Considering coastal management, explain the difference between hard engineering and soft engineering, highlighting examples alongside advantages and disadvantages.

Firstly, it is worth understanding what is being asked by the command word used in the question.

Explain: Describe the causes and processes involved (using how and why are useful to achieving this).

Key Tips: For questions that use key vocabulary, make sure to provide a definition before providing your explanation.A question like this would typically be worth 6 marks in an exam paper. Considering the weighting of the question can advise you on the amount of detail to include.

Hard Engineering: Artificial, man-made structures used to protect coastlines against erosion.
Soft Engineering: This is a more natural, sustainable approach to coastal management, focusing on smaller-scale techniques that align with the natural environment.

Then you can begin to explain some of the differences between hard and soft engineering.

Here are some factors you can consider:



Then, it is time to include some examples of different hard and soft engineering techniques, including information on the advantages and disadvantages of using these techniques.

This table includes some examples that you can draw upon in your answer:

Hard Engineering



Soft Engineering