Creating Sustainable Precincts

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space for more than 30 businesses. The shared office environment, which includes meeting rooms, kitchens and a coffee shop, provides a space for businesses to connect and collaborate.

Will the Gold Coast be a ghost town in 2063? In 2013 Sold Coast held a symposium asking the question: What does the Gold Coast look like in 50 years’ time? Twenty-one presenters explored an enormous range of topics focused on the sustainability of the city by 2063. The event was broadcast on radio and a robust Twitter conversation followed. Importantly, the City of Gold Coast invited Sold Coast to partner with

them in producing another event – a provocation on the council’s new 10year culture strategy. “For council, this represents a turn towards more risky creative partnerships as well as more inclusive community consultation,” Ditton says. “The council’s new arts and culture team is really making some positive change, which is fantastic.” Ditton says with the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games approaching in 2018 it is vital that we take a critical look at new developments and the impact they will have on the city. “There tends to be the idea that anything about the Commonwealth Games takes precedence,” she says. “Money goes into developments without too much consultation.

Shanene Ditton

“We need to be very critical of what type of development happens – how and why. With it comes an enormous opportunity for a wonderful legacy. We don’t want there to be a horrid legacy or no legacy at all.”

There is frustration in the way place is being developed… The focus needs to be shifted to the cultural and social.

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