tag:theconversation.com,2011:/us/topics/gold-coast-7437/articlesGold Coast – The Conversation2024-01-30T09:51:37Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2220252024-01-30T09:51:37Z2024-01-30T09:51:37ZGhana’s looted Asante gold comes home (for now) – Asante ruler’s advisor tells us about the deal<p><em>After 150 years, 39 artefacts that form part of Asante’s royal regalia are due to return to the <a href="https://manhyiapalace.org/">Asantehene</a> (ruler of the Asante people) in Kumasi, Ghana, in February and April this year. The Asante empire was the largest and most powerful in the region in the 18th century and controlled an area that was rich in gold. Many of the gold royal artefacts were looted by British troops during the third Anglo-Asante war of 1874 (<a href="https://www.eaumf.org/ejm-blog/2018/2/5/0z9u3mtcn3ra21uwolkj7rgpr8jai7">Sagrenti War</a>).</em></p>
<p><em>The first collection of seven objects is expected from the Fowler Museum at the University of California in Los Angeles. The second collection of 32 will arrive from the British Museum and the Victoria & Albert Museum in the UK. These artefacts are being loaned to the Asante people for six years. Archaeologist and <a href="https://www.theafricainstitute.org/institute-team/rachel-ama-asaa-engmann/">Ghana heritage specialist</a> Rachel Ama Asaa Engmann spoke to the Asantehene’s technical advisor for the project, historian and museum economist Ivor Agyeman-Duah, about the journey to return the items and its implications for cultural restitution, repatriation and the decolonisation of museums.</em></p>
<h2>What are these objects and how did they leave Asante?</h2>
<p>They were royal regalia that was looted in 1874 from the palace in Kumasi after the sacking of the city by British colonial military troops. There was another a punitive expedition in 1896 which led to further looting. They included ceremonial swords and ceremonial cups, some of them very important in terms of a palace’s measurement of royalty. For instance, the Mponponsuo sword, created 300 years ago, dates back to the legendary Okomfo (spiritual leader) linked with the founding of the empire, <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Okomfo-Anokye">Okomfo Anokye</a>. This sword is what the Asantehene used to swear the oath of allegiance to his people. Chiefs used the same sword to swear their oaths to the Asantehene. </p>
<p>Some of the items were sold at auction on the open market in London; art collectors bought them and eventually donated some of them to museums (some were kept in private collections). The British Museum and the <a href="https://www.vam.ac.uk/">Victoria & Albert Museum</a> also <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/features/2021/10/12/stealing-africa-how-britain-looted-the-continents-art">bought</a> some of them.</p>
<p>However, not every item you see at the British Museum was looted. For instance, there were cultural exchanges between the <a href="https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/term/BIOG205733">Asantehene Osei Bonsu</a> and <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Thomas-Edward-Bowdich">T.E. Bowdich</a>, an emissary of the African Company of Merchants who travelled to Kumasi in 1817 to negotiate trade. Some gifts were given to Bowdich, who deposited them at the British Museum later on. There were 14 of these items.</p>
<h2>How was the agreement reached?</h2>
<p>The issue has been on the drawing board for <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-65614490">half a century</a>. It’s not just an immediate concern of the current Asantehene. It has been a concern of the last three occupants of the stool (throne). But this year is critical because it marks 150 years since the Sagrenti War. It also marks 100 years since the return of the <a href="https://www.eaumf.org/ejm-blog/2017/11/11/9q292hoy7x0uyv4ibm38vghy7mmax1">Asantehene Agyeman Prempeh</a> after his <a href="https://www.eaumf.org/ejm-blog/2017/11/11/9q292hoy7x0uyv4ibm38vghy7mmax1">exile in Seychelles</a> and 25 years since the <a href="https://manhyiapalace.org/profile-of-otumfuo-osei-tutu-ii-asantehene/">current Asantehene</a>, Oseu Tutu II, ascended the stool. </p>
<p>So, while in London in May 2023, after having official discussions with directors of these museums, he reopened discussions and negotiations. He asked me and <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Asante-M-D-McLeod/dp/0714115630">Malcolm McLeod</a>, former curator and scholar at the British Museum
and <a href="https://www.myjoyonline.com/asantehene-leads-discussions-with-british-museum-over-regalia-taken-from-ashantis/">vice-principal</a> at the University of Glasgow, to help in the technical decisions that would be made. We’ve been working on this for the past nine months.</p>
<h2>Why is it a six year loan and not an outright return?</h2>
<p>The moral right to ownership does exist. But there are also the laws of antiquity in the UK. The Victoria & Albert and the British Museum are national museums. They are governed by very <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/zacharyfolk/2024/01/25/british-museum-lends-ghana-looted-gold-artifacts-heres-why-it-wont-fully-return-them/?sh=60ccee735c7c">strict laws</a> which do not permit <a href="https://www.uaf.edu/museum/collections/ethno/policies/deaccessioning/">de-accessioning</a> or permanently removing a work of art or other object from a museum’s collection to sell it or otherwise dispose of it.</p>
<p>That had always been the constraining factor over the last 50 years. But there was also a way that we could have these items for a maximum of six years. Not all the objects are being exhibited at the British Museum. Many have never been exhibited and lie in storage in a warehouse.</p>
<p>Based on the circumstances and the trinity of anniversaries, we came to an agreement. Discussions will however continue between us and these museums to find a lasting agreement.</p>
<p>Of course, the Ghana experience will be important for restitution claims from other countries in Africa.</p>
<h2>What does this mean to the Asante people – and Ghana?</h2>
<p>The fact that over the last couple of months we were able to reach some form of agreement for this to happen is testimony of the interest in multicultural agreements.</p>
<p>Any set of objects that is 150 years old (or older) will be of interest to many people. Such artefacts help us to connect the past with the present. They are significant for how our people were, in terms of creativity and technology, how they were able to use gold and other artistic properties. They are also something that will inspire those who are in the craft of gold production today. </p>
<p>Manhiya Palace Museum reopens this year in April. The exhibition of these objects is going to increase visitor attendance at the <a href="https://ashantiobjects.commons.gc.cuny.edu/the-new-manhyia-palace-museum/">museum</a>. It receives about 80,000 visitors a year and we estimate that it could rise to 200,000 a year with the return of these objects. This will generate revenue and allow us to expand and develop our own museums.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/222025/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Rachel Ama Asaa Engmann does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>A loan deal for the Asante artefacts offers an opportunity for these objects to return home.Rachel Ama Asaa Engmann, Director of Christiansborg Archaeological Heritage Project, Associate Professor at Africa Institute Sharjah & Associate Graduate Faculty, Rutgers UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1851452022-10-31T13:11:38Z2022-10-31T13:11:38ZGhana’s National Museum: superb restoration but painful stories remain untold<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/490104/original/file-20221017-18-2taq3p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A museum </span> </figcaption></figure><p>Ghana’s national museum has reopened its doors after a seven-year closure to allow for major renovations.</p>
<p>The museum was first <a href="https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.1515/9783110670714-019/pdf">opened in March 1957</a> as part of the celebrations marking the transition from colonial rule to independence. </p>
<p>The opening also marked the end of a bitter struggle between members of the museum staff over issues related to the creation of a new memory space. I traced this history in a <a href="https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.1515/9783110670714-019/pdf">paper</a> about the origins of the museum.</p>
<p>Often, museums are considered spaces for the past. However, they also reflect how the past is understood and used in the present. In 1957, the makers of the museum wanted to create a space for foreign visitors, telling a history that focused on peaceful aspects of Ghana’s past. In the process, less peaceful histories were excluded, such as the slave trade and the destructive aspects of colonial rule. </p>
<p>Over time, histories of the slave trade were added to the museum’s exhibitions. The recently completed renovation has provided the museum with the opportunity to develop a new exhibition where these histories were part of the main narrative. </p>
<p>I was intrigued to find out how the museum compared with the original vision.</p>
<p>After visiting it I concluded that it does an exemplary job of presenting the dynamic diversity of Ghana as a nation. But it still excludes certain histories – most notably those of the slave trade and colonial rule. The museum is leaving out crucial aspects of Ghana’s past. It misses the opportunity to be a space where these can be discussed and processed peacefully. </p>
<h2>Origins of the National Museum</h2>
<p>The idea of establishing a national museum in what was then known as the Gold Coast was first raised in the 1940s by the colonial government. </p>
<p>In 1951, the <a href="https://www.nli.org.il/en/a-topic/987007272993505171">archaeologist A.W. Lawrence</a> became the director of this future museum. With a collection consisting of archaeological artefacts and an archaeologist as its director, it had a strong historical basis. </p>
<p>Over the next few years, new politicians decided where to house the museum and what histories it should tell. Together with British officials, the anti-colonial Convention Peoples’ Party became responsible for it. </p>
<p>The building was designed by <a href="https://www.themodernhouse.com/journal/architect-of-the-week-denys-lasdun/">Denys Lasdun of Fry, Drew, Drake & Lasdun</a>, a partnership known for Modernist tropical architecture. </p>
<p>The museum consisted of several modern elements, not least the building materials. A prefabricated aluminium dome covers most of the building. But domes also characterise many European museums. The building can therefore be seen as a compromise between the traditional and the modern. </p>
<p>Inside the museum, Lawrence wanted to tell a history that was referred to as “Man in Africa”. This history focused on the Gold Coast against the background of what “Man has achieved throughout the rest of Africa.” </p>
<p>To tell this story, the museum acquired artefacts from ancient Egypt, the Roman period in Morocco, and two original Benin bronze heads, among other things. Lawrence also acquired European objects used in West Africa in the past centuries to illustrate the relationship between the Gold Coast and Europe. </p>
<p>However, one member of the staff, John Osei Kufour, who was an ardent supporter of the Convention Peoples’ Party, wanted the museum to be a space for anti-colonial history. He was highly critical of the objects acquired by Lawrence, particularly those from Europe. He wanted the museum to focus exclusively on Ghana and its traditions – traditions he hoped would soon be confined to the past by the government’s development plans. </p>
<p>In 1956, shortly before the museum was about to open, he used his contacts in the party in an effort to remove the director. It failed. The party leaders did not want the museum to be an anti-colonial space. Rather, they saw it as a suitable meeting place where visitors to the country could learn something of its history.</p>
<h2>Opening exhibitions</h2>
<p>Two temporary exhibitions were unveiled at the opening in 1957.</p>
<p>One was based on objects and told the history of “Man in Africa”, and the other used documents from the newly established national archives to narrate recent history. Both presented narratives of the past characterised by ordered progress and development resulting from the interaction between the people of Ghana, West Africa and other parts of the world. </p>
<p>In general, the national museum excluded all references to the parts of Ghana’s global past that were problematic. It contained references to European contact but not to the slave trade. The documents excluded the anti-colonial narrative of colonial exploitation or resistance. </p>
<p>Over the following decades certain changes were made in a bid to adjust the museum to new demands. In the 1990s, for instance, the history of the transatlantic slave trade was included. This enabled visitors from the African diaspora to find their past too. </p>
<p>In 2015 the museum was closed for reparation and restoration. When it opened in 2022, it started with a clean slate.</p>
<h2>What now?</h2>
<p>The museum has been beautifully restored, and is worth a visit for all who appreciate modernistic architecture from the independence era. </p>
<p>But I have a few criticisms.</p>
<p>The new exhibition is entitled “Unity in Diversity”, which I think is an excellent title. But the opening exhibition fails to explore or discuss this. What does diversity entail? How is it connected to tolerance and acceptance?</p>
<p>Also, as in 1957, difficult histories are excluded. The transatlantic slave trade is not discussed. Nor is the colonial period.</p>
<p>In general, the museum seems unfinished. But this can be a good thing: it allows the museum staff to continuously develop the exhibitions and invite new forms of participation from visitors. Rather than telling the singular “history” of Ghana, it could tell many histories of Ghana - from perspectives that also bring out the diversity of country. </p>
<p>Museums are potentially important places for dialogue and discussions. The National Museum in Ghana can be a place where people use their diverse experiences from the past to discuss how to solve issues in the present.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/185145/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jon Olav Hove does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Ghana’s national museum has been reopened after being closed for seven years.Jon Olav Hove, Associate Professor, Department of Historical and Classical Studies, Norwegian University of Science and TechnologyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1919412022-10-07T04:26:32Z2022-10-07T04:26:32ZThe wild weather of La Niña could wipe out vast stretches of Australia’s beaches and sand dunes<p>Australians along the east cost are bracing for yet another round of heavy rainfall this weekend, after a band of stormy weather soaked <a href="https://theconversation.com/on-our-wettest-days-stormclouds-can-dump-30-trillion-litres-of-water-across-australia-191949">most of the continent</a> this week. </p>
<p>The Bureau of Meteorology has <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QUsNQ_-fNbM&ab_channel=BureauofMeteorology">alerted</a> southern inland Queensland, eastern New South Wales, Victoria and northern Tasmania to ongoing flood risks, as the rain falls on already flooded or saturated catchments. </p>
<p>This widespread wet weather heralds <a href="https://theconversation.com/la-nina-3-years-in-a-row-a-climate-scientist-on-what-flood-weary-australians-can-expect-this-summer-190542">Australia’s rare third</a> back-to-back La Niña, which goes hand-in-hand with heavy rain. There is, however, another pressing issue arising from La Niña events: coastal erosion.</p>
<p>The wild weather associated with La Niña will drive more erosion along Australia’s east coast – enough to wipe out entire stretches of beaches and dunes, if all factors align. So, it’s important we heed lessons from past storms and plan ahead, as climate change <a href="https://theconversation.com/2022s-supercharged-summer-of-climate-extremes-how-global-warming-and-la-nina-fueled-disasters-on-top-of-disasters-190546">will only exacerbate</a> future coastal disasters.</p>
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<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/QUsNQ_-fNbM?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Ongoing flood risk for eastern Australia |
Bureau of Meteorology.</span></figcaption>
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<h2>How La Niña batters coastlines</h2>
<p>La Niña is associated with warmer waters in the western Pacific Ocean, which increase storminess off Australia’s east coast. Chances of a higher number of tropical cyclones increase, as do the chances of cyclones travelling further south and further inland, and of more frequent passages of east coast lows.</p>
<p>Australians had a taste of this in 1967, when the Gold Coast was hit by the largest storm cluster on record, made up of four cyclones and three east coast lows within six months. 1967 wasn’t even an official La Niña year, with the index just below the La Niña threshold.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/la-nina-3-years-in-a-row-a-climate-scientist-on-what-flood-weary-australians-can-expect-this-summer-190542">La Niña, 3 years in a row: a climate scientist on what flood-weary Australians can expect this summer</a>
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<p>Such frequency didn’t allow beaches to recover between storms, and the overall erosion was unprecedented. It <a href="https://impact.griffith.edu.au/seawall-engineering/">forced many</a> local residents to use anything on hand, even cars, to protect their properties and other infrastructure.</p>
<p>Official La Niña events occurred soon after. This included a double-dip La Niña between 1970 and 1972, followed by a triple-dip La Niña between 1973 and 1976. </p>
<p>These events fuelled two cyclones in 1972, two in 1974 and one in 1976, wreaking havoc along the entire east coast of Australia. Indeed, 1967 and 1974 are considered <a href="https://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/newslocal/northern-beaches/one-of-the-storms-that-hit-us-in-1974-was-among-the-three-worst-since-white-settlement/news-story/0cd5ca874d6b37206762d8485e4eb442">record years</a> for storm-induced coastal erosion.</p>
<p>Studies show the extreme erosion of 1974 was caused by a combination of large waves coinciding with <a href="https://ro.uow.edu.au/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1066&context=scipapers">above-average high tides</a>. It took over ten years for the sand to come back to the beach and for <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/4300263">dunes to recover</a>. However, <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s43247-022-00437-2">recent studies</a> also show single extreme storms can bring back considerable amounts of sand from deeper waters.</p>
<p>La Niña also modifies the direction of waves along the east coast, resulting in waves approaching from a more easterly direction (<a href="https://www.surfline.com/surf-news/forecaster-blog-la-nina-conditions-mean-surf/97904">anticlockwise</a>). </p>
<p>This subtle change has huge implications when it comes to erosion of otherwise more sheltered <a href="https://au.news.yahoo.com/how-la-nina-may-damage-queensland-tourist-hot-spots-041805874.html">north-facing beaches</a>. We saw this during the recent, and relatively weaker, double La Niña of 2016-18. </p>
<p>In 2016, an east coast low of only moderate intensity produced extreme erosion, similar to that of 1974. Scenes of destruction along NSW – including a collapsed backyard pool on <a href="https://www.wrl.unsw.edu.au/news/wrl-coastal-engineers-document-the-worst-erosion-at-collaroy-since-1974">Collaroy Beach</a> – are now <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-06-06/nsw-weather-large-waves-hit-collaroy-coast/7479846#:%7E:text=NSW%20weather%3A%20Collaroy%20swimming%20pool%20collapses%20as%20giant%20waves%20hit%20beachfront%20houses,-Posted%20Sun%205&text=Waves%20up%20to%208%20metres,as%20wild%20weather%20battered%20NSW.">iconic</a>. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-017-05792-1">This is largely</a> because wave direction deviated from the average by 45 degrees anticlockwise, during winter solstice spring tides when water levels are higher. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/2022s-supercharged-summer-of-climate-extremes-how-global-warming-and-la-nina-fueled-disasters-on-top-of-disasters-190546">2022's supercharged summer of climate extremes: How global warming and La Niña fueled disasters on top of disasters</a>
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<h2>All ducks aligned?</h2>
<p>The current triple-dip La Niña started in 2020. Based on Australia’s limited record since 1900, we know the final events in such sequences tend to be the weakest. </p>
<p>However, when it comes to coastal hazards, history tells us smaller but more frequent storms can cause as much or more erosion than one large event. This is mostly about the combination of storm direction, sequencing and high water levels.</p>
<p>For example, Bribie Island in Queensland was hit by relatively large easterly waves from ex-Tropical Cyclone Seth earlier this year, coinciding with above-average high tides. This caused the island to <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-01-27/bribie-island-changes-could-create-new-caloundra-bar/100777038#:%7E:text=Ex%2DTropical%20Cyclone%20Seth%20has,splitting%20the%20island%20in%20two.">split in two</a> and form a 300-metre wide passage of seawater. </p>
