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Coastal areas face a number of challenges, including specific natural hazards that are amplified by climate change and exacerbated by economic and demographic pressures. Against this backdrop of tensions, local public authorities are looking for ways to develop and manage public policies to deal with this complex situation and bring about sustainable ecological actions. These situations call into question public management approaches and tools, particularly in light of the return of New Public Management. This article, based on a comparative study of two French metropolitan areas located on the Atlantic coast of the Bay of Biscay, aims to understand how stakeholders are responding to these issues. A qualitative study, based on the collection and analysis of numerous data, highlights factors that are crucial for efficient public management. It reveals a number of factors that need to be taken into account if public management is to cope with the complexity of the issues at stake. In particular, discussion with and participation of civil society through clusters bringing together members of the scientific community and civil society alike are identified as vectors for the co-construction of responses to problems that are proving increasingly complex to resolve.