Forward thinking and future planning – what’s in store for City of Gold Coast’s Our Coastal Lifestyle Strategy 2050
The Gold Coast’s sustainable growth and liveability standard is set to be maintained thanks to a bold 25-year strategy – here’s what it entails …
With Southeast Queensland poised to experience a surge in population over the coming decades, the City of Gold Coast is looking ahead, enhancing its coastal places and ensuring its enviable lifestyle is safeguarded over the next 25 years.
The Our Coastal Lifestyle Strategy 2050 is a broad-reaching and holistic plan that looks to maintain the Gold Coast’s status as a popular place to live and visit. It outlines methods to leverage its enriched lifestyle experiences through nature-based tourism and recreation, supporting healthy ecosystems, improving resilience to coastal hazards, ensuring sustainable city growth, and improving connection between water and people.
It is doing so by employing a place-based approach that aims to ensure the city remains accessible, connected and convenient, and that it grows with future generations in mind. This strategy plan outlines three key areas of focus – Coastal Connections, Coastal Experience and Coastal Future, with each key aspect guiding the expected outcomes, measures and actions over the next two-and-a-half decades.
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Coastal Connections will look to improve accessibility to beaches, parklands, waterways and natural places, design and connect the Gold Coast’s foreshores to facilitate leisure and movement, and maintain lively marine precincts and a thriving boating network.
For Coastal Experience, the strategy will seek to offer diverse water-based opportunities and comprehensive lifeguard coverage, inform and educate the community and visitors about the coastal environment, and uphold the Gold Coast’s reputation as a world-class surfing destination.
As for Coastal Future, City of Gold Coast is looking to be recognised as a world leader in coastal science and engineering, research and innovation through evidence-based coastal planning and management, while also preparing the community and environment to be resilient to coastal hazards.
“This strategy captures not only our beaches but the city’s canals, lakes and waterways,” says City of Gold Coast mayor Tom Tate. “Importantly, it has been developed through strong partnerships with other agencies, volunteer groups and not-for-profit organisations.”
Together with the community, City of Gold Coast is endeavouring to shape a shared vision to preserve and enhance its coastal lifestyle for generations to come.