<p>Further, the prolonged period of easterly waves since 2020 has already taken a toll on beaches and dunes in Australia. </p>
<p>Traditionally, spring is the season when sand is transported onshore under fair-weather waves, building back wide beaches and tall dunes nearest to the sea. However, beaches haven’t had time to fully recover from the previous two years, which makes them more vulnerable to future erosion.</p>
<p>Repeated <a href="https://www.usc.edu.au/about/structure/schools/school-of-science-technology-and-engineering/coast4d">elevation measurements</a> by our team and citizen scientists along beaches in the Sunshine Coast and Noosa show shorelines have eroded more than 10m landwards since the beginning of this year. As the photo below shows, 2-3m high erosion scarps (which look like small cliffs) have formed along dunes due to frequent heavy rainfalls and waves.</p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/488701/original/file-20221007-18-mmjydr.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/488701/original/file-20221007-18-mmjydr.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/488701/original/file-20221007-18-mmjydr.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/488701/original/file-20221007-18-mmjydr.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/488701/original/file-20221007-18-mmjydr.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/488701/original/file-20221007-18-mmjydr.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/488701/original/file-20221007-18-mmjydr.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/488701/original/file-20221007-18-mmjydr.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Dune scarps at a beach in Noosa.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Javier Leon</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
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<p>On the other hand, we can also see that the wet weather has led to greater growth of vegetation on dunes, such as native spinifex and dune bean.</p>
<p>Experiments in laboratory settings show dune vegetation can dissipate up to 40-50% of the water level reached as a result of waves, and <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0272771418307583">reduce erosion</a>. But whether this increase in dune vegetation mitigates further erosion remains to be seen.</p>
<h2>A challenging future</h2>
<p>The chances of witnessing coastal hazards similar to those in 1967 or 1974 in the coming season are real and, in the unfortunate case they materialise, we should be ready to act. Councils and communities need to prepare ahead and work together towards recovery if disaster strikes using, for example, sand nourishment and sandbags.</p>
<p>Looking ahead, it remains essential to further our understanding about coastal dynamics – especially in a <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-09-03/gold-coast-no-stranger-to-beach-erosion/101381812#:%7E:text=a%20huge%20challenge-,Millions%20spent%20to%20protect%20Gold%20Coast%20beaches%2C%20but,change%20poses%20a%20huge%20challenge&text=In%201967%2C%20Gold%20Coast%20beaches,and%20ruined%20the%20tourist%20season.">changing climate</a> – so we can better manage densely populated coastal regions. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/climate-fuelled-wave-patterns-pose-an-erosion-risk-for-developing-countries-184064">Climate-fuelled wave patterns pose an erosion risk for developing countries</a>
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<p>After all, much of what we know about the dynamics of Australia’s east coast has been supported by coastal monitoring programs, which were implemented <a href="https://www.publications.qld.gov.au/dataset/coastal-observation-program-engineering">along Queensland</a> and NSW after the 1967 and 1974 storms. </p>
<p>Scientists predict that La Niña conditions along the east coast of Australia – such as warmer waters, higher sea levels, stronger waves and more waves coming from the east – will become <a href="https://theconversation.com/climate-fuelled-wave-patterns-pose-an-erosion-risk-for-developing-countries-184064">the norm under climate change</a>. </p>
<p>It’s crucial we start having a serious conversation about coastal adaptation strategies, including implementing a <a href="https://www.usc.edu.au/about/unisc-news/news-archive/2022/january/coastal-erosion-may-force-retreat-from-the-sea#:%7E:text=Giving%20up%20land%20to%20the,of%20the%20Sunshine%20Coast%20researcher.">managed retreat</a>. The longer we take, the higher the costs will be.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/191941/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Javier Leon receives funding from Noosa Council and The Queensland Earth Observation (EO) Hub, a partnership between the Queensland Government and SmartSat Cooperative Research Centre (CRC)</span></em></p>We must heed lessons from past storms and plan ahead, as climate change will only exacerbate future coastal disasters.Javier Leon, Senior lecturer, University of the Sunshine CoastLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1873852022-07-31T06:45:43Z2022-07-31T06:45:43ZJames Hutton Brew: Gold Coast abolitionist who exposed Britain’s anti-slavery hypocrisy<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/475416/original/file-20220721-1264-1ibcp5.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The Cape Coast castle is a lasting legacy of the slave trade</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Adam Cohn/Flickr</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The literature and research on the abolition of slavery in places like Gold Coast (modern day Ghana) has tended to have a Eurocentric focus. Most has focused on colonial anti-slavery legislation and the abolitionist activities of Europeans. The contributions made by local Africans have been almost entirely ignored. When mentioned at all, Africans have been seen as resisting colonial efforts to abolish domestic slavery. </p>
<p>This focus is biased. Studying local Africans’ contributions to abolition provides a fuller understanding of its history.</p>
<p>In a recently published <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/0144039X.2022.2095905">paper</a>, I analysed 19th-century newspapers to shed light on how Africans responded to colonial abolition of domestic slavery in Gold Coast. In particular, I looked at the role played by James Hutton Brew. </p>
<p>Brew was one of the local African intellectuals behind the Fante Confederacy in Cape Coast. The Fante Confederacy movement was one of the first attempts to institute self-governance in Gold Coast. The campaign involved traditional rulers of Fante communities working alongside educated natives in late 1860s and early 1870s.</p>
<p>Brew wrote the <a href="https://www.modernghana.com/news/123177/1/constitution-of-the-new-fante-confederacy.html">constitution of the Fante Confederacy</a> in 1871 and it remains a document of historical significance. He was also a pioneer in West African journalism. He founded the first print newspapers in Gold Coast, The Gold Coast Times (in 1874) and The Western Echo (in 1885). His newspapers nurtured <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/254266730_Literary_activism_in_colonial_Ghana_A_newspaper-novel_by_A_Native">many later activists</a> in Gold Coast, most notably <a href="https://www.blackpast.org/global-african-history/hayford-joseph-ephraim-casely-1866-1930/">J.E. Casely Hayford</a>. </p>
<p>As editor of The Gold Coast Times in 1874, the year in which Gold Coast became a <a href="http://countrystudies.us/ghana/8.htm">Crown colony</a> and the British <a href="https://hansard.parliament.uk/Commons/1874-06-29/debates/8bac0607-cc42-4f2b-b295-691183cff621/SlaveryOnTheGoldCoast">sought to abolish domestic slavery there</a>, Brew’s editorial writings showed that Africans were more concerned about the abolition of slavery in their communities than was the colonial government.</p>
<p>Brew and other African abolitionists also advocated practical solutions such as the distribution of land to former slaves. For their part, the British sought mainly to appease anti-slavery groups in Europe by creating a law to evince their commitment without enforcing it, or actually making an effort to free slaves. </p>
<p>Studying the contributions made by Africans to the abolition of domestic slavery helps to provide a more accurate and comprehensive history. This is important because the account of events given by the colonial regime, which forms the basis of conventional history, is part of a political project to justify colonisation. </p>
<h2>British emancipation in Gold Coast, 1874</h2>
<p>When Gold Coast became a Crown colony in <a href="http://countrystudies.us/ghana/8.htm">1874</a>, the British decided to abolish domestic slavery. However, they showed little commitment to the cause. The then British <a href="https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C11952">Secretary of State for the Colonies</a> and the Colonial Governor of Gold Coast, <a href="https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/strahan-sir-george-cumine-4651">George Strahan</a>, formally outlawed slave dealing and slave holding. But they failed to implement the law. And while they legally prohibited slave holding in Gold Coast, they expected slaves to continue serving their masters.</p>
<p>The colonial secretary and the governor predicted that slaves would not immediately leave their masters because of their established associations and fear of poverty. The governor anticipated that the few slaves who did leave would face difficulties in securing their livelihoods and would thus ultimately return to their masters. He hoped that witnessing this hardship would discourage other slaves from seeking their freedom. </p>
<p>Informing traditional rulers of the British decision to outlaw slavery, the governor told them that their <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/0144039X.2022.2095905">slaves could continue to work</a> for them as before and that the colonial government did not wish to separate slaves from their masters.</p>
<p>Despite passing a law prohibiting slavery, the British colonial government did not want slaves to leave their masters. The freedom of slaves might incur a cost that the government was not ready to pay. Local slave owners could reasonably request compensation for the loss of their slaves. Slave holding was a form of property right in Gold Coast and the British had a <a href="https://dbpedia.org/page/Slave_Compensation_Act_1837">tradition of compensating slave owners</a> after abolishing slavery in other regions.</p>
<h2>Brew’s response</h2>
<p>Unlike the colonial administration, some local Africans, such as James Hutton Brew, discussed domestic slavery in depth, in line with a different vision of abolition in Gold Coast. </p>
<p>When the British colonial governor started discussing emancipation, Brew made his position known. In a note in the <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/0144039X.2022.2095905?src=">Gold Coast Times on 20 October 1874</a>, he called on the governor to find </p>
<blockquote>
<p>a solution we trust will admit no misunderstanding and which will not leave scope for the existence of slavery in any shape, degree or form. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>In advocating total emancipation, Brew saw himself as following in the footsteps of the celebrated abolitionists of Britain’s anti-slavery movement. These included <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/William-Wilberforce">William Wilberforce</a>, <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Thomas-Clarkson">Thomas Clarkson</a> and <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Sir-Thomas-Fowell-Buxton-1st-Baronet">Thomas Fowell Buxton</a>. </p>
<p>Brew believed that it would be unfair to abolish slavery and then place the freed slaves at the mercy of their masters in the absence of substitute livelihoods. He feared that “slaves who have thus obtained their freedom will be pariahs of society”, unable to find homes or places to rest. He wrote:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>They will be driven from village to village, from plantation to plantation, until they find their emancipation an incubus on them, and some of them as they travel inland will find themselves {back in slavery}.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Brew urged the colonial government to “purchase land or acquire some territory by treaty with the kings and chiefs on which it could keep, maintain and support the slaves emancipated by it” (The Gold Coast Times, 30 November 1874, p. 53). </p>
<p>He saw distributing land to the freed slaves as a logical way to prevent them from remaining at the mercy of their former masters. He also called on the British to pay compensation to local slave owners, as it had done for white slave owners when slavery had been abolished <a href="https://dbpedia.org/page/Slave_Compensation_Act_1837">earlier that century</a>. </p>
<p>When the British proceeded with the emancipation law without making any provision for the freed slaves, Brew accused the colonial authority of not being truly concerned about them. According to Brew, the British wanted to claim to have abolished domestic slavery in the Gold Coast without following through.</p>
<p>Brew would later advise traditional rulers to write petitions to the queen, complaining about how the emancipation exercise had been conducted and requesting compensation. The colonial governor reacted by portraying men like Brew as “educated slave owners” looking to preserve their position by continuing slavery. </p>
<h2>After Brew</h2>
<p>After Brew, there were other clashes between African abolitionists and the British colonial government in Gold Coast. In 1889, for example, a trader in Accra named <a href="https://www.bloomsburycollections.com/book/slavery-and-its-legacy-in-ghana-and-the-diaspora/ch7-an-african-abolitionist-on-the-gold-coast-the-case-of-francis-p-fearon">Francis Fearon</a> wrote letters to anti-slavery campaigners in Britain revealing that the then colonial governor of Gold Coast, W.B. Griffith, was promoting domestic slavery. By this time, slavery had been legally abolished. </p>
<p>But the British colonial regime in Gold Coast refused to implement the law properly and sometimes even promoted domestic slavery for administrative convenience. Fearon and his network of African abolitionists fought against this.</p>
<p>My paper goes some way to addressing the fact that the role of people like Brew and other African abolitionists has not been properly acknowledged.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/187385/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The research on which this article is based received funding from European Research Council under the European Union’s Horizon2020 Research and Innovation Programme (grant agreement No. 885418)</span></em></p>Studying local Africans’ contributions to the abolition of slavery provides a fuller understanding of its history.Michael E Odijie, Research associate, UCLLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1600872021-05-11T19:48:46Z2021-05-11T19:48:46ZInspired by organic cells, with some marvellous art on show, the Gold Coast’s new HOTA Gallery is a triumph<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/399676/original/file-20210510-5525-17jnurj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=41%2C0%2C3952%2C2598&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">HOTA</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The new $60.5 million <a href="https://hota.com.au/new-hota-gallery/">HOTA Gallery</a> opened its doors on the weekend, updating ageing infrastructure and marking an exciting chapter for the Gold Coast. </p>
<p>HOTA, or Home of the Arts, has been developed as part of a <a href="http://goldcoastculturalprecinct.info/masterplan">masterplan</a> begun almost a decade ago by the Gold Coast Council to rework a 17-hectare site into a vibrant arts and entertainment precinct. Nestled just in front of the gallery is a $37.5 million outdoor stage. </p>
<p>Designed by <a href="https://armarchitecture.com.au/projects/hota/">Melbourne-based architects ARM</a>, the HOTA Gallery signals a democratic and inclusive vision for both residents and visiting tourists. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/399677/original/file-20210510-17-16rh34j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="The building at night." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/399677/original/file-20210510-17-16rh34j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/399677/original/file-20210510-17-16rh34j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=379&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/399677/original/file-20210510-17-16rh34j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=379&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/399677/original/file-20210510-17-16rh34j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=379&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/399677/original/file-20210510-17-16rh34j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=476&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/399677/original/file-20210510-17-16rh34j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=476&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/399677/original/file-20210510-17-16rh34j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=476&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The architecture takes inspiration from Voronoi tessellations which occur throughout nature.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">HOTA</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The architecture firm used the cellular structure of the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voronoi_diagram">Voronoi diagram</a> as an organisational and visual metaphor for the precinct. Voronoi tessellations occur <a href="https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/observations/voronoi-tessellations-and-scutoids-are-everywhere/">throughout nature</a> and are a puzzle-like collection of cells fitting together: imagine honeycomb; veins on a dragonfly’s wings and the natural patterns of a giraffe’s fur. </p>
<p>Eschewing the vertical lines of nearby apartment buildings and hotels — the popular images of the Gold Coast — HOTA’s facade instead resembles a colourful clumping of organic cells. </p>
<p>It is welcoming and playful, reflecting the relaxed ethos of inclusivity underpinning the council’s vision for the precinct. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/399678/original/file-20210510-5598-1ho6o5i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A children's gallery" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/399678/original/file-20210510-5598-1ho6o5i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/399678/original/file-20210510-5598-1ho6o5i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=356&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/399678/original/file-20210510-5598-1ho6o5i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=356&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/399678/original/file-20210510-5598-1ho6o5i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=356&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/399678/original/file-20210510-5598-1ho6o5i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=447&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/399678/original/file-20210510-5598-1ho6o5i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=447&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/399678/original/file-20210510-5598-1ho6o5i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=447&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The space is welcoming and playful.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">HOTA</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The gallery itself is six floors high, and the top floor flaunts views to the east of the Gold Coast skyline. To the west is the dramatic hinterland and scenic rim; with riverside parklands below. Cleverly, the cell-like windows yield an abundance of natural light without compromising the exhibition spaces. </p>
<p>Walking around the gallery, I am reminded of the critical role <a href="https://theconversation.com/federal-arts-funding-in-australia-is-falling-and-local-governments-are-picking-up-the-slack-124160">local councils</a> play in creating arts spaces for their communities. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/federal-arts-funding-in-australia-is-falling-and-local-governments-are-picking-up-the-slack-124160">Federal arts funding in Australia is falling, and local governments are picking up the slack</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Looking beneath the surface</h2>
<p>The inaugural exhibition, SOLID GOLD: Artists from Paradise, is a testament to this role, with a diverse selection of new works commissioned from both emerging and established artists who share a connection to the Gold Coast. </p>
<p>The Gold Coast is often perceived with a flashy, and slightly tawdry, image. This show happily refutes this stereotype. What emerges is a rich and diverse exhibition deeply engaged at both local and national levels with themes pertaining to place, space and environment. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/399909/original/file-20210511-24-vnzfm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/399909/original/file-20210511-24-vnzfm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/399909/original/file-20210511-24-vnzfm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/399909/original/file-20210511-24-vnzfm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/399909/original/file-20210511-24-vnzfm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/399909/original/file-20210511-24-vnzfm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/399909/original/file-20210511-24-vnzfm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/399909/original/file-20210511-24-vnzfm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Libby Harward, BLOODLETTING (water-ways) 2021. 3-channel digital video, sound.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Courtesy of the artist. Photo Jo Driessens</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Quandamooka artist Libby Harward’s BLOODLETTING (water-ways) (2021) is a three-channel video installation lying horizontally on the floor. In an extraordinary self-portrait, Harward is lying in a life-sized trench (or shallow grave) and surrounded by PVC plumbing pipes. </p>
