Scientists, academics, city managers and officials from around the globe gathered this week in St. Pete Beach for the first-ever Coastal Cities Summit, an effort to explore the challenges facing cities along the world's coasts and share information internationally. Organizers are hoping the event will be the first of many such summits and have developed a statement of principles signed at the end of the four-day meeting. Summit organizers and attendees join us to talk about why we need a meeting of coastal city leaders and academics and to help us explore some of the issues facing these communities.