Rethinking Coastal Areas Through Youth Perceptions and the Coastality Gap Index: A Case Study of the Island of Mallorca

Coastality, the degree to which a place or community is functionally, spatially, or symbolically oriented toward the ocean, has received limited attention in Ocean Literacy research. This study introduces perceived coastality as a youth-centered construct and develops the Coastality Gap Index (CGI), a spatial indicator measuring the divergence between students’ coastal-inland identity and their actual geographic proximity to the sea. A mixed-methods design was applied to data from 645 students aged 10–17 across 11 schools in five municipalities in Mallorca (Spain). The questionnaire explored emotional, cognitive, and experiential connections to the ocean, while K-means clustering identified perceptual profiles and GIS analysis examined their spatial distribution. Five distinct profiles emerged, ranging from students who perceive themselves as coastal with strong ocean ties, to others who live near the coast yet exhibit limited awareness or connection. The CGI revealed that 14 of 29 population centers studied were inland-oriented despite coastal proximity, with values ranging from −0.07 to +0.72. Notable disconnects occurred in municipalities like Manacor (CGI = 0.41) and Artà (CGI = 0.34), where majority of students identified as “inland” despite living within 13 km of the coast, well within the EU’s 20 km coastal belt definition. The perceptual typology and spatial indicator provide a transferable framework for rethinking blue education strategies and designing context-sensitive Ocean Literacy interventions that account for symbolic as well as geographic dimensions of marine identity.