<p>The work is vaguely menacing: it is not clear to the spectator looking down at her how Harward is breathing through the apparatus duct taped to her mouth. </p>
<p>Harward’s work is both a timely and necessary contribution to a national conversation on First Nations’ <a href="https://theconversation.com/australia-has-an-ugly-legacy-of-denying-water-rights-to-aboriginal-people-not-much-has-changed-141743">water sovereignty</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/399681/original/file-20210510-16-1l675w2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/399681/original/file-20210510-16-1l675w2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/399681/original/file-20210510-16-1l675w2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/399681/original/file-20210510-16-1l675w2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/399681/original/file-20210510-16-1l675w2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/399681/original/file-20210510-16-1l675w2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/399681/original/file-20210510-16-1l675w2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/399681/original/file-20210510-16-1l675w2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Pictured L-R: Front: Michael Candy, Steal the Sunshine 2021; Samuel Leighton-Dore Cloud-Drive 2021. SOLID GOLD: Artists from Paradise, HOTA Gallery.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Photo by Paul Harris Photography</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Michael Candy’s Steal the Sunshine (2021) is a testament to the artist’s skills in mechanical engineering, manufacturing and programming. Candy converts the sun’s natural light to artificial LED by simulating the sun’s daily path across a towering grid of lights.</p>
<p>The lights behave akin to a time-lapse video as the work responds to the changing light conditions outside the gallery. </p>
<p>Ali Bezer’s commanding floor sculpture, I Can Hear Water (2021), is formed by ripples and folds of aluminium and bitumen. Simultaneously a nod back to 1960s minimalist sculptures by artists such <a href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/andre-144-magnesium-square-t01767">Carl Andre</a>, as well as evoking the sights and sound of the Gold Coast’s beaches, Bezer’s work is both global in outlook while resolutely committed to its local environment.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/399680/original/file-20210510-5469-1ckvl6o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/399680/original/file-20210510-5469-1ckvl6o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/399680/original/file-20210510-5469-1ckvl6o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/399680/original/file-20210510-5469-1ckvl6o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/399680/original/file-20210510-5469-1ckvl6o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/399680/original/file-20210510-5469-1ckvl6o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/399680/original/file-20210510-5469-1ckvl6o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/399680/original/file-20210510-5469-1ckvl6o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Back wall: Nicola Moss Local Air 2021; Kirsty Bruce Wonderwall 2021; Aaron Chapman The Towers Project 2021; Back right: Michael Candy, Steal the Sunshine 202; Front: Ali Bezer I Can Hear Water 2021; SOLID GOLD: Artists from Paradise, HOTA Gallery.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Photo by Paul Harris Photography</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>An ambitious space</h2>
<p>The gallery is the new home to the Gold Coast council’s $32 million art collection. This permanent collection, on display in the upper levels, showcases key works by leading Australian artists. It reveals a variety of surprises and underscores a decades-long ambitious and forward-looking acquisition strategy. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/home-of-the-arts-inside-an-arts-centre-keeping-body-and-soul-together-138801">Home of the Arts – inside an arts centre keeping body and soul together</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Early, hard-edged abstractions by <a href="https://www.artistprofile.com.au/michael-johnson/">Michael Johnson</a> from the 1970s are juxtaposed with feminist artist Julie Rrap’s <a href="https://www.roslynoxley9.com.au/exhibition/persona-and-shadow/rzzn8">Persona and Shadow: Virago</a> (1984). </p>
<p>Tracey Moffatt’s important series <a href="https://www.roslynoxley9.com.au/exhibition/pet-thang/vlvzq">Pet Thang</a> (1991) is brought into dialogue with William Robinson’s <a href="https://hota.com.au/stories/the-rainforest-comes-home-to-hota-gallery/">The Rainforest</a> (1990). Landscapes by Albert Tucker and Fred Williams are combined with Vernon Ah Kee’s <a href="https://artsearch.nga.gov.au/detail.cfm?irn=194721">wegrewhere</a> (2009) series. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Painting" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/399670/original/file-20210510-5598-kr3jyi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/399670/original/file-20210510-5598-kr3jyi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=221&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/399670/original/file-20210510-5598-kr3jyi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=221&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/399670/original/file-20210510-5598-kr3jyi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=221&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/399670/original/file-20210510-5598-kr3jyi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=278&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/399670/original/file-20210510-5598-kr3jyi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=278&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/399670/original/file-20210510-5598-kr3jyi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=278&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">William Robinson’s The Rainforest, c 1900, is a centrepiece of the collection.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">HOTA Gallery</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>These conversations feel fresh and highlight the depth in the gallery’s collection — offering visitors new and unexpected connections, without feeling remotely regional or nostalgic. </p>
<p>For a city under constant renewal, from the new HOTA Gallery emerges a complex and dynamic negotiation of place. </p>
<p><em>SOLID GOLD: Artists from Paradise is showing at HOTA until 4 July.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/160087/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Chari Larsson does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The new HOTA Gallery, with its colourful organic facade and exciting exhibitions, happily refutes popular images of the Gold Coast.Chari Larsson, Lecturer of art history, Griffith UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1207902019-07-31T13:22:34Z2019-07-31T13:22:34ZKwame Nkrumah: why, every now and then, his legacy is questioned<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/286044/original/file-20190729-43109-1rl1h6i.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Statue of Kwame Nkrumah at his mausoleum in Accra</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Flickr</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Kwame Nkrumah led Ghana to <a href="https://www.uew.edu.gh/lib-fetured/ghana-autobiography-kwame-nkrumah">independence</a> in 1957 – the first country in sub-Saharan Africa to achieve this feat. He’s still remembered for his unrepentant anti-colonial stance and strident <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/313574089_Kwame_Nkrumah_and_the_panafrican_vision_Between_acceptance_and_rebuttal">Pan-Africanism</a>. Above all, he is regarded as one of Africa’s ablest statesmen of the 20th century.</p>
<p>Nkrumah has been ranked among leaders such as <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Vladimir-Lenin">Vladimir Lenin</a>, <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Mahatma-Gandhi">Mahatma Gandhi</a> and <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Mao-Zedong">Mao Tse-Tsung</a>. All contributed significantly in shaping the course of history during the last five decades of the 20th century.</p>
<p>Nkrumah’s rise in the anti-colonial movement in Ghana, then called the Gold Coast, began in the late 1940s. Before then he had spent almost <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Kwame-Nkrumah">15 years</a> in the US and the UK studying. </p>
<p>By the mid-1940s <a href="https://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/handle/2027.42/58461/lande_1.pdf">political activism</a> in the Gold Coast was taking a radical turn. Political agitation had compelled the <a href="https://www.virtualkollage.com/2016/12/the-shortcomings-of-1946-burns-constitution-of-the-gold-coast.html">colonial administration</a> to introduce constitutional reforms that gave Africans a majority of seats on the colonial Legislative Council. </p>
<p>By 1947 there were only two political organisations: the <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/41971238?seq=1#metadata_info_tab_contents">Gold Coast People’s League</a> and the <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/41971238?seq=1#metadata_info_tab_contents">Gold Coast National Party</a>. Both were ineffectual, weighed down by ethnocentric divisions between the Akan and the Ga, and dominated by lawyers and wealthy merchants. </p>
<p>Nevertheless, on 4 August 1947 the two parties agreed to form one organisation they called the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/United-Gold-Coast-Convention">United Gold Coast Convention</a>. The hope was that they would lead the struggle for independence by providing a united front that appealed to all Ghanaians. </p>
<p>But the leaders of the new party were all successful professionals and business people who had little time to run the party. So nobody objected when a leading member <a href="https://obedbekoe.wordpress.com/2015/10/22/biography-of-dr-ebenezer-ako-adjei/">Ako Adjei</a> suggested that Nkrumah, who was living in London at the time, should be invited to become the party’s full-time secretary.</p>
<p>This invitation, according to one commentator “proved a tragic error” – for Nkrumah would become their most dreaded rival and <a href="https://www.worldcat.org/title/life-and-times-of-dr-jb-danquah/oclc/2157673">ideological opponent</a>. </p>
<h2>Intellectual influences and contested legacy</h2>
<p>Nkrumah was an avowed <a href="http://africaworldpressbooks.com/the-life-and-work-of-kwame-nkrumah-edited-by-kwame-arhin/">Marxist-socialist</a>. He was exposed to several intellectual influences that shaped and conditioned his political ideas. During his stay in the US he immersed himself in the reading of the political theories of Karl Marx, Vladimir Lenin and Marcus Garvey. These theories, especially <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/2934320?seq=1#metadata_info_tab_contents">Marxism-Leninism</a>, profoundly affected his intellectual and ideological dispositions. Garvey’s influence, suggests, <a href="http://africaworldpressbooks.com/the-life-and-work-of-kwame-nkrumah-edited-by-kwame-arhin/">Dr Kojo Afari Gyan</a>, an academic and a former electoral commissioner of Ghana, was largely inspirational.</p>
<p>Like many great men, Nkrumah’s legacy is not uncontested. His detractors accuse him of progressively running down Ghana’s economic gains at independence, gagging the press, curtailing the freedom of speech and being an authoritarian. </p>
<p>His detractors still deeply resent the fact that he imposed a one party state and passed laws that landed his opponents in jail.</p>
<p>But if there are any merits in these criticisms – and perhaps there are – we should agree with <a href="https://www.worldcat.org/title/kwame-nkrumah-the-anatomy-of-an-african-dictatorship/oclc/92143">Dr Peter Omari</a>, a former executive director of the <a href="https://uia.org/s/or/en/1100056119">African Centre for Applied Research and Training in Social Development</a>, that Ghanaians must take some of the blame for allowing one man so much scope that they could virtually be enslaved through fear and cowardice. </p>
<p>Omari also notes that, however <a href="https://www.worldcat.org/title/kwame-nkrumah-the-anatomy-of-an-african-dictatorship/oclc/92143">Ghanaians</a> might judge Nkrumah, they ought not to forget that he was a true reflection of the Ghanaian personality – good and bad.</p>
<p>All these controversies have led, every now and again, to his legacies being questioned and debated. </p>
<h2>Stewardship</h2>
<p>Nkrumah arrived in the Gold Coast on 14 November 1947. He immediately assumed his secretarial duties, offering to work <a href="https://www.scribd.com/book/245136029/Kwame-Nkrumah-Vision-and-Tragedy">without pay</a> after he realised that the party had no funds to pay his monthly salary. Eventually, the leadership prevailed on him to accept a fraction of the salary. </p>
<p>Nkrumah immediately drew up a detailed, radical plan which he presented to the leadership of the United Gold Coast Convention. He suggested that the party set up branches in every corner of the country and embarks on demonstrations, <a href="https://www.graphic.com.gh/features/opinion/reasons-why-the-ugcc-failed.html">strikes</a> and boycotts to press for independence. </p>
<p>His approach appealed to some of the leaders. Others were apprehensive. </p>
<p>Nonetheless, Nkrumah set his plan in motion. New branches were set up and resources mobilised to the party. He paid particular attention to young people who were disappointed with the status quo and were looking for an avenue to vent their frustration at their chiefs and the colonial administration. </p>
<p>But before the close of 1948, cracks had developed in the <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/24393408?seq=1#metadata_info_tab_contents">relationship </a> between Nkrumah and the party leadership. He was accused of being complicit in <a href="https://www.scribd.com/book/245136029/Kwame-Nkrumah-Vision-and-Tragedy">riots</a> that resulted in the detention of the leaders, Nkrumah himself included.</p>
<p>From this point their mistrust of Nkrumah heightened. For his part, Nkrumah too became estranged from the views of the leadership. </p>
<h2>Breaking ranks</h2>
<p>The difference in aim, philosophy and political strategy eventually compelled Nkrumah to break ranks and form the <a href="https://www.graphic.com.gh/features/opinion/reasons-why-the-ugcc-failed.html">Convention People’s Party</a> in 1949. By this time, he had toured almost every part of the country. And because of his affability, oratory skills and his identification with the struggles of ordinary people, he’d endeared himself to the youth who became his main supporters. </p>
<p>As <a href="https://www.scribd.com/book/245136029/Kwame-Nkrumah-Vision-and-Tragedy">David Rooney</a>, the historian and author, has observed, Nkrumah roused the youth with his</p>
<blockquote>
<p>fiery oratory, slept on their verandas…shared their hardships …captivated them with his charm, enthusiasm and passion. He inflamed the people with demands for self-government now. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>This was what the leadership of the United Gold Coast Convention lacked. They were unable to relate to ordinary people and their views on political change were, in Rooney’s words, </p>
<blockquote>
<p>dispensed with <a href="https://www.scribd.com/book/245136029/Kwame-Nkrumah-Vision-and-Tragedy">condescension</a> from an aloof aristocratic pinnacle.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>The formation of the <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/24393408?seq=1#metadata_info_tab_contents">Convention People’s Party</a> leapfrogged Nkrumah into the leadership of the independence struggle and changed the course of Ghana’s history. The party injected a new sense of urgency into the fight for independence. Not even Nkrumah’s association with communism and the <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/24393408?seq=1#metadata_info_tab_contents">castigation</a> of his followers as hooligans could stop the party’s progress and Nkrumah’s march towards political independence. </p>
<p>Nkrumah pulled the political rug from under the feet of the leadership of the United Gold Coast Convention and fired up the passion and enthusiasm of the country’s young people in the fight for <a href="https://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/handle/2027.42/58461/lande_1.pdf">independence</a>. </p>
<p>From then on he was viewed as the father of the independence movement, and after independence the father of modern Ghana.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/120790/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Akwasi Kwarteng Amoako-Gyampah does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Like many great men, the legacy of Ghana’s independence hero is not uncontested.Akwasi Kwarteng Amoako-Gyampah, Lecturer of History, Akenten Appiah-Menka University of Skills Training and Entrepreneurial Development Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/962632018-05-16T20:13:49Z2018-05-16T20:13:49ZLong-running battle ends in a win for residents, koalas and local council planning rules<p>Gold Coast City Council has <a href="https://archive.sclqld.org.au/qjudgment/2018/QCA18-075.pdf">won a four-year legal battle</a> with Boral Resources, with the courts upholding the council’s refusal to approve a proposed quarry because of its impacts on the amenity of local residents – including the <a href="http://www.goldcoast.qld.gov.au/environment/koala-conservation-4020.html">area’s koalas</a>. In some rare good news for local government in Queensland, which has been <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-05-03/ipswich-council-to-be-sacked-as-mayor-antoniolli-stands-down/9722146">under</a> a <a href="http://www.ccc.qld.gov.au/corruption/operation-belcarra/operation-belcarra-reforming-local-government-in-queensland">cloud</a> lately, the Court of Appeal’s decision confirms that councils are entitled to rely on their own planning schemes when deciding on local development applications. Even though Boral had secured approvals from the Commonwealth and Queensland governments, the Queensland Court of Appeal has <a href="https://www.edoqld.org.au/spotlight_on_boral_resources_qld_pty_limited_v_gold_coast_city_council">upheld the council’s decision</a> to refuse Boral’s application to develop a quarry.</p>
<h2>A quarry quarrel</h2>
<p>The council took on Boral and won after a four-year battle. In May 2014, Boral Resources had applied to the council for a permit to develop a quarry over 65 hectares of land at Reedy Creek, west of Palm Beach. State planning instruments had identified this land as a key resource area of state significance. For Boral, the quarry would generate hard rock and overburden worth A$1.4-1.5 billion.</p>
<p>In January 2014, the federal environment minister, acting under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999, <a href="http://epbcnotices.environment.gov.au/referralslist/referral-details/?id=17817a12-4c67-e511-b4b8-005056ba00ab">approved</a> the development. In July 2014, Queensland’s Department of Environment and Heritage Protection did likewise. </p>
<p>All that remained was council’s consent. But, even though its own planning officer recommended approving the development, on July 11 2014, the council refused Boral’s application. When the <a href="https://www.facebook.com/stopthegoldcoastquarry/">local protest</a> is loud enough and big enough – 4,200 objections were received – then even the Gold Coast Council will hear!</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/218556/original/file-20180511-34027-9dlg88.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/218556/original/file-20180511-34027-9dlg88.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/218556/original/file-20180511-34027-9dlg88.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=223&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/218556/original/file-20180511-34027-9dlg88.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=223&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/218556/original/file-20180511-34027-9dlg88.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=223&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/218556/original/file-20180511-34027-9dlg88.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=280&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/218556/original/file-20180511-34027-9dlg88.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=280&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/218556/original/file-20180511-34027-9dlg88.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=280&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Residents’ opposition to the quarry development was organised, loud and ultimately, after several years, successful.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.facebook.com/pg/stopthegoldcoastquarry/photos/?tab=album&album_id=196156060405768">Stop the Gold Coast Quarry/Facebook</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Not surprisingly, Boral immediately <a href="https://www.goldcoastbulletin.com.au/news/crime-court/boral-has-launched-an-appeal-against-gold-coast-city-councils-decision-to-reject-the-reedy-creek-quarry/news-story/6a8bd0e7a5f80d03b9ecb8ecafd727fd">appealed that decision</a> to the Planning and Environment Court. The court had to balance numerous competing interests to re-decide the merits of the case.</p>
