This volume contains the proceedings of the conference Landscapes or seascapes? The history of the coastal environment in the North Sea area reconsidered, which took place in Ghent in April 2010. More than 50 years ago, in 1958, a first conference on the evolution of the coastal area of the Low Countries took place in Ghent. It was followed by a second one in 1978 in the same town. Since that last conference a lot of new research has been carried out. New research questions, methodological and technological innovations and an increasing emphasis on interdisciplinary and comparative approaches significantly altered our comprehension of the historical interaction between man and nature in the extremely variable environment of the coastal plain. Much more than before, coastal development is now explained from a permanent and complex interaction between human and physical evolutions. Moreover the coastal area is no longer isolated from its spatial context, but considered in its entire relationship with the sea on the one hand and with the inland areas on the other hand. These connections between human and physical evolutions and between the coastal region, the inland areas and the sea were at the heart of the international and interdisciplinary conference on the coastal development in the North Sea Area. Compared to the earlier conferences, the regional scope is significantly enlarged: although a lot of attention is still paid to the coastlands of the Low Countries, a systematic comparison with other North Sea Areas like Northern Germany and Southern England will be made. Languages: English.