model for prioritizing sites that maximize equitable access to benefits. • o Embeds LS site selection within a socio-cultural framework.