Coastal zones between anvil and hammer: a glance to the future

Coastal systems, from both the environmental and social standpoint, are complex systems that respond to inputs arising from spatial and temporal scales larger than those outlined by their local boundaries. The impact of human activities is not expected to decrease in the future and the globalization of "driving factors" poses serious questions about the solution of the prob-lems of coastal zones. The thoughts that are proposed concern only some of the pressing is-sues that must be addressed: the complexity of the systems must be dealt with by widening the spatial and temporal scales of investigation, considering the delays of systems in respond-ing to past and present inputs, and by building together hypothesis of adaptive management with long-view. In particular, we address issues concerning current methodological approaches used in the hydrogeology of the coastal areas, the promising adaptive management, the retoxi-fication by heavy metal at the land-sea interface and the possible comebacks of coastal groundwater to climate change and anthropogenic pressure in terms of "critical transitions ".