<p>To some extent, the economic arguments were on Boral’s side. If the proposal did not proceed, competition could be reduced and the additional costs to the community could be around A$240 million over the life of the quarry, as even the Court of Appeal later <a href="https://www.queenslandjudgments.com.au/download/case?rep=306670">accepted</a>. </p>
<p>On the other side of the equation, the development would have <a href="http://www.goldcoastquarry.com/eis-and-technical-reports/">adverse impacts</a> on the amenity of nearby residents. These included creating ugly views and generating noise and dust by introducing an extra 450 haulage truck movements per day on local roads. </p>
<p>Judge Richard Jones decided the balance favoured refusing the application, <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-05-04/gold-coast-boral-quarry-appeal-dismissed/8496740">confirming the council’s refusal</a>. </p>
<p>Now the Court of Appeal has upheld that decision. The council, local residents and koalas have won the day.</p>
<p>The case also raises some points of more general planning interest. These relate to:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>the respective roles of state and local planning instruments</p></li>
<li><p>whether profitable economic development may legitimately be delayed to another day</p></li>
<li><p>whether protecting koalas requires protecting their habitat as well.</p></li>
</ul>
<h2>State versus local planning instruments</h2>
<p>In Queensland, the state planning policy identifies 16 state interests arranged under five broad themes. No one state interest is given priority over the others. </p>
<p>The Court of Appeal’s decision confirms it is the rightful business of local governments to balance and resolve competing state interests at the local level in their own planning schemes. Notwithstanding the site’s designation as a key resource area in state planning policy, the council had acted lawfully in relying on its own planning instruments to decide that adverse environmental and amenity impacts justified refusing the application.</p>
<h2>Should good economic development be postponed?</h2>
<p>Despite refusing the application, the judge conceded the resource should be protected for future exploitation when appropriate. </p>
<p>Boral argued this was an “irrational decision”. How would the amenity of residents and the survival of koalas be any less of concern in the future if they were so important even now? In Boral’s view, if this was a valuable economic resource (and everyone agreed it was), development now was the only sensible decision.</p>
<p>The Court of Appeal paid short shrift to this notion. It held that although the local planning instruments currently prevailed against an approval, amendments to these over time might alter the balance in favour of development. Local government, once again, is in the driving seat.</p>
<h2>Do koalas need their trees?</h2>
<p>Koalas are a recognised matter of environmental significance at <a href="http://www.environment.gov.au/epbc/what-is-protected">Commonwealth</a> and <a href="https://www.ehp.qld.gov.au/management/planning-guidelines/method-mapping-mses.html">state</a> levels. Developing the quarry would involve, over time, clearing 30,000 trees, including 23,000 koala habitat trees. The Planning and Environment Court judge recognised this would have an adverse impact in relation to a matter of environmental significance. </p>
<p>Boral had, like every other developer, argued conservation efforts at other sites (imposed as offsets) could produce a better outcome overall for koalas in southeast Queensland. The court dismissed this claim because the local planning scheme specified matters of environmental significance should be protected in situ.</p>
<p>Not to be defeated, Boral argued the judge confused koalas (a recognised matter of environmental significance) with koala habitat (of no particular status in this case). The Court of Appeal denounced this logic: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>It cannot seriously be disputed that to destroy its habitat is to fail to conserve and protect it as a listed threatened species.</p>
</blockquote>
<h2>What are the broader planning implications?</h2>
<p>The Boral litigation explores some really interesting principles for planning law and local governments. </p>
<p>Let’s just imagine, for a moment, a land use planning world where state planning policy is always applied with reference to the affected community’s vision for its neighbourhood; where councils regularly protect habitat for endangered species; and where, just occasionally, the drive for ever more resource development gives way to a holistic view of sustainable development … oh, what a different world that would be!</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/96263/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Philippa England does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Local planning rules have prevailed in a long-running dispute over a proposed Gold Coast quarry that threatened the amenity of nearby residents and koalas.Philippa England, Senior Lecturer, Griffith Law School, Griffith UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/948772018-04-13T11:56:40Z2018-04-13T11:56:40ZHow the Gold Coast games transformed a resort region into a city<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/214578/original/file-20180412-566-1a3ntdi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/gold-coast-queenslandaustralia-14-january-2018-792866440?src=_hdvY59s4C-mzgdYS3NjEw-1-0">DCP Stock/Shutterstock. </a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Australia’s Gold Coast has long <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0264275114001577">been derided</a> as an “overgrown resort town” and a “cultural desert”. But the 2018 Commonwealth Games allowed the host region to develop and communicate its big city credentials. Mega-events have been <a href="https://theconversation.com/five-reasons-why-your-city-wont-want-to-host-the-olympic-games-52289">heavily criticised</a> in recent years, but if planned properly they can bring many benefits for host cities, including <a href="http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1080/00420980701256039">social and economic regeneration</a>. Gold Coast authorities were also interested in urban development: they wanted to show the world their coastline has matured from tourist resort to fully fledged city. </p>
<p>This part of southeast Queensland has been known as the Gold Coast since 1958, when the local council adopted the name to boost the area’s growing reputation as a seaside resort. In 1959, Gold Coast Town Council <a href="http://www.goldcoast.qld.gov.au/council/council-history-408.html">was renamed</a> the City of Gold Coast – underlining its ambitious expansion plans. </p>
<p>In the 1970s and 1980s, the Gold Coast became Australia’s most renowned holiday spot, and a popular destination for both interstate and international tourists. It was during this period that the coastline became highly urbanised – earning Gold Coast its reputation as a commercialised, hedonistic place dominated by nightlife, hotels and holiday apartments.</p>
<h2>High-rise hotels</h2>
<p>Today, the City of Gold Coast is home to more than <a href="http://www.population.net.au/gold-coast-population/">500,000 residents</a>, making it Australia’s sixth-largest city and second-biggest local government administration. Coastal settlements such as Southport, Surfers Paradise, Burleigh Heads and Coolangatta integrate with inland suburbs such as Nerang and Mudgeeraba to form a long, narrow urban conurbation. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/214561/original/file-20180412-584-10dkgsr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/214561/original/file-20180412-584-10dkgsr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/214561/original/file-20180412-584-10dkgsr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/214561/original/file-20180412-584-10dkgsr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/214561/original/file-20180412-584-10dkgsr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/214561/original/file-20180412-584-10dkgsr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/214561/original/file-20180412-584-10dkgsr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Skyscrapers-on-Sea.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/bgphotos/270565521/sizes/l">Gibtach/Flickr.</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/">CC BY-NC-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Often described as Australia’s most “American” city, Gold Coast features clusters of high-rise buildings in Surfers Paradise and Broadbeach. But these are not clusters of office blocks – they are vertical tourist resorts. Because of Gold Coast’s unusual development history – <a href="http://www.ijurr.org/article/tourism-urbanization/">described by</a> academic Patrick Mullins as “tourism urbanisation” – there is no obvious centre. </p>
<p>Determined to shake off Gold Coast’s reputation as a cultural void, organisers of the games staged an <a href="https://www.gc2018.com/festival2018">extensive cultural programme</a> called Festival 2018 alongside the games. A series of 160 free events staged in <a href="https://www.routledge.com/Events-in-the-City-Using-public-spaces-as-event-venues/Smith/p/book/9781138788855">parks, streets and squares</a> created a festive atmosphere and engaged audiences less interested in sport. The City of Gold Coast sees arts and culture as “<a href="http://www.goldcoast.qld.gov.au/documents/bf/econmic-dev-strategy.pdf">a key economic driver</a>”, and the A$30 million Festival 2018 is part of a wider strategy to develop local creative industries in the area. </p>
<h2>Clearing the hurdles</h2>
<p>But, at times, this strategy has been inconsistent. While the aim was to present Gold Coast as a city that is cultural and cosmopolitan, rather than crass and commercialised, much of the promotional material and media coverage has actually reinforced its image as a beach resort. </p>
<p>The opening ceremony was full of references to beach culture: teams entered the stadium led by their nation’s name displayed on a kid’s surfboard, and dancers with beach towels performed on sand. Television coverage of the games has emphasised the Gold Coast’s reputation as a pleasure periphery, rather than a bona fide city. This shows how important – and how difficult – it is to deliver consistent messages about a city during a global media event.</p>
<p>Despite these difficulties, Gold Coast has cleared hurdles that have sent other host cities tumbling in the past. Organisations such as the International Olympic Committee, FIFA, UEFA and the Commonwealth Games Federation are all attempting to spread their events over a wider area – even allowing events to be staged across <a href="http://www.uefa.com/uefaeuro-2020/#/">continents</a>. Gold Coast 2018 has provided a textbook example of how mega-events can work well in regions with many centres. </p>
<p>The 17 Gold Coast 2018 sports venues were <a href="https://theconversation.com/building-for-the-community-is-a-win-for-the-gold-coast-games-94413">spread across</a> a large geographical area – from Coomera in the north to Coolangatta in the south. There were even sports events in Townsville and Cairns - over a thousand miles from the Gold Coast in <a href="https://www.business.uq.edu.au/momentum/going-gold-how-regions-can-reap-benefits-games">northern Queensland</a>. Combined with the extensive use of existing venues and <a href="http://digital.la84.org/digital/collection/p17103coll10/id/13752/">temporary seating</a>, this approach minimises the chances of white elephants later on.</p>
<h2>A city in the making</h2>
<p>While dispersing events helps to avoid “investment overdose” in one particular part of the city, Gold Coast authorities are also trying to use the Commonwealth Games to develop a more conventional urban form, by reinforcing <a href="http://www.goldcoast.qld.gov.au/business/southport-cbd-16933.html">Southport</a> as the central business district while diversifying the local economy away from tourism and construction, and towards knowledge industries.</p>
<p>There’s no doubt the Commonwealth Games have assisted this ambition. The AU$520m Commonwealth Games Village has been located near the region’s main university (Griffith) and hospital (Gold Coast University Hospital), and <a href="http://www.goldcoast.qld.gov.au/thegoldcoast/gold-coast-health-knowledge-precinct-24268.html">the plan</a> is to develop a precinct here dedicated to health and education. </p>
<p>Over the past 50 years, various municipal authorities have tried to use mega-events to revive their fortunes and reinvent themselves as <a href="https://www.routledge.com/Events-and-Urban-Regeneration-The-Strategic-Use-of-Events-to-Revitalise/Smith/p/book/9780415581486">post-industrial cities</a>. The Gold Coast marks a departure from this model. In this rapidly growing region, we are now witnessing the ways that mega-events can be used to help turn a series of coastal settlements into a coherent city. </p>
<p>One of the most significant legacies of the Commonwealth Games might be to further the idea among citizens and visitors that Gold Coast is actually a city, rather than a tourism brand. It is too early to judge the outcomes of this event, but coastal resorts, city regions and event organisers across the world will be watching to see whether the 21st Commonwealth Games will be the making of the Gold Coast.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/94877/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Andrew Smith is a Jim Whyte Fellow at the University of Queensland.</span></em></p>The main winner of Commonwealth Games 2018 is … the City of Gold Coast.Andrew Smith, Reader in Tourism and Events, University of WestminsterLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/945042018-04-12T19:55:34Z2018-04-12T19:55:34ZLooking past the Gold Coast the world sees today<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/214101/original/file-20180410-536-1n3lvsg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The familiar images of high-rise development, looking north here from Surfers Paradise, tell only one part of the story of the Gold Coast.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Andrew Leach</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>One of the most prominent images of the Commonwealth Games host city is of the bank of high-rise apartment buildings and hotels that loom over the beach of Surfers Paradise. Although the Games are taking place across the city, from its dense edge, past sprawling suburbs to its quasi-rural hinterland, one can be forgiven for conflating Surfers with the entire Gold Coast. More than anywhere else in Australia the Gold Coast hovers between being a traditional city and an urbanised territory — with all the stuff of a city but its density. </p>
<p>Frank Moorhouse <a href="http://www.couriermail.com.au/ipad/a-stately-pleasure-dome-in-paradise/news-story/6c706268e4891a401920b386ee8e8aec?sv=df1504d13cf9d26df36c048487c83557">once said</a> the Gold Coast:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>resembled a city that had been designed as an architect’s model of a high-rise city which had washed up on a stretch of beautiful beach where it grew magically into real dimensions.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>There is something in this observation in each photograph taken of its most built-up moments.</p>
<h2>A shiny new city masks a deep history</h2>
<p>Surfers Paradise shares this apparent and sometimes odd superficiality with the holiday cities of Spain’s Costa del Sol and Florida’s Atlantic edge. Behind it, though, lies a deep history that has been written and overwritten in successive layers that have become thinner and thinner as time goes on. </p>
<p>Not far from the high-rises of Surfers Paradise is Kombumerri Park, in the canal estate of Broadbeach Waters. There, landscapers in 1965 <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-11-13/gold-coast-indigenous-burial-ground-marks-50-years/6939962">discovered a burial site</a> that had been in continual use from the eighth century to the colonial era, more than a millennium. It should surprise nobody that the waterways, swamps and arable land of Moreton Bay and the coast to the south, on which the Gold Coast sits, sustained the region’s first people for tens of thousands of years before James Cook charted the coastline in the 18th century. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/214393/original/file-20180411-592-xg1q2h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/214393/original/file-20180411-592-xg1q2h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/214393/original/file-20180411-592-xg1q2h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/214393/original/file-20180411-592-xg1q2h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/214393/original/file-20180411-592-xg1q2h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/214393/original/file-20180411-592-xg1q2h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/214393/original/file-20180411-592-xg1q2h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/214393/original/file-20180411-592-xg1q2h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Broadbeach and Lennons Broadbeach Hotel in 1960, five years before the discovery of an ancient burial ground at neighbouring Broadbeach Waters.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source"> Photographer unknown. Gold Coast City Libraries Local Studies Collection</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>But the Gold Coast as it stands today would seem vastly changed to anyone returning to the city after a mere ten years – in part a response to the massive task of hosting the Commonwealth Games, but largely because that is the pace of change here. </p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/214386/original/file-20180411-560-61422y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/214386/original/file-20180411-560-61422y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/214386/original/file-20180411-560-61422y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=778&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/214386/original/file-20180411-560-61422y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=778&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/214386/original/file-20180411-560-61422y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=778&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/214386/original/file-20180411-560-61422y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=978&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/214386/original/file-20180411-560-61422y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=978&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/214386/original/file-20180411-560-61422y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=978&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The announcement of Rio Vista and Miami Keys in The Courier Mail in 1957.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">State Library of Queensland</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The Gold Coast was named as such in 1958. “South Coast” didn’t quite capture the ambitions of developers like <a href="http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/grant-alfred-frank-gallard-12559">Alfred Grant</a>, who with the help of architect and planner <a href="http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/langer-karl-10783">Karl Langer</a> laid out the first canal estates of Rio Vista and Miami Keys across the mid-1950s in today’s Broadbeach Waters. He inverted the so-called <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radburn_design_housing">Radburn Plan</a> – an American invention in which houses face each other across grass, turning their backs on the street – to create communities over water. </p>
<p>Plenty of decent and half-decent modernist buildings have been raised and razed over the last six or seven decades. But the urban-scale structures of the canal estates are the most enduring monuments to a vision for the Gold Coast. They capture the moment when rapid growth seemed inevitable, but had not yet begun.</p>
<p>In the 1960s, developer-mayor <a href="http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/small-sir-andrew-bruce-11714">Bruce Small</a> (“Think Big, Vote Small!”) set out to cement the image of the Gold Coast as one of uninhibited pleasure: a lifestyle city. His schemes, like Paradise City (another Langer project), were less the standalone townships he envisaged and more a blueprint for the first generation of the Gold Coast’s suburban sprawl. First extending west from the Nerang River, it now reaches as far as it can to both north and south.</p>
<p>More than a century earlier, British settlement of the area had also arrived from these opposite directions. Timber-fellers made their way north along the Pacific coast from Sydney and past Port Macquarie, putting the area into play with the regional and global trade in native Australian timbers. Soldiers and prisoners also travelled south from the <a href="http://www.qhatlas.com.au/convict-brisbane">penal settlement at Brisbane</a>, sometimes with official blessing, but just as often not. </p>
<p>Violence could be met with violence as locals encountered these new visitors, just as trade and the exchange of goods and skills could be conducted peaceably. (Witness the traditional bark-roofed dwellings of those first “explorers”.) The arrival of the British Empire to Moreton Bay changed life there irredeemably – but set the tone for its history from the 1840s onwards.</p>
