Abstract: Ports are often perceived as sources of disruption to coastal environments, contributing to sediment imbalance, shoreline erosion and ecosystem service loss. However, this framing overlooks the broader, system-scale influence that ports can exert on coastal dynamism and flood risk. In this study, we introduce the concept of the port footprint and showcase its assessment, encompassing the physical, functional and socio-economic imprint of port infrastructure on adjacent coasts. The port footprint concept integrates long-term morphodynamic modeling, flood simulation, and economic valuation to quantify both the protective and disruptive effects of ports on coastal flood and erosion risks. We illustrate this concept along a 40 km coastal stretch of the Spanish Mediterranean influenced by the Port of Valencia, evaluating how port presence interacts with sea-level rise scenarios and beach management strategies to shape future shoreline evolution, flood risk and recreational service loss. Results show that while ports may reduce beach area and affect recreational value, their flood protection benefits can outweigh these losses, particularly when combined with proactive beach management. Crucially, this work does not aim to minimize the environmental impacts of ports, but rather to demonstrate that excluding existing infrastructure from adaptation assessments risks overlooking strategic opportunities for integrated planning, especially in urbanized, infrastructure-dense coastlines.

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