Exploring multi-use platforms: a literature review of marine, multifunctional, modular, and mobile applications (M4s)

This paper explores the extent to which literature has addressed marine-multifunctional-modular-mobile (M4) solutions for the sustainable provision of critical services on islands and along coastlines (including continental nations’ coastlines).Multi-purpose offshore infrastructure, integrated with various user functions within the same space, is increasingly hailed as a way to address issues arising from multiple demands placed on coasts and seas.In this paper, the authors review how recent literature addresses the conditions enabling marine-multifunctional-modular-mobile (M4) solutions’ contribution to a sustainable transition in the provision of critical services on islands and along coastlines. They are particularly interested in understanding the synergies and the most common themes surrounding their deployment as analyzed in previous research.