<p>One image of the Gold Coast’s agricultural history that sticks in my mind dates from 1865. It depicts Pacific Island workers in the fields of the Manchester Cotton Company in what remains today a low-density riverside suburb behind Surfers Paradise. The American Civil War had made a hole in the supply of raw materials for England’s textile industry, which enterprising farmers and local industrialists sought to plug by experimenting with new kinds of crops. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/214381/original/file-20180411-587-rig4jt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/214381/original/file-20180411-587-rig4jt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/214381/original/file-20180411-587-rig4jt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=398&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/214381/original/file-20180411-587-rig4jt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=398&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/214381/original/file-20180411-587-rig4jt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=398&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/214381/original/file-20180411-587-rig4jt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=500&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/214381/original/file-20180411-587-rig4jt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=500&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/214381/original/file-20180411-587-rig4jt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=500&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A drawing of Captain Towns’s ‘Townsvale’ cotton plantation, Veresdale, ca. 1865.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source"> Artist unknown. Gold Coast City Libraries Local Studies Collection</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The experiment ultimately failed. But other crops took their place in a series of efforts to match the qualities of the land and climate with regional and international demand, even as timber continued to be extracted and waterways were tamed for transportation, the mitigation of flooding provoked by timber extraction, transformation of swamplands into farms, and forms of aquaculture. </p>
<p>These successive efforts gave rise to villages, each requiring basic infrastructure and communication, one with the next. Although the impression today is of the Gold Coast as a string of seaside towns melded together through infill growth, these agricultural towns are the basis for the city’s current extent and structure. </p>
<h2>Transformed by tourism</h2>
<p>Among the industries tried and tested on the Gold Coast, none matched the <a href="https://www.destinationgoldcoast.com/corporate/research">prominence or impact of tourism</a>. Its importance has been both economic and cultural, decisively reorientating the city towards the beaches of today’s Broadwater, site of the Gold Coast Aquatic Centre, and, to the south, the Pacific beaches from Main Beach to Tugun. </p>
<p>The first house in coastal Southport was among the most remote outposts of a major sheep station, looking inland rather than towards the ocean. From the 1880s to the 1920s, though, Australia took to the beach with vigour. Southport’s early success as a township is a product of that national reorientation, just as the Gold Coast was later a product of the enthusiastic post-war embrace of the vacation. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/214389/original/file-20180411-536-fux7lx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/214389/original/file-20180411-536-fux7lx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/214389/original/file-20180411-536-fux7lx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=378&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/214389/original/file-20180411-536-fux7lx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=378&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/214389/original/file-20180411-536-fux7lx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=378&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/214389/original/file-20180411-536-fux7lx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=475&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/214389/original/file-20180411-536-fux7lx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=475&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/214389/original/file-20180411-536-fux7lx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=475&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A postcard of Southport Pier looking east from Star of the Sea Convent, ca. 1900.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Photographer unknown. Gold Coast City Libraries Local Studies Collection</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The proliferation of motels, caravan parks and travellers’ lodges was already marked by the 1950s. By the 1960s these had started giving way to apartment towers of ten, 20, 40 floors in height. </p>
<p>It all happened quickly and with few controls. This gave the Gold Coast a <a href="https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1300&dat=19870209&id=hQJVAAAAIBAJ&sjid=35MDAAAAIBAJ&pg=3890,4857476&hl=en">reputation as a developers’ playground</a>. It gave it, too, its distinctive shape. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/214395/original/file-20180412-584-1yzguvn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/214395/original/file-20180412-584-1yzguvn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/214395/original/file-20180412-584-1yzguvn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=407&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/214395/original/file-20180412-584-1yzguvn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=407&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/214395/original/file-20180412-584-1yzguvn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=407&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/214395/original/file-20180412-584-1yzguvn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=511&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/214395/original/file-20180412-584-1yzguvn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=511&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/214395/original/file-20180412-584-1yzguvn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=511&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The Pacific Highway, Surfers Paradise, in 1965, when the development boom was picking up pace.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Photographer: George Barnes/Gold Coast City Libraries Local Studies Collection</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Architect Bill Heather, in the late 1970s, likened the city to 19th-century Chicago: not in the scale of building, but in the rapidity of change. The cranes have, over the decades, come and gone, always, though, offering a visible sign of the Gold Coast’s economic health. </p>
<p>Over time, though, the trend has been to build higher and higher. Integrated resort towers fulfilled the desires of their investors and residents while altering one by one the city’s skyline. This, too, has played out at ground level, with the Gold Coast’s urban figure changing with each new subdivision, shopping centre and railway station. </p>
<p>The cameras trained on the Commonwealth Games expose this fascinating variety and depth, but this is easily overlooked if we see it as a simple dichotomy of a city core and its suburbs; Surfers Paradise and everywhere else. </p>
<hr>
<p><em>This article is based on observations presented to the Commonwealth Club at the residence of the Australian Ambassador to Italy in Rome on April 12.</em></p>
<p><em>This article has been updated to correct a caption error and clarify the location of the Gold Coast.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/94504/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Andrew Leach received funding for the research from which this article was drawn from the Australian Research Council, as well as Griffith University (an official partner of the Commonwealth Games). His new book about his research, Gold Coast: City and Architecture (Lund Humphries), is published this month.</span></em></p>Behind the built-up glitz of Surfers Paradise lies a deep history that has been written and overwritten in successive layers that have become thinner and thinner as time goes on.Andrew Leach, Wallace Fellow, Villa I Tatti, the Harvard University Center for Italian Renaissance Studies, and Professor of Architecture, University of SydneyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/944132018-04-05T20:02:27Z2018-04-05T20:02:27ZBuilding for the community is a win for the Gold Coast Games<p>Hosting the Commonwealth Games is about more than just the two weeks of sport for the Gold Coast. Andrew Smith, author of the book <a href="https://www.routledge.com/Events-and-Urban-Regeneration-The-Strategic-Use-of-Events-to-Revitalise/Smith/p/book/9780415581486">Events and Urban Regeneration</a>, observes: “In recent years, major sporting and cultural events such as the Olympic [and Commonwealth] Games have emerged as significant elements of public policy … As well as opportunities arising from new venues, these events are viewed as a way of <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0261517707001719">stimulating investment</a>, <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/j.1467-6486.2008.00785.x">gaining civic engagement</a> and publicising progress to assist the <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/026654399364184">urban regeneration</a> process more generally.”</p>
<p>For the next two weeks, the Gold Coast is hosting the <a href="https://www.gc2018.com">Commonwealth Games</a>, a record fifth time for Australia. But it’s the first time an Australian non-capital city will host the event. </p>
<p>Another great distinction from past hosts is that the Gold Coast is mostly relying on its existing assets, and the community aspect has generally prevailed: most of the refurbishments and extensions took place one to three years before the start of the Games, meaning the community has already been able to use these facilities. </p>
<h2>Not building just for the Games</h2>
<p>Only two of the <a href="https://www.gc2018.com/sports/venues">13 Gold Coast venues</a> are bright new buildings, the <a href="https://www.gc2018.com/venue/carrara-sports-and-leisure-centre">Carrara Sports and Leisure Centre</a> and the <a href="http://www.goldcoast.qld.gov.au/thegoldcoast/coomera-indoor-sports-centre-32130.html">Coomera Indoor Sports Centre</a>. All the others are either already built or are great natural assets such as the <a href="https://www.gc2018.com/venue/coolangatta-beachfront">Coolangatta</a> and <a href="https://www.gc2018.com/venues/currumbin-viewing-areas">Currumbin</a> beachfronts.</p>
<p>Even the new venues were completed some time ago. At the Coomera Sports Centre, early site works began in February 2015. Construction was completed in early August 2016, 20 months ahead of the Games. </p>
<p>Similarly, the Carrara Sports Centre was completed in early 2017. The nearly 20,000m<sup>2</sup> venue was available to Gold Coast residents to enjoy more than a year before the Games.</p>
<p>Refurbishment is costly, but looking at the bigger picture it might still be less expensive. A new building usually involves other costs such as building new road access, water and electrical connections, and so on.</p>
<p>The same strategy was implemented for all the refurbishment projects without exception. For example, the <a href="https://www.gc2018.com/venue/optus-aquatic-centre">aquatic centre</a> is a recycling and expansion of the original 1960s Southport pool. Finished in 2014, it hosted the Pan Pacific Swimming Championships the same year. Although at that time debate about the lack of a roof was raging, being able to test the facility in advance is a luxury that few host cities have had.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/213313/original/file-20180404-189830-s5fkzu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/213313/original/file-20180404-189830-s5fkzu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/213313/original/file-20180404-189830-s5fkzu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/213313/original/file-20180404-189830-s5fkzu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/213313/original/file-20180404-189830-s5fkzu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/213313/original/file-20180404-189830-s5fkzu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/213313/original/file-20180404-189830-s5fkzu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/213313/original/file-20180404-189830-s5fkzu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Few Games hosts have had the luxury of trialling venues like the aquatic centre, where refurbishment was finished in 2014.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Karine Dupre</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
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<h2>What about the architectural legacy?</h2>
<p>In designing venues, architecture plays a a critical role in delivering a premium experience for athletes and spectators, and thus ensuring the success of the Games.</p>
<p>It’s doubtful any of these buildings will enter into the history of architecture as references or models for future Games. They are not comparable to what has been done, for example, in Beijing in terms of structural innovation (such as the swimming pool or the stadium) or iconic status. </p>
<p>I am convinced, however, that all these buildings display a very good critical approach by their architects. </p>
<p>For example, for the Coomera centre, the choices made by Gold Coast-based BDA architects were fundamental to achieve the flexibility to accommodate up to 7,500 spectators when starting from 350 permanent seats. The truss structure, in allowing a very long span (82m by 168m for the roof), frees the indoor space from columns and increases flexibility of uses. In the same way, the 23m roof clearance frees the volume. </p>
<p>In terms of aesthetic, the choice not to enclose fully the centre at the entrance gives both a lighter perception of the building – despite the use of 600 tonnes of structural steel and 6,000 cubic metres of concrete – and a different look from the traditional box often found for gymnasiums.</p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/213373/original/file-20180405-95689-qop95o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/213373/original/file-20180405-95689-qop95o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/213373/original/file-20180405-95689-qop95o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/213373/original/file-20180405-95689-qop95o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/213373/original/file-20180405-95689-qop95o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/213373/original/file-20180405-95689-qop95o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/213373/original/file-20180405-95689-qop95o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/213373/original/file-20180405-95689-qop95o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Commonwealth Games gymnastics competition is under way at the Coomera Indoor Sports Centre.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Karine Dupre</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
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<p>The key new facility at Carrara presents some similar characteristics. Because of its central location on the Gold Coast, the idea was that the new centre would contribute to the creation of a sport precinct and to economic development and sport advocacy programs. Knowing that <a href="http://legacy2014.co.uk">Glasgow had a 17% increase</a> in people doing sport after the Games, it was a reasonable vision to bet on long-term use by locals and not only on the <a href="https://www.business.qld.gov.au/industries/commonwealth-games/about">visitors</a> for the brief period of the Games. </p>
<p>Designed by BVN architects, the Carrara centre consists of a street space between two major halls. As the nominated venue for the badminton, wrestling and table tennis programs, it is quite an unexpected arrangement; it does not feel like the traditional sport hall, but more like a place to meet others. The colours and material palette have been used to symbolise the young and vibrant image of the Gold Coast. Again, all these architectural choices come together to provide a memorable experience for visitors and athletes alike.</p>
<p>Within the given budget, the balance between an appealing aesthetic and a long-term legacy has been achieved. Maybe none of these buildings will become international landmarks, but present uses have shown their functionality and benefits for the Gold Coast. </p>
<p>Even if we don’t all agree with the current politics, there is one thing we cannot deny about the Games preparation: architecture has been a tool for enhancing public facilities thanks to a very long-term vision. The social, cultural and economic legacy is already there, since facilities are being used.</p>
<p>Finally, since the Games preparations began, major debates on the Gold Coast concerned new casinos, the Spit redevelopment and the light rail extension. None of these debates caused any real problems for the Games. It is quite an achievement, or the result of a very good communication strategy, but that might be another discussion…</p>
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<p><em>This article has been updated to make it clear where the author is quoting Andrew Smith on major events and urban regeneration.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/94413/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Karine Dupré does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The Gold Coast is mostly relying on existing assets, and most refurbishments and extensions were completed long before the Games, meaning the community has been able to use these facilities.Karine Dupré, Associate Professor in Architecture, Griffith UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/944922018-04-05T08:41:36Z2018-04-05T08:41:36ZThe Commonwealth Games opening ceremony highlighted the chasm between Indigenous representation and reality<p>The Commonwealth Games opening ceremony sought to present Australian history as a seamless 65,000-year progression into a modern, welcoming nation. But at the same time there was a protest outside the stadium, organised by the <a href="https://www.facebook.com/WARcollective/">Warriors of the Aboriginal Resistance</a> against the “Stolenwealth” accumulated violently by the Commonwealth from Indigenous peoples, and a demand more broadly for social justice. </p>
<p>The juxtaposition of these two events, especially set against the increased debate in recent years over the marking of Australia’s national day on January 26, leaves me with a jarring feeling perfectly described by the <a href="https://www.referendumcouncil.org.au/sites/default/files/2017-05/Uluru_Statement_From_The_Heart_0.PDF">Uluru Statement from the Heart</a> as “the torment of our powerlessness”.</p>
<p>There remains a gaping chasm between the use and representation of Indigenous people and culture <a href="https://www.embracing2018.com/legacy-program/aboriginal-and-torres-strait-islander-initiatives/gc2018-reconciliation-action-plan">through official programs of reconciliation</a> such as the Commonwealth Games opening ceremony, and the reality of Indigenous lives.</p>
<p>This chasm is repeatedly widened by non-Indigenous practices and attitudes that inform the Stolenwealth protests and demands for justice, such as the <a href="https://theconversation.com/au/topics/stolen-generation-6223">record numbers of Indigenous children being removed from their families</a> and <a href="https://theconversation.com/factcheck-qanda-are-indigenous-australians-the-most-incarcerated-people-on-earth-78528">rising rates of Indigenous incarceration</a>. </p>
<p>Indigenous people have had to fight hard for the respect, recognition and opportunity that is now available. These developments have not simply been handed over by a benevolent Australia, however, and they remain tightly controlled and often denied. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-commonwealth-games-are-an-opportunity-to-face-up-to-the-history-of-colonialism-93752">The Commonwealth Games are an opportunity to face up to the history of colonialism</a>
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<p>Events like the Commonwealth Games opening ceremony present history as a simplistic story of progress and reconciliation. Australia was once bad but we are now good; we have extended rights and we recognise Indigenous culture. </p>
<p>These events, and this narrative, are used to legitimise a society and government through reconciliation and recognition, a redemptive moment of celebration. But real and substantial reform remains unrealised.</p>
<p>Chris Healy excellently addresses this process throughout Australian history in his book <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/5578891-forgetting-aborigines">Forgetting Aborigines</a>. Importantly, the national narrative has been marked by moments of forgetting and erasure in the remembrance and creation of national memories. </p>
<p>The denial of Indigenous existence in the service of the assurance of non-Indigenous claims to the land now known as Australia, while simultaneously using and benefiting from Indigenous knowledge, culture and people, has a long and continuing history.</p>
<p>One example is the <a href="https://trove.nla.gov.au/work/1036942">1837 Report of the Parliamentary Select Committee on Aboriginal Tribes</a>. The committee described Aboriginal peoples in New Holland as:</p>
