Prior to the 1950s, general shore-protection practice was to use hard structures to protect against beach erosion or storm damage. Generally, the hard structures can be divided into two categories. The first category functions through anchoring the position of either a shoreline or a dune-line, such as seawalls and revetments. The second category is mainly sand-trapping structures such as groins and detached breakwaters. Realizing that the accumulation of sand produced by a structure is at the expense of an adjacent section of the shore, since the 1970s, 90% of the US Federal appropriation for shore protection has been for beach nourishment. Although beach and dune nourishment has become by far the most dominant approach to shore protection, principles of hard engineering structures are still reviewed in this chapter. More recently, since the 2010s, Engineering with Nature (EWN), defined as the intentional alignment of natural and engineering processes to efficiently and sustainably deliver economic, environmental, and social benefits through collaborative processes, are being promoted and applied more and more. The concept and practice of EWN are introduced in this chapter.

Chapter 9 addresses research questions for issues related to restoring degraded beach/dune systems. The case is made that restoration is not just a two-stage process that should only be evaluated by comparing before/after conditions but a series of ongoing changes in human and natural processes. Many restoration actions must be episodic to be successful in the long term, and managers should be able to address negative aspects through adaptive management. Viewing developed coasts as a coupled nature–human system offers new insight to the types of restoration outcome that can develop, but further research is warranted and a wider range of implementable designs will be needed in the future. Research questions addressed here include ones that are generic and broad scale; ones that are more site specific and applicable to individual projects; ones that address negative side effects; ones that are research oriented; and ones that are intended to guide managers.

Chapter 2 identifies how lost natural values and human–nature relationships can be regained by nourishing beaches with compatible sediment and allowing natural processes to reestablish landforms and biota. The ways beach nourishment is placed and their positive and negative effects are reviewed. Effects include changes in morphology and habitat in offshore borrow areas and placement areas; changes in sediment size or mineralogy; alterations from equipment use; changes in aesthetics or value for recreation; incentive for coastal development; and long-term implications for biota. Suggestions are made to add value for wildlife as justification for projects, design fills to allow natural wave runup across the backshore, incorporate a dune in project designs to provide flood protection and habitat, alter the frequency and size of fill operations to aid species recovery, and institute post construction monitoring and adaptive management to ensure the fill evolves as a natural feature.