Gold Coast Council CEO Dale Dickson is keen to see a fourth university established in the city
What do you love about the Gold Coast?
“The vibe – casual and relaxed, yet sophisticated and serious when it needs to be.
“The choices – world-class education, sporting, natural, recreational, retail, cultural and other experiences – all in easy reach.
“The early mornings and early evenings – these are the times of the day when Gold Coasters get to enjoy their city and act like tourists.”
What do you think can be done better on the Gold Coast?
“How we conceive, plan and deliver events in the city post the Commonwealth Games, for maximum economic and community benefit.
“As a city, we have improved the scope and quality of our events portfolio considerably with the likes of the Bleach festival.
“There will be a great opportunity post the Games with improved infrastructure, transport options and expertise to take our events to a new level in years to come.
“There’s a consolidation of organisations that get created over time, ultimately to enhance visitation to a city.
“Generally, they're tourism promotion organisations at a state level or a local level and then you get events organisations that are created by a local or state government and, over time, it’s entirely healthy to revisit those to see if things can be done better.
“If you think of the Gold Coast, 10 years ago the events portfolio was a lot smaller, there were bigger gaps in the calendar.
“We’ve got lots of venues now that we didn’t have 10 years ago – we’ve got Metricon, we’ll have the amphitheatre over the road, which is only about 10 months away, we’ve got Broadwater Parklands, the great room at the casino.
“It’s a matter of optimising what we’ve got, taking it to another level – and we are competing with cities around the world.
“It’s entirely healthy at regular intervals to see what other cities around are doing and be as smart as we can.”
In your travels, what have you seen being done elsewhere you think could work well here?
“Smart urban renewal, which is a big part of the future of the Gold Coast.
“Redevelopment which combines the best elements of well-planned and designed private and public investment in public transport, walking and cycling infrastructure, new technologies, energy efficiency, inviting public spaces, public art and more.
“We will see this over time in Southport and within the corridor for the next stage of the light rail from Broadbeach to Burleigh. It will be a key plank in improving the livability of our city as it continues to grow.
“Places like Portland, in Oregon, which is a city of a similar size that doesn’t have anything like the superb features this city has, but a university in the CBD, public transport, limited highrise, but medium-rise, higher-density living, but high quality of living.
“It’s a really interesting, diverse, vibrant, fun place to come to and big on sustainability in all its forms.
“Through activism and really interested citizens in the city, they’ve done really well with what they’ve got.”
If money, laws, time and approvals were no issue, what is one big project you’d undertake tomorrow?
“I’d ideally love another university in our city, in recognition of the enormous economic and social contribution of our current universities.
“I am supremely confident that other key pieces of citybuilding economic and social infrastructure will be delivered, including future stages of the light rail, the Cultural Precinct and really important, but not sexy, waste and wastewater infrastructure.
“Another university, although not a given, would be fantastic and go a long way to future-proofing our city.
“It is impossible to imagine the Gold Coast without the three universities that we have, we’d be far more vulnerable to economic downturns, we’d be less well-known around the world for high-quality research.
“It would be wonderful to have another university, one that has international standing – will it be easy to pull off? No it won’t be.”
What conversations should Gold Coast movers and shakers be having?
“Firstly, how we best adapt to changing risks and opportunities.
“These include new technologies, disruptive business models such as Uber, Brexit, changing weather, national government trade negotiations and much more.
“Secondly, taking a longerterm view, what the next wave of city-building investments should look like.
“Options include the M1 upgrade, future stages of the light rail, bringing the City’s ‘Greenheart’ parkland in Robina to life, solutions for disabled and disadvantaged people, an improved cycling network, another university and the list goes on.”