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<p>…the most degraded of the human race … the barbarous state of these people, and so entirely destitute are they even of the rudest forms of civil polity, that their claims, whether as sovereigns or proprietors of the soil, have been utterly disregarded.</p>
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<p>Then there is the important Privy Council case in 1889 of <a href="http://www.bailii.org/cgi-bin/format.cgi?doc=/uk/cases/UKPC/1889/1889_16.html&query=(cooper)+AND+(v)+AND+(stuart)">Cooper v Stuart</a>, where in determining the authority of the Crown, and the applicability of English law to the colony of New South Wales, Lord Watson erased Indigenous presence by proclaiming that:</p>
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<p>There is a great difference between the case of a Colony acquired by conquest or cession, in which there is an established system of law, and that of a Colony which consisted of a tract of territory practically unoccupied, without settled inhabitants or settled law, at the time when it was peacefully annexed to the British dominions. The Colony of New South Wales belongs to the latter class.</p>
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<p>All the while, Indigenous <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/jun/14/aboriginal-bones-being-returned-australia">knowledge and people</a> were used to open land for settlers and to develop entire schools of thought. Tropes of Indigenous culture – boomerangs, didgeridoos and stereotypical figures of Indigenous people – were produced as symbols of a national culture, not as Indigenous representations themselves.</p>
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<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/three-reasons-why-the-gaps-between-indigenous-and-non-indigenous-australians-arent-closing-91561">Three reasons why the gaps between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians aren't closing</a>
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<p>The <a href="http://www.austlii.edu.au/cgi-bin/sinodisp/au/cases/cth/high_ct/175clr1.html?stem=0&synonyms=0&query=%7Emabo">Mabo No 2</a> High Court Case overturned the ignorance of Cooper v Stuart. But it did so through a process of inclusion that meant the fundamental claim to Crown sovereignty could not be questioned. </p>
<p>Indigenous existence, provable through the difficult process of native title, remains subordinate to the Crown’s claim. This is highlighted by the fact that the law enshrines the possibility that native title can be extinguished.</p>
<p>Mabo, just like the Indigenous culture presented at the Commonwealth Games opening ceremony, should be celebrated and recognised. </p>
<p>But the dwindling of native title rights and Indigenous presence since the Mabo decision should be addressed on the main stage too, as well as in the protest led by the Warriors of the Aboriginal Resistance.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-commonwealth-games-of-exclusion-what-are-authorities-so-afraid-of-93488">The Commonwealth Games of exclusion: what are authorities so afraid of?</a>
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<p>Those taking part in the official ceremony should not be considered to have been duped, any more than those protesting should be viewed as fringe radicals. These are different representations of Indigeneity. </p>
<p>Against the backdrop of the reality of our sovereign existence and the lived experiences of our different lives, however, they are another stark reminder of the position of powerlessness of Indigenous peoples.</p>
<p>Despite significant change and inclusion, the fundamental structures and institutions of the Australian state that govern and effect the relations between peoples remain unchanged. Our claims are disregarded and actively erased by celebratory events such as the Commonwealth Games opening ceremony. </p>
<p>The fact that we, as a nation, as a government and as politicians, know this history makes the continued denials, refusals and attempted erasures (such as the official response to the Uluru Statement from the Heart) that much more insidiously obstinate.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/94492/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Eddie Synot does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Events like the Commonwealth Games opening ceremony present history as a simplistic story of progress and reconciliation.Eddie Synot, Academic, Learning Assistance Officer, GUMURRII Student Support Unit, Griffith Law School, Griffith UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/941772018-04-04T20:02:42Z2018-04-04T20:02:42ZEsports are taking off and the Commonwealth Games needs to catch up<p>The Gold Coast Commonwealth Games have finally kicked off, but esports have been left out of the schedule. Esports are video game competitions – generally strategy and fighting games, but also sports. It is a <a href="https://www.statista.com/topics/3121/esports-market/">burgeoning field</a>, especially among younger demographics and in Asia Pacific and the United States. </p>
<p>Including esports in the Commonwealth Games will not only ensure the event stays relevant to these fans, it will also engage others with sports that don’t have gender barriers and showcase new technologies facilitating fan engagement, like virtual and augmented reality. </p>
<p>The demarcation between sports and esports is increasingly irrelevant. Many of the hallmarks of professional sport are already evident, and the International Olympic Committee is <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-olympics-2018-ioc-esports/olympic-channel-boss-says-ready-to-explore-esports-after-pyeongchang-idUSKCN1G30JM">considering adding esports to the Olympic sport portfolio</a>. </p>
<p>The Olympic Council of Asia <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2017/aug/09/esports-2024-olympics-medal-event-paris-bid-committee">recently confirmed</a> esports will be a medal event at the 2022 Asian Games in China. The decision is based upon several criteria, including viability, participation levels and whether it reflects Olympic values. </p>
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<p>Recent ratings on Twitch, an online platform for live-streaming video games, show esports viewers are <a href="https://www.theaustralian.com.au/business/technology/why-exports-will-continue-to-outperform-your-expectations/news-story/7c67799f32f576c7d3c613d412d4a68e">more likely to follow traditional sports than non-Twitch viewers</a>. </p>
<p>This suggests sport and esports are not mutually exclusive.</p>
<p>Established professional sports teams <a href="http://www.esportsinsider.com/2018/02/fc-barcelona-entered-esports/">such as FC Barcelona</a> are also investing in esports teams and players in an effort to target the younger demographics. </p>
<p>In Australia, the A-League and AFL clubs Essendon and Port Adelaide have <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-01-28/the-esports-phenomenon-moves-into-australia/9357496">recently invested</a> in esports teams. Cinema chain Hoyts is set to <a href="http://www.afr.com/technology/gaming/gfinity-citybased-esports-league-to-run-in-hoyts-cinemas-20180204-h0thwn">host a national esports league</a> later this year.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/how-sports-get-chosen-for-the-olympics-62917">How sports get chosen for the Olympics</a>
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<p>It is <a href="https://www.finder.com.au/four-million-watch-esports-2017">estimated</a> that over 4 million Australians watched esport streams in 2017. According to a <a href="https://www.statista.com/topics/3121/esports-market">recent report</a>, 47% of Australians aged 18-24 years watch esports at least monthly, and about 67% of these viewers are male.</p>
<p>Due to all of these factors, esports are fast becoming one of the <a href="https://www.statista.com/topics/3121/esports-market/">largest entertainment industries in the world</a>, <a href="https://www.finder.com.au/four-million-watch-esports-2017">worth over</a> $US690 million in 2017 and with an audience of almost 400 million globally. </p>
<p>Major brands like Red Bull and McDonald’s have <a href="https://esportsobserver.com/mcdonalds-germany-partners-with-esl/">become major tournament, team and league sponsors</a>. This is especially notable as McDonald’s recently <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-olympics-mcdonalds/mcdonalds-ends-olympics-sponsorship-deal-early-idUSKBN1971HB">ended</a> its decades-long sponsorship of the Olympic Games.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-rise-of-the-pro-player-as-australia-hosts-its-richest-computer-gaming-event-76865">The rise of the pro-player as Australia hosts its richest computer gaming event</a>
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<p>Despite chair manufacturers such as Chairs4gaming and Herman Miller being <a href="https://chairs4gaming.com/pages/esports">key sponsors of esports</a>, it is far from a purely sedentary pastime. Playing esports is <a href="http://iacademy.edu.ph/home/blog_post/127/what-do-experts-say-about-the-benefits-of-online-gaming">very physical</a> and professional gamers undertake training to ensure spatial awareness, reasoning, reflexes and endurance. This mirrors the training required of any athlete. </p>
<p>Esports also has the advantage of being an immensely lucrative sport that poses <a href="https://womensagenda.com.au/latest/esport-phenomenon-gender-equity-mean-future-business/">no gender barriers</a> for participants, spectators or the media. Performance requires skill and strategy rather than physical domination, so female gamers can compete alongside males.</p>
<p>On top of there being no gender barriers, esports have also <a href="http://www.theesa.com/article/video-game-competitions-expand-stem-learning-united-states/">been linked</a> with skill development in STEM areas.</p>
<h2>Changing consumption of sport</h2>
<p>Since the Delhi Commonwealth Games four years ago and even the Rio Olympics in 2016, <a href="https://www.mckinsey.com/industries/media-and-entertainment/our-insights/we-are-wrong-about-millennial-sports-fans;%20https://www.consultancy.uk/news/13248/millennials-dump-traditional-media-channels-for-sports-viewing">a lot has changed</a> in how sports content is accessed, when and by whom. </p>
<p>While millennial viewership of linear television is declining, live streaming and other Over the Top (OTT) services are growing in reach and depth of engagement. This is driving <a href="http://www.gsbassn.com/Journal/Vol4-3/GSBJ-Vol4-Iss3-Vooris-pp24-42.pdf">alliances</a> among online streaming platforms, such as Twitch, traditional broadcasters and social media. </p>
<p>The International Olympic Committee <a href="https://www.si.com/tech-media/2017/07/16/olympic-channel-launch-team-usa-jim-bell">launched the Olympic Channel</a> during the Rio Games, for example, as a way of reaching younger audiences and to serve content on demand rather than through linear programming. </p>
<p>Olympic sponsor Intel <a href="http://variety.com/2018/digital/news/winter-olympics-vr-live-stream-1202689947/">used virtual reality</a> to reach audiences during the recent Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang. </p>
<p>All of this shows how the consumption of sport has changed dramatically – mobile live streaming of content is king and we want it customised and right now please. The acceptance of video gaming as a sport is the next step. </p>
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<p><a href="https://theconversation.com/formula-e-racing-puts-power-in-the-hands-of-fans-93490">Fan-based gamification</a> and rapidly evolving technologies like augmented and virtual reality are changing the consumption experience for all sports and drawing audiences closer to the game. </p>
<p>If sport is to continue as a form of entertainment it must compete with the bells and whistles of live music, cinema and video gaming to resonate with and capture the next generations. </p>
<p>Significant and increasing investment by traditional sporting brands in esports signals that these sports are complementary. Sporting franchises in the AFL, NBA and FIFA are betting that exposure to their codes through playing or viewing esports will make them more appealing. </p>
<p>There is no doubt that some of our future elite Commonwealth Games athletes are in training at home or at their desktops, but there is a strong chance that they might also be narrowcasting their favourite AFL or EPL team and heading off to real-life training during gaming breaks. </p>
<p>The sports market has grown, not diminished, and associated sports consumption has evolved, rather than disappeared. It is time for the Commonwealth Games to catch up.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/94177/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Sarah Jane Kelly does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The consumption of sport has already changed dramatically, and esports in major competitions is the next step.Sarah Jane Kelly, Associate professor, The University of QueenslandLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/941702018-04-03T19:44:57Z2018-04-03T19:44:57ZCan the Commonwealth Games change perceptions of the Gold Coast?<p>Just as the Australian men’s cricket <a href="https://theconversation.com/just-not-cricket-why-ball-tampering-is-cheating-93935">ball-tampering scandal</a> exhausts itself at last, the 2018 Gold Coast Commonwealth Games appears, as if on cue, to fill the feelgood sporting void.</p>
<p>These are, after all, the “<a href="https://rmspecialstamps.com/collections/the-friendly-games-celebrating-the-xvii-commonwealth-games/">Friendly Games</a>”, as celebrated in stamp collections. They are meant to be free of the sledging and cheating witnessed in the South Africa-Australia test cricket series. </p>
<p>But is the Commonwealth Games the most appropriate vehicle to elevate the collective spirit? Its origins in the British Empire Games are a permanent reminder that they were forged out of imperialism, colonialism and dispossession.</p>
<p>That this relic of Empire is being hosted by the glitzy Gold Coast, which <a href="https://www.thesun.co.uk/sport/5954294/where-is-gold-coast-city-or-region-hosted-commonwealth-games/">still struggles to be regarded as an actual city</a> (unlike its immediate Commonwealth Games predecessor, Glasgow), looks like a cruel cosmic joke.</p>
<p>The Gold Coast Commonwealth Games will host more than 6,600 atheletes and officials from 71 Commonwealth nations. It is the <a href="http://www.bbc.com/sport/30326825">fifth largest</a> sporting event in the world, and will be the <a href="https://www.gc2018.com/about">biggest ever</a> Commonwealth Games and para-sports program.</p>
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<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-commonwealth-games-are-an-opportunity-to-face-up-to-the-history-of-colonialism-93752">The Commonwealth Games are an opportunity to face up to the history of colonialism</a>
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<p>The Gold Coast aims to be considered a “world-class boutique city” as part of the <a href="https://www.embracing2018.com/legacy-program">legacy of the Games</a>. </p>
<p>This is in contrast to its “<a href="http://www.heraldsun.com.au/travel/travel-news/brash-trashy-hedonistic-overhyped-welcome-to-the-gold-coast/news-story/e1afb8365ad2462e08e9fa16622128c2">reputation for tackiness</a>”, its picturesque beaches, and its Florida-like caricature as “<a href="http://www.publish.csiro.au/book/7289/">God’s waiting room</a>”.</p>
<p>Quickly turning around a city’s image is a difficult task. And the Commonwealth Games, as with the Olympics and other large sporting events, may not be the best vehicle for this kind of transformation. </p>
<p>The experience of Olympic cities such as Atlanta (1996), Sydney (2000), Vancouver (2010), London (2012), and Rio de Janeiro (2016) is of trying to prevent shiny, happy images being <a href="https://www.routledge.com/Celebration-Capitalism-and-the-Olympic-Games/Boykoff/p/book/9780415821971">besmirched by the grim realities of urban poverty</a>. </p>
<p>In fact, this is already happening on the Gold Coast, with the <a href="https://www.embracing2018.com/legacy-program">promise</a> of “greater reconciliation and social justice for all Australians” looking rather hollow as <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-commonwealth-games-of-exclusion-what-are-authorities-so-afraid-of-93488">many local homeless people</a> are exiled across the New South Wales border.</p>
<h2>Controlling the media narrative</h2>
<p>Hosting any major international sport event attracts a large entourage of journalists with time on their hands. A series of “colour” stories will be generated. </p>
<p>Some will be innocuous travelogues (and even sponsored content), while others are likely to be less flattering. Cliches that have <a href="https://www.9now.com.au/a-current-affair/2017/extras/latest/171116/trouble-in-paradise">already been trotted out</a> include those focusing on drugs, alcohol, violence, bikie gangs, and gun crime in Surfers Paradise.</p>
<p><a href="http://indianexpress.com/article/world/indian-man-charged-with-smuggling-fake-journalists-in-australia-5115757/">Already</a>, an Australia-based Indian journalist has been charged with people-smuggling, involving eight Indian nationals allegedly claiming to be accredited media covering the Games. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-commonwealth-games-of-exclusion-what-are-authorities-so-afraid-of-93488">The Commonwealth Games of exclusion: what are authorities so afraid of?</a>
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<p>With so many people attending from poor and troubled Commonwealth countries, Australia’s notoriously punitive border protection policy could also intrude on the idea of these being the “<a href="https://rmspecialstamps.com/collections/the-friendly-games-celebrating-the-xvii-commonwealth-games/">Friendly Games</a>”.</p>
<p>And as the Queen’s Baton Relay passed through Southeast Queensland, <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/radio/programs/am/commonwealth-games-still-not-sold,-three-days-out/9609552">stories about unsold tickets</a>, absent visitors, a <a href="https://www.9news.com.au/national/2018/04/02/18/19/commonwealth-games-2018-flu-outbreak-athletes-village-needles">flu outbreak</a>, and needles in the Athlete’s Village have unsettled the organisers.</p>
<h2>The waning prestige of the games</h2>
<p>This is the third time in 30 years that Australia has hosted the Commonwealth Games. In that period the event has mostly shuffled between the affluent, Anglo-dominated UK, Canada, New Zealand and Australia. </p>
<p>The only time it broke out of the Anglosphere in those decades was the <a href="https://thecgf.com/games/kuala-lumpur-1998">Kuala Lumpur 1998 Games</a>, and, <a href="https://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/world/delhi-games-legacy-is-one-of-debt-and-crime/news-story/b49ed665ed010bc427d6bdf0ffccfbf6?sv=75abfef0c49684c5b554ecf5c984dc97">unhappily</a>, the 2010 Delhi games.</p>
<p>In any case the competition to host the games is diminishing, with the Gold Coast’s <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/local/stories/2011/11/10/3363282.htm">sole competition for the 2018</a> games being Hambantota in Sri Lanka.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-ties-that-still-bind-the-enduring-tendrils-of-the-british-empire-89308">The ties that (still) bind: the enduring tendrils of the British Empire</a>
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<p>But the Commonwealth Games are, ultimately, about sport. With major world sport powers such as the United States and China ineligible, how important is it to compete at the Commonwealth Games and win a medal?</p>
<p>Usain Bolt, the most famous athlete of recent times, reportedly <a href="http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-glasgow-west-28581321">described Glasgow 2014 as “a bit shit”</a> and the Olympics “better” – statements that he later denied. </p>
<p>Many athletes of world renown will be competing, including Australia’s Sally Pearson, Jamaica’s Elaine Thompson, England’s Adam Peaty, and South Africa’s Caster Semenya. But other prominent athletes, including <a href="https://www.insidethegames.biz/articles/1061045/kenya-to-be-without-at-least-six-defending-commonwealth-games-champions-at-gold-coast-2018">several leading Kenyan distance runners</a>, are planning to miss the Games in favour of other, more compelling athletic priorities.</p>
<p>These and other leading Commonwealth athletes have decided not to disrupt their training for what they regard as more important events, like World Championships.</p>
<p>Queensland has invested <a href="https://theconversation.com/for-cities-hosting-major-sporting-events-is-a-double-edged-sword-76929">around A$2 billion</a> in the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games. Getting a decent return and long-term benefits from this sport-led urban adventure may prove elusive.</p>
<p>Nonetheless, memorable sporting moments and displays of camaraderie among athletes, officials and spectators can be anticipated. As most of the Games’ audience cannot attend, it is hoped that exclusive television broadcaster Channel Seven covers them well, avoiding the national chauvinism and stereotyping that has <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/15205436.2013.822519">marred previous televised sport events</a>.</p>
<p>At the 2006 Melbourne Commonwealth Games, for instance, host broadcaster Channel Nine was <a href="https://www.theage.com.au/news/commonwealth-games/tv-cover-not-fair-cry-some/2006/03/21/1142703363827.html">heavily criticised for its parochialism</a>.</p>
