Coastal foredunes are of international biodiversity value. They form the primary natural line of defense against rising sea levels and extreme flooding events. They develop from ecological interactions between sand fluxes and plant growth. This plant-sand feedback shapes dune development along the entire successional gradient: short living shadow dunes develop at the high beach as a result of strandline vegetation, which in return facilitate further embryonal dune development. The occurrence of marram grass then eventually gives rise to the formation of higher foredunes. Since these dunes develop in response to tidal and wave conditions as well, they are dynamic structures that can track rising sea levels. There is a growing interest for nature-based solutions to tackle the consequences of climate change. The construction of "hybrid dune-dike systems", where dunes are being built by using sand-fixating vegetation, could provide a promising solution to secure coastal regions against floods and storms. This research proposal will investigate how dunes develop as a function of aeolian sand fluxes, plant cover, plant traits and their spatial distribution. This will be achieved by combining field surveys, experiments and remote sensing. By parameterizing an existing model, these results will be translated into a practical tool for coastal spatial planning and dune engineering.