CITY WELL SET TO ADAPT TO NEEDS OF 2050
WHAT kind of city will the Gold Coast be in 2050 for residents and tourists alike?
If we think things have been changing fast in recent years, things are only going to speed up in the coming decades.
Change brings both risks and opportunities and we humans are very resilient and will continue to adapt to new circumstances, both individually and as a community.
By 2050, only 32 years away, Gold Coast City’s population will be well over one million, tourism projections estimate there will be 99,000 overnight visitors on an average night or 132,000 during January.
The world’s population will likely have reached around 10 billion people.
The global climate will also be dramatically different by 2050, with rising temperatures, increasing sea levels, more intense and in many cases frequent extreme weather events, and the slow onset impacts of rising sea levels and ocean acidification.
The economy will have been transformed by artificial intelligence, the internet of everything, 3D printing, and other technological advances yet to be imagined. Hopefully, by 2050 the Titans will have won an NRL title.
Gold Coast City will not be immune to these changes and impacts, and will have to adapt. Being a single local government council has advantages, including the resources and capacity needed to undertake forward planning, and Gold Coast City now has some of the best examples of city planning in Australia, particularly for the coastal zone.
Ensuring the Gold Coast is well placed to cope with the rapid and ongoing environmental, technological, social and economic changes on the way will require over-thehorizon thinking, a shared vision of the kind of city and community we want to build and help flourish, strong spatial planning, and a partnership approach that brings together community, business and government.
There are three key ingredients for a successful 2050 vision.
First, to recognise those assets that make Gold Coast unique. Without doubt, this is our natural environment including around 50km of safe, clean beaches and coastal estuaries, World Heritage forest and among the world’s most accessible seasonal whale migrations.
The second is to make the Gold Coast a vibrant, liveable city for its residents.
The third is to build an economy fit for the future and our children that is nature-based, smart and creative.
Already, there are precious few places in the world with beaches that are safe, clean and public. These will be increasingly rare and valued assets.
The more liveable a city is for its residents, the more appealing it is for tourists, and the city environs provide attractive local colour and texture.
And in an increasingly connected and globalised economy, what better asset could we hope for than a young, environmentally astute and smart work force creatively engaged.
We will need all of this and more, if as a city, a community, and a local economy, we are to be ready for the challenging decades that lay ahead.