<p>Copyright disagreements have led to <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-12-06/fairfax-and-news-corp-boycott-commonwealth-games-accreditation/9231430">boycotts by major news organisations</a>, but there will be no shortage of television, radio, print, online and media coverage of the Gold Goast games.</p>
<p>Scenes of sand, sea and skyscrapers will add a glitzy veneer to an Old Empire at play.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/94170/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>David Rowe has received funding relevant to this article from the Australian Research Council for the following projects: 'A Nation of "Good Sports"? Cultural Citizenship and Sport in Contemporary Australia' (DP130104502) and 'Australian Cultural Fields: National and Transnational Dynamics' (DP140101970).</span></em></p>Scenes of sand, sea and skyscrapers will add a glitzy veneer to an Old Empire at play.David Rowe, Emeritus Professor of Cultural Research, Institute for Culture and Society, Western Sydney UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/934882018-03-25T19:00:29Z2018-03-25T19:00:29ZThe Commonwealth Games of exclusion: what are authorities so afraid of?<p>Sport, race and racism are entwined. It was always so, and it will always will be so – even in the Commonwealth Games, the event we <a href="https://www.gc2018.com/history-games">dub the “friendly games”</a>. </p>
<p>In a throwback to the 1982 Commonwealth Games in Brisbane, preparations for next month’s event on the Gold Coast are <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-03-15/homelessness-increases-across-nsw/9547686">forcing the homeless</a> to move out of town, and even out of the state – to Tweed Heads in New South Wales. Women who run soup kitchens for the poor and indigent have been told to close their shops until these “friendly games” are over.</p>
<h2>Australia, the Commonwealth Games, and race</h2>
<p>In the 1930s, Australia’s sporting authorities deemed the previously named Empire Games worthier than the Olympics. Empire above all else, Australia second, was the motto.</p>
<p>Some British officials even <a href="https://books.google.com.au/books?id=IRE4DwAAQBAJ&pg=PT48&lpg=PT48&dq=%E2%80%9Ca+narrower+local+patriotism%E2%80%9D&source=bl&ots=FfzVdHezhX&sig=oFYdQ9wxJEnF1axBSzPK3ojp6vs&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiEttfElPzZAhUBTrwKHXiSCzAQ6AEIJzAA#v=snippet&q=british%20empire%20team&f=false">advocated a British Empire Olympic team</a>. The Empire Games appealed to “<a href="https://books.google.com.au/books?id=IRE4DwAAQBAJ&pg=PT48&lpg=PT48&dq=%E2%80%9Ca+narrower+local+patriotism%E2%80%9D&source=bl&ots=FfzVdHezhX&sig=oFYdQ9wxJEnF1axBSzPK3ojp6vs&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiEttfElPzZAhUBTrwKHXiSCzAQ6AEIJzAA#v=onepage&q=%E2%80%9Ca%20narrower%20local%20patriotism%E2%80%9D&f=false">a narrower local patriotism</a>” and that was the healthier way to go, The Sydney Morning Herald editorialised, hinting that Australia avoid intimate contact with “foreigners” at the Olympics. But all that changed after the second world war. </p>
<p>The “friendly games” have since tended to be the tense and the nervous games. Race has marred several events. Australia made extraordinary efforts to keep South Africa and (the then) Rhodesia in the fold when no-one else wanted to have dealings with them. </p>
<p>A near-calamitous era for sport resulted from the highly divisive Springbok rugby union tours to <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2016/oct/09/the-1971-springboks-coming-between-these-blokes-and-their-sport-was-the-most-dangerous-thing-ive-done">Australia</a> (1971) and to <a href="https://nzhistory.govt.nz/culture/1981-springbok-tour">New Zealand</a> (1981), the 28-African nation <a href="http://montrealgazette.com/sports/montreal-olympics-african-boycott-of-1976-games-changed-the-world">boycott of the Montreal Olympics</a> (1976) – because of New Zealand–South Africa rugby ties – and the 61-nation <a href="https://2001-2009.state.gov/r/pa/ho/time/qfp/104481.htm">boycott of the Moscow Olympics</a> because of the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan (1980). </p>
<p>Many will remember Commonwealth Games head Arthur Tunstall <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/sport/arthur-tunstalls-reign-of-error-as-commonwealth-games-chief-20170405-gvdz23.html">threatening to punish</a> Cathy Freeman for wrapping herself in an Aboriginal flag in Canada at the 1994 Games. This was hardly the friendliest event on racial matters, and we can tie them to Moscow.</p>
<p>The Moscow Olympics in 1980 was held at the time of Western outcry at the treatment of “dissidents”, <a href="http://www.jpost.com/Opinion/Columnists/Borderline-Views-Remembering-the-Soviet-refuseniks-310720">of <em>refuseniks</em></a> – those refused the right to emigrate to Israel and elsewhere. Aimed mainly at Jews, refusal also applied to Ukrainian Greek Catholics, Jehovah’s Witnesses and Volga Germans. By the time of the Olympics, the ban on Jews had been lifted (largely through Australian-led pressure), but some were still being held as financial hostages. </p>
<p>To give the appearance and the message that Moscow was “clean”, the Soviet regime removed all the “unsightly ones” from that city for the two weeks of sport.</p>
<h2>Remembering the protests of 1982</h2>
<p>Two years after the Moscow Olympics, in September 1982, Brisbane hosted the Commonwealth Games. At the helm of draconian government was Joh Bjelke-Petersen, a fundamentalist Lutheran and a man intolerant of democracy and its institutions. He ruled Queensland from 1968 to 1987. </p>
<p>Bjelke-Petersen <a href="https://books.google.com.au/books?id=G60Cgsnzc7AC&pg=PA225&lpg=PA225&dq=martial+law+1971+queensland&source=bl&ots=ENa3mVD1qk&sig=79MDjlHvxEf_3tvwJs60eYGe__0&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwixjr76q_zZAhXDUrwKHdJ3D7UQ6AEIczAJ#v=onepage&q=martial%20law%201971%20queensland&f=false">placed all of Queensland</a> under a state of emergency, declaring martial law, when the Springbok rugby team toured, disastrously for all, in 1971. He made dubious history as the first leader in a democracy to declare a state of emergency in peacetime over a sporting event. Martial law reigned for three weeks to enable matches, with indemnities given to all police against lawsuits.</p>
<p>The Bjelke-Petersen government passed the <a href="https://trove.nla.gov.au/work/15140198?q&versionId=17809259">Commonwealth Games Act</a>, a statute not commented on then or later. The law ensured Brisbane was free of Aboriginal people and their “friends”. </p>
<p>Possibly the Western world’s most punitive law on sport, police had the power under the act to declare a state of emergency. It also gave specially deputised non-police full police powers and enabled seizure of people and property “on suspicion”.</p>
<p>The act provided for palm, foot, toe and voice-printing, with a A$2,000 fine or two years’ jail for offences under the act, and disallowed any consequent criminal or civil charges against real or “temporary” police. But human rights organisations – especially the vociferous rights body in Queensland – said nary a word on this statute.</p>
<p>Bjelke-Petersen was adamant there would be no Aboriginal land rights marches in Brisbane at that time, and the statute was meant to ensure that. By coincidence or not, the ABC ran a Saturday-night Four Corners special program on land rights mid-Games, and that led to much press publicity. </p>
<p>I was there, reporting on the event for The Australian. Two land rights marches <a href="https://collections.museumvictoria.com.au/articles/2766">took place</a>, peacefully.</p>
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<span class="caption">Land rights marches attracted foreign media attention at the 1982 Commonwealth Games in Brisbane.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Museums Victoria</span></span>
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<p>Interestingly – but not surprisingly – the British, Canadian and New Zealand journalists were much more interested in learning about the Aboriginal story than in the sporting contests, and I was able to help them file stories of greater import than the discus thrower’s ankle.</p>
<p>Aboriginal protests didn’t stop or disrupt the Games, and police generally behaved politely. True, there was a great deal of camera scrutiny of events. The land rights marches hastened native title change in Queensland, with the Mabo case <a href="https://aiatsis.gov.au/explore/articles/mabo-case">starting that year</a> and ending in native title in 1992.</p>
<h2>In America as in Australia</h2>
<p>Atlanta was the low-water mark of a city using <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/1996/07/01/us/as-olympics-approach-homeless-are-not-feeling-at-home-in-atlanta.html">anti-loitering statutes to keep it “clean” during the 1996 Olympics</a>. Whole suburbs were vacuumed to eliminate the “black spots”, literally.</p>
<p>So, two decades on, what are sports officials and governmental authorities still so afraid of? That we will be seen as a normal country, with normal problems like poverty, homelessness and hunger? </p>
<p>Are we really still mired in the mentality of yesteryear — that the deranged, the mentally ill, the vagrant must be kept out of sight lest they remind us of human frailty?</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/93488/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Colin Tatz does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Preparations for next month’s Commonwealth Games on the Gold Coast are pushing homeless people out of town, and out of the state. Sadly, that’s not unusual for events of this sort.Colin Tatz, ANU Visiting Professor, Politics and International Relations, Australian National UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/781902017-05-29T20:08:20Z2017-05-29T20:08:20ZWhy Gold Coast light rail was worth it (it’s about more than patronage)<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/170715/original/file-20170524-5752-1x5m65f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Southport station, Nerang Street, soon after the light rail began running in 2014.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Matthew Burke</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Gold Coast’s light rail scheme has attracted great interest since the streets of Surfers Paradise were torn up and stations and track were built. Was it worth spending <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-05-13/gold-coast-light-rail-stage-three-state-and-federal-questions/7411588">A$1.5 billion on 13km</a> of light rail and more than $40 million a year in subsidies? </p>
<p>Are we right to be spending another <a href="http://www.goldcoastbulletin.com.au/news/gold-coast/the-first-sod-has-been-turned-on-420-million-light-rail-stage-2-as-tate-plans-stage-3/news-story/2520cd82de301a34498552b6a6e7dde5">$420 million on an extension</a> to Helensvale in time for the Commonwealth Games? Should we be taking it all the way down to Gold Coast Airport?</p>
<p>Another question is whether gains in property values served by the project could be “<a href="https://theconversation.com/explainer-what-is-value-capture-and-what-does-it-mean-for-cities-58776">captured</a>” to fund such infrastructure. </p>
<p>Previous studies of property values in areas serviced by the light rail showed only modest gains after it opened. <a href="http://sydney.edu.au/business/research/grants/funding_on_the_line">Our research</a> cast a wider net back to when we first started planning the system in 1996 through to the latest data we could get in 2016. </p>
<p>The results were intriguing. We found that prices in the catchment areas started to increase in the earliest planning phases. The effects of the light rail were to push up property values within 800 metres of the stations by more than 30% in total from 1996 to 2016. </p>
<p>This is well above most previous estimates of a light rail system’s effects. This is mainly because we looked earlier for the property value gains and used a carefully designed control to make the comparison. </p>
<h2>Impact after opening seemed modest</h2>
<p>These findings cast a different light on the apparently modest impact of the light rail after it opened. </p>
<p>When the first stage from Broadbeach to our university at Parkwood opened it was well received. But the behaviour change we all hoped for was rather modest at first. After opening in 2014, patronage did not surge compared to bus ridership on the route in earlier years.</p>
<p>New passengers got on board, but it was an uphill climb for the new system. <a href="http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/queensland/translink-fare-hike-to-make-brisbane-australias-most-expensive-20140103-30910.html">Fare increases of almost 50%</a> from 2010 to 2014 pushed passengers off public transport across southeast Queensland, especially on rail. </p>
<p>Not all passengers enjoyed improved service for their particular journeys either. Those who used to travel through the corridor in a bus now had to break their journey at the light rail terminus and transfer, adding travel time and annoyance. </p>
<p>In the second year of operation, however, <a href="http://www.goldlinq.com.au/news-and-media/g-that-s-successful">patronage jumped 16%</a> and our contacts suggest third-year patronage is tracking well. Subsidies per passenger are falling. The decision to add the connection to Helensvale looks a sound one.</p>
<p>But, seemingly, other changes everyone expected weren’t there. The Bureau of Infrastructure, Transport and Regional Economics analysed property values in the corridor <a href="https://bitre.gov.au/publications/2015/files/is_069.pdf">from 2000 to 2013</a> using a coarse geography and didn’t find much evidence of any uplift. This gave many cause for concern. </p>
<p>Reassuringly, Cameron Murray <a href="https://theconversation.com/gold-coast-light-rail-study-helps-put-a-figure-on-value-captures-funding-potential-65084">used valuation data for a similar period</a> using a different geographical scale and found a 10% increase for properties within 400 metres of the new stations. But there was still uncertainty. </p>
<p>Our new research backs up and expands on Murray’s findings, suggesting there was substantial positive impact.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/170714/original/file-20170524-5757-j8ghzz.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/170714/original/file-20170524-5757-j8ghzz.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/170714/original/file-20170524-5757-j8ghzz.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/170714/original/file-20170524-5757-j8ghzz.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/170714/original/file-20170524-5757-j8ghzz.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/170714/original/file-20170524-5757-j8ghzz.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/170714/original/file-20170524-5757-j8ghzz.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Gold Coast light rail under construction at Surfers Paradise in 2013.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Author</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>What did our research look at?</h2>
<p>Our research team in the <a href="http://sydney.edu.au/business/research/grants/funding_on_the_line">Funding on the Line</a> Australian Research Council Linkage Project took a different approach. </p>
<p>In a peer-reviewed paper, which will shortly be presented at the <a>World Symposium on Transport and Land Use Research</a>, led by Barbara Yen, we used sales data for residential properties along the corridor. Our study compared areas within 800 metres of the stations with a control area containing locations a little further away but still in the same vicinity. </p>
<p>We used a longitudinal methodology to see when the value uplift occurred from back in 1996, when planning of the system first started, through to the latest 2016 data. Property prices in the catchment areas started to increase very early in the planning phase. The property value uplift was highest in the locations between 100 and 400 metres from the stations. </p>
<p>Values went up 11.9% in these locations compared to our control areas between 1996 and the feasibility study’s announcement in 2002. They increased a further 26.3% from 2002 to 2006 over the control areas when the feasibility study was completed. Prices rose only 2.3% from 2006 to 2011 when the formal funding commitment was made and construction began, and then by another 5.4% after the line opened to the end of the study period in 2016. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/170712/original/file-20170524-5749-1f04vgx.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/170712/original/file-20170524-5749-1f04vgx.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/170712/original/file-20170524-5749-1f04vgx.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=225&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/170712/original/file-20170524-5749-1f04vgx.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=225&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/170712/original/file-20170524-5749-1f04vgx.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=225&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/170712/original/file-20170524-5749-1f04vgx.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=283&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/170712/original/file-20170524-5749-1f04vgx.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=283&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/170712/original/file-20170524-5749-1f04vgx.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=283&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Timeline of the planning and development of Gold Coast Light Rail Stage 1.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Authors</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The areas less than 100 metres from the stations, and between 400 and 800 metres also recorded strong increases compared to the control areas, though not quite as much. </p>
<p>This is to be expected. Sites closest to the stations received some nuisance from the light rail and road corridor; sites further away obtain fewer advantages in travel time savings for passengers. </p>
<h2>What are the funding implications?</h2>
<p>The property value gains attributable to the project from 1996 to 2016 of more than 30% are very significant. Yet it’s pretty much only the landowners who benefit. </p>
<p>The City of Gold Coast recoups some of its <a href="http://www.goldcoast.qld.gov.au/rapid-transit-6004.html">$120 million investment</a> in the light rail through its rates and its <a>public transport levy on urban residents</a>. The Queensland government may end up getting a little slice via stamp duty as properties are sold. The few pieces of government-owned land likely rose in value. </p>
<p>But the state and federal governments generally have no other mechanisms to take a small sliver of the increased property value their investment generated to help pay for the light rail system or reinvest in public transport elsewhere. We’ve <a href="https://theconversation.com/what-brisbanes-ferries-can-teach-us-about-funding-public-transport-30874">written about this previously</a> in The Conversation and suggested ways we could change the system. </p>
<p>A recent <a href="http://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Committees/House/ITC/TransportConnectivity/Report_1">federal parliamentary inquiry</a> and moves to set up “<a href="http://www.luticonsulting.com.au/projects/value-sharing-mechanisms-review-nsw/">value sharing</a>” units in the <a href="http://www.dilgp.qld.gov.au/infrastructure/value-sharing-in-queensland.html">Queensland</a> and <a href="https://www.greater.sydney/digital-district-plan/679">New South Wales</a> governments suggest we are now getting serious about generating alternative funding for public transport. </p>
<p>Our study’s results only add more support to these initiatives. Get it right and we should be able to deliver more metros, busways and light rail to serve our growing population and its increasingly urban way of life.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/78190/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Matthew Burke receives funding from the Australian Research Council, the Queensland Government Department of Transport and Main Roads, the Motor Accident and Insurance Commission, Transport for NSW, Gold Coast City Council, Logan City Council, Queensland Airports Limited, Lend Lease, and Springfield Land Corporation. </span></em></p>The light rail project pushed up property values within 800 metres of the stations by over 30% from 1996 to 2016. Gains on this scale offer a potential source of finance for public transport.Matthew Burke, Associate Professor, Cities Research Institute, Griffith UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/769292017-05-05T02:26:52Z2017-05-05T02:26:52ZFor cities, hosting major sporting events is a double-edged sword<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/167792/original/file-20170503-21620-1m0xdpv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The Gold Coast is preparing to host the 2018 edition of the Commonwealth Games.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">AAP</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Just as the publicity machine is cranking up for the <a href="https://www.gc2018.com/">2018 Commonwealth Games</a> on the Gold Coast, new Australia-based bids have already been signalled to host the same event in the future.</p>
