The Gold Coast: Australia’s playground?

Abstract

This city profile provides an in-depth look at Australia’s sixth largest city, the Gold Coast. The purpose of the profile is two-fold: to question the accuracy of some widely held beliefs about the Gold Coast which view it solely as a resort town and to attempt to determine whether the nature of urbanization on the Gold Coast is different. In order to illustrate in what ways the Gold Coast is similar to and different from other major cities in Australia, the profile examines its historical evolution, urban development, structure of development and urban form, population growth and demographic structure, and economic indicators. In doing this it compares the Gold Coast with the state and national averages, Australian capital cities, and the city of the Sunshine Coast which is the second major tourist settlement in the state of Queensland. While the city is physically different, demographically and socioeconomically it is no different to other major Australian cities. The Gold Coast is a case in point which shows that for some places tourism urbanization is a stage in the development of a city that it may simply grow out of, evolving into a diverse city in its own right.