The Gold Coast as a city of 'Adolescent Urbanism'

Australia's oldest cities are little more than two hundred years old. Some are much younger, emerging only recently and growing rapidly. In the space of little more than one generation the City of Gold Coast has become Australia's sixth largest city, having only come into existence as a local government entity in 1959. The pace and extent of this growth is seen by some as exemplary and as a model for other emergent Australian cities, and by others as the epitome of unregulated and unsustainable urban growth. This paper analyzes the nature, extent and pace of urban growth in the City of Gold Coast using a framework derived from theories of human development. It treats the city as a case of 'adolescent urbanism' in which rapid physical growth is accompanied by identity confusion, hubris and egocentricity, entrepreneurial zeal and emergent forward thinking. The paper goes on to consider briefly possible future trajectories of the city – in particular, its prospects for growing up and becoming a more mature city as well as the risks (or opportunities) associated with remaining an adolescent city. The paper concludes by reflecting critically on the potential for applying this developmental conception of urban growth in the City of Gold Coast to other Australian cities.Griffith Sciences, School of Environment and ScienceFull Tex