<p>Shepparton is <a href="http://greatershepparton.com.au/whats-happening/news/news-article/!/456/post/the-2030-greater-victoria-commonwealth-games">leading a bid</a> by 11 regional Victoria cities and towns for the 2030 Commonwealth Games. And western Sydney is <a href="http://www.parramattasun.com.au/story/4628349/western-sydneys-games-bid/?cs=993">interested in hosting</a> the event in either 2026 or 2030.</p>
<p>Nobody in Australia seems to have been deterred from bidding by Durban losing the rights to hold the 2022 Commonwealth Games because the South African city could not afford it. Adelaide, Melbourne, Perth, Sydney, and even a <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-03-15/gold-coast-offers-to-host-two-commonwealth-games-in-a-row/8354956">Gold Coast reprise</a> have been <a href="http://www.smh.com.au/sport/commonwealth-games/sydney-plan-attempt-to-host-2022-commonwealth-games-report-20170318-gv19on.html">mooted as replacements</a>.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, a 2017 V8 Supercars Championship event is controversially to be held <a href="http://www.theherald.com.au/story/4629360/supercars-road-show-rolls-into-newcastle/">for the first time</a> amid the heritage streets and green foreshore spaces of Newcastle East this November.</p>
<p>Despite the event’s under-performance at – and subsequent departure from – <a href="http://www.smh.com.au/sport/motorsport/v8-supercars-close-book-on-sydney-olympic-park-street-circuit-race-20160322-gnovxc.html">Sydney’s Olympic Park</a>, Newcastle City Council, the New South Wales state government and Destination NSW have been happy to <a href="http://www.theherald.com.au/story/4411637/residential-streets-no-place-for-motor-racing/">wave it through</a> with minimal consultation and attention to due process.</p>
<p>But what is the appeal of hosting big sporting events and does the economic equation stack up?</p>
<h2>Economic justifications</h2>
<p>In a world where <a href="https://books.google.com.au/books?id=ujm5BgAAQBAJ&pg=PA3&lpg=PA3&dq=place-marketing&source=bl&ots=0hSjH8S-fM&sig=KuljYQHmzPdmPAzYGUXPlqwAbq4&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiB3pzHgNPTAhUCHZQKHfDhAFY4ChDoAQhHMAk#v=onepage&q=place-marketing&f=false">place-marketing</a> is seen as essential to the success of urban centres large and small, grabbing attention is imperative. </p>
<p>Sports stars and brands attract people to watch contests close up. But, even more importantly, they attract the media. So, investing in staging sport is ultimately a matter of turning the entire host environment into a stage.</p>
<p>This can be called the showcase justification, which conceives the sport as less intrinsically important than its picturesque location. This is why TV establishment shots always focus on key landmarks like Cape Town’s Table Mountain during the 2010 football World Cup, London’s Big Ben at the 2012 Olympics, and Rio de Janeiro’s Christ the Redeemer statue at the 2014 FIFA World Cup and 2016 Olympics. </p>
<p>For Gold Coast 2018, it will be the Surfers Paradise skyline.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/d1YJ0wtAjYo?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">The Gold Coast’s bid video for the 2018 Commonwealth Games.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Although attracting sport tourists to the event is the immediate aim, it is intended to lodge appealing imagery of place to a wider audience for a much longer period. </p>
<p>Like Barcelona after its 1992 Olympics, a buzz can be created about a city that has little to do with sport. General tourist and convention traffic may be drawn to the place, along with companies looking to relocate to smart places where their employees would like to live. </p>
<p>Where place recognition and appeal are not immediately obvious, some marketing hyperbole is needed. For example, in justifying why the V8 Supercars should zoom through inner Newcastle, the street circuit <a href="http://www.theherald.com.au/story/4336120/monaco-of-the-southern-hemisphere/">is presented</a>, in reference to the Formula One Grand Prix, as “the Monaco of the southern hemisphere”.</p>
<p>Such attempts to take sport away from dedicated stadiums in often-isolated locations to the heart of the city are integral to the idea of selling the space rather than the sport. Inevitably, though, it results in additional cost and community disruption.</p>
<p>This objection is frequently met with the urban redevelopment justification. In its pre-Games makeover, Barcelona spent millions of dollars and sacrificed many old streets, vineyards and gardens to turn itself into an Olympic city. </p>
<p>The same occurred to different degrees with the Athens, Beijing, London and Rio Olympics. And the Manchester 2002 Commonwealth Games <a href="http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/10286630802445864">stimulated</a> an estimated £2 billion in public and private investment in the city’s east over 15 years. </p>
<p>Because hosting sport means tight, immovable deadlines, work in and outside the stadium has to be completed much faster than usual for sizeable building projects. The result can be a <a href="https://www.routledge.com/Sport-Media-and-Mega-Events/Wenner-Billings/p/book/9781138930391">thoroughly unpleasant experience</a> for affected communities, including <a href="https://theconversation.com/brazils-world-cup-preparations-showcase-celebration-capitalism-27291">forced and permanent displacement</a>, corrupt and unethical conduct by government and business, and shoddy work requiring subsequent rectification.</p>
<p>Worse still, overly optimistic and unreliable financial projections mean the promised economic bonanza is often a long, painful event hangover. As both <a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2723515/Athens-Olympics-leave-mixed-legacy-10-years-later.html">Athens</a> and <a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/olympics/rio-olympic-venues-disrepair-2016-brazil-worst-recession-economy-ruin-a7572786.html">Rio</a> have discovered, urban debt and decay quickly become the real legacy of the exhilarating moment of playing host to big sport. </p>
<p>The International Olympic Committee’s demand for prestige venues that can quickly become white elephants <a href="https://qz.com/748894/nobody-wants-to-host-the-olympic-games-anymore-can-you-blame-them/">has caused</a> a sharp decline in host city bids. As a result, there is increased emphasis on recycling existing sport infrastructure in affluent cities like Tokyo, Paris, Los Angeles and Sydney that have previously hosted the event. </p>
<h2>Social justifications</h2>
<p>If the economic arguments for playing host still look shaky, there can always be a resort to the participation stimulation justification. </p>
<p>This is the familiar idea that sport watchers will be inspired to be sport players through exposure to big events. The problem is, hosting sport events <a href="http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20160805-do-big-sporting-events-make-us-do-more-sport">rarely leads to</a> sustained higher levels of participation. And, in cases such as motor sports, mass participation is neither feasible nor desirable. </p>
<p>When all else fails, the “sleeper awakes” justification can be deployed against those who oppose or are sceptical about the event by <a href="http://www.theherald.com.au/story/4615541/hilarious-new-rap-video-about-newcastle-whingers/">portraying them as whingers</a>, NIMBYs, party-poopers, and – in the go-to insult of the Trump/Brexit era of political populism – elitists.</p>
<p>This championing of hosting events is partially dependent on sporting taste. But if that doesn’t convince, it can rely on the tried-and-tested unforgettable party justification. As with other great parties, those who enjoy them most tend to forget the stomach-churning clean-up afterwards.</p>
<p>In 2015, <a href="https://theconversation.com/australias-summer-of-sporting-events-has-it-been-worth-it-37477">Australia hosted</a> the men’s cricket World Cup and football Asian Cup, as well as the netball World Cup. This was a particularly busy year, but recent developments indicate that its state and territory capitals, provincial cities and regions are now continually on the hunt for a large or medium-sized sporting event to host.</p>
<p>In other parts of the world, potential hosts including Berlin, Boston, Cardiff, Edmonton, Hamburg, Rome and Singapore have withdrawn bids for the Olympic or Commonwealth Games.</p>
<p>This is not an argument against hosting big sport events. But it does advocate looking closely at the hyperbole, concealed self-interest, confected populism and voodoo economics that try to submerge the enduring question: <a href="https://definitions.uslegal.com/q/qui-bono/">“cui bono”</a> (who benefits)?</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/76929/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>David Rowe has received funding from the Australian Research Council to support research relating to this article: 'A Nation of "Good Sports"? Cultural Citizenship and Sport in Contemporary Australia' (DP130104502), and 'Australian Cultural Fields: National and Transnational Dynamics' (with Tony Bennett et al, DP140101970).</span></em></p>Investing in staging sport is ultimately a matter of turning the entire host environment into a stage.David Rowe, Professor of Cultural Research, Institute for Culture and Society, Western Sydney UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/742392017-03-17T03:01:33Z2017-03-17T03:01:33ZContested spaces: conflict behind the sand dunes takes a new turn<p><em>This is the eleventh article in our <a href="https://theconversation.com/au/topics/contested-spaces-36316">Contested Spaces</a> series. These pieces look at the conflicting uses, expectations and norms that people bring to public spaces, the clashes that result and how we can resolve these.</em></p>
<hr>
<p>When we think of coasts, we are likely to think about the great sandy beaches that have been the destination for many day trips and long weekends. At times these spaces have been <a href="https://theconversation.com/contested-spaces-we-shall-fight-on-the-beaches-72265">sources of contestation</a>, especially in areas of public access and codes of conduct. However, behind the sand dunes are other landscapes with deep histories of social conflict. </p>
<p>Moments from coastal pasts have had a major impact on how we see different coasts today. They feed into distinct ideals and ethics on place, especially in terms of how it is developed. </p>
<h2>Noosa Heads versus Surfers Paradise</h2>
<p>Noosa Heads is a prime example of this. Noosa’s history during colonisation includes a number of difficult stories to tell. Examples include the contentious tale of the <a href="https://www.google.com.au/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=4&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwjd_buo0tTSAhVEwLwKHXw_APEQFggvMAM&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.theaustralian.com.au%2Farts%2Freview%2Ftale-of-eliza-fraser-shipwrecked-in-1836-takes-aboriginal-perspective%2Fnews-story%2F7d2b7438cb119c34aacc15c43c7290f7&usg=AFQjCNHNV5jjhaN1tHIcdjrP9lc0hCYIgg">rescue of Eliza Fraser</a>, or the fate of the traditional owners, the <a href="http://www.gubbigubbi.com/">Gubbi Gubbi</a> people, at the hands of the colonial settlers and the native police. </p>
<p>Yet it was in the 1960s when modern conflict over land use really took shape in Noosa. A proposal by the developer T.M. Burke to build a resort at Alexandria Bay created a stir among locals. The local shire was set to build an access road around the headland, destroying well-trodden walking tracks. </p>
<p>A group led by local Arthur Harrold fought this proposal and formed the still-operating <a href="http://www.noosaparks.org.au/">Noosa Parks Association</a>. Thus began a long-standing fight against over-development, mining and other impediments to what residents saw as the natural beauty of the coast. This included the <a href="http://www.kinaba.org/cooloola-conflict">Cooloola Conflict</a> and the now-famed resistance to high-rise development. </p>
<p>While there are elements of conservationism here to consider, these conflicts arose in a bid to keep Noosa low-key, with a slower mentality and authentic natural surrounds. Today, these ethics of authenticity are firmly <a href="https://www.noosa.qld.gov.au/documents/40217326/40227843/Noosa%20Design%20Principles.pdf">embedded in planning regulation</a>, illustrating the strength of local resistance past. </p>
<p>Noosa residents’ key fear in the 1960s and ’70s was losing their sense of place to the different ideals embodied in another coastal mecca, Surfers Paradise. Like Noosa, Surfers has a long history of conflict. Yet this place developed much differently due to several key factors. </p>
<p>Arguably, the significant turning point was in 1925 when <a href="http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/cavill-james-freeman-jim-9713">Jim Cavill</a> bought the then Elston Hotel and renamed it the “Surfers Paradise” hotel. Cavill and his wife proceeded to turn the coastal setting into something more than a place to bathe or surf. </p>
<p>Alongside the hotel, they built a zoo full of exotic animals that gave the place a peculiar flavor. Having been influenced by the American example of how to develop coasts, Cavill exhibited a desire to construct Surfers Paradise as an exotic international resort. However, due to the war in the Pacific, Surfers Paradise was restricted by building codes, frustrating locals who were eager to begin making the space bigger.</p>
<p>Shortly after the war, the codes eased and developers flocked to the “Golden Coast”. In the course of development, local leaders such as the progress association often came into conflict with governance. </p>
<p>In the example of parking meters, this led to the controversial <a href="http://www.goldcoast.qld.gov.au/thegoldcoast/surfers-paradise-history-2764.html">meter maid scheme</a>, which further established Surfers Paradise’s theme as an overtly transgressive and sexualised place. </p>
<h2>Conflicts of a climate-changed future</h2>
<p>In both spaces, conflicts have continued into contemporary times. </p>
<p>Recently, for instance, the fight against the proposed <a href="http://www.saveourspit.com/">Southport Spit</a> development has again drawn locals into conflict with authorities. Such fights against development continue up and down our coastlines. These are mostly driven by the desire to maintain a specific lifestyle and aesthetic appeal. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/160425/original/image-20170313-19256-1a945hj.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/160425/original/image-20170313-19256-1a945hj.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/160425/original/image-20170313-19256-1a945hj.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=448&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/160425/original/image-20170313-19256-1a945hj.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=448&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/160425/original/image-20170313-19256-1a945hj.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=448&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/160425/original/image-20170313-19256-1a945hj.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=563&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/160425/original/image-20170313-19256-1a945hj.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=563&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/160425/original/image-20170313-19256-1a945hj.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=563&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">An East Coast Low storm event along the Victorian coastline offers just a hint of the risks of sealevel rise in a future of climate change.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>However, early critics of coastal development saw other concerns about coastal development. For instance, in 1879 a journalist for The Gympie Times, while contemplating the construction of Noosa and Tewantin, wondered about the location of the village and whether one day seawater might be running between you and your <a href="http://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/170582221?searchTerm=tewantin&searchLimits=l-title=839%7C%7C%7Cl-decade=187">neighbour</a>.</p>
<p>While we have different motivations for maintaining or developing our coastal places, we seem to neglect discussions about the risks of living so close to the ocean. </p>
<p>As we approach a climate-changed future, issues of <a href="https://theconversation.com/hurt-by-sea-how-storm-surges-and-sea-level-rise-make-coastal-life-risky-68348">sea-level rise and coastal flooding</a> are going to challenge our <a href="https://theconversation.com/coastal-law-shift-from-property-rights-to-climate-adaptation-is-a-landmark-reform-59083">thinking about coasts</a>. </p>
<p>History has shown that several of our coastal meccas are already <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-role-of-climate-change-in-eastern-australias-wild-storms-60552">susceptible to significant damage</a> from storms and cyclones. We scramble to rebuild following these events, but few debates are had about retreating away from the sea. </p>
<p>As we continue into that risky climate-changed landscape, however, we might see <a href="https://theconversation.com/risky-business-how-companies-are-getting-smart-about-climate-change-65221">new players like insurance companies</a> become increasingly important. </p>
<p>Already in the tropics, insurance premiums have <a href="http://www.news.com.au/technology/environment/climate-change/maps-show-areas-that-will-be-most-affected-by-rising-sea-levels/news-story/57d33f3fdf52a6baf9491ffcd4f1a570">caused a stir</a> politically and in the media. In the future, though, we may need to consider to whether we have to redefine our relationship with coasts as they become more risky places to live. </p>
<hr>
<p><em>You can find other pieces published in the series <a href="https://theconversation.com/au/topics/contested-spaces-36316">here</a>.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/74239/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Nick Osbaldiston does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Conflicts over coastal areas have largely been between development and preserving what makes these attractive places to live. Rising sea levels are now complicating our relationship with the coast.Nick Osbaldiston, Senior Lecturer in Sociology, James Cook UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/662132016-10-13T19:11:10Z2016-10-13T19:11:10ZOut in the heat: why poorer suburbs are more at risk in warming cities<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/140812/original/image-20161006-32718-1ajl3sb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Upper Coomera is one of those fast-growing fringe suburbs that are hotter because of tightly packed housing with less greenery.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.ozaerial.com.au/">Daryl Jones/www.ozaerial.com.au/</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Australian cities are <a href="https://theconversation.com/bad-luck-brisbane-muggy-cities-will-feel-future-heat-even-more-35205">getting hotter</a>. The many reasons for this include urban densification policies, climate change and social trends such as bigger houses and apartment living, which leave <a href="https://theconversation.com/fewer-trees-leave-the-outer-suburbs-out-in-the-heat-33299">less space for gardens and trees</a>. But some areas and some residents of cities are more exposed to heat than others. </p>
<p>The concentration of poorer people in hotter places is known as “<a href="http://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1748-9326/10/11/115005/meta">thermal inequity</a>”. Our <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/11/9/095014">recently published research</a> has found this is a real concern on the Gold Coast, one of Australia’s <a href="http://blog.id.com.au/2016/population/australian-population/latest-population-figures-top-50-largest-cities-and-towns-in-australia/">fastest-growing urban regions</a>. </p>
<p>Urban heat is known to <a href="https://www.nccarf.edu.au/business/sites/www.nccarf.edu.au.business/files/attached_files_publications/Loughnan-ExtremeHeatEventsinAustralianCapitalCities-HighRes.pdf">increase rates of injury, death and disease</a>. This is why the federal government recently established an <a href="http://www.environment.gov.au/minister/hunt/2016/mr20160212.html">urban greening agenda</a>. </p>
<p>The central city tends to be hotter than surrounding suburbs and rural areas – the <a href="https://theconversation.com/explainer-why-are-cities-warmer-than-the-countryside-53160">urban heat island</a> effect. Perhaps because of this, much of the research focus has been on the urban core. But what about heat effects in the suburbs?</p>
<h2>What is thermal inequity?</h2>
<p>Research from <a href="http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0122051">North America</a> and Australia shows people who live in greener, leafier suburbs tend to be wealthier. We know that urban greening can <a href="https://theconversation.com/can-trees-really-cool-our-cities-down-44099">cool ambient air temperatures</a>. </p>
<p>Plentiful street trees, well-designed parks and other types of green space also tend to increase residents’ physical activities and social interactions. This makes <a href="https://theconversation.com/its-official-city-parks-make-us-happy-14696">greener neighbourhoods healthier and happier</a>. </p>
<p>Unfortunately, the opposite often occurs in poorer suburbs, meaning residents suffer more <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-heat-can-make-your-body-melt-down-from-the-inside-out-22042">heat stress</a>. This is a consequence of fewer street trees, less green space and denser urban design. <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/11/9/095014">Our research</a> found thermal inequity is a real concern in Upper Coomera, a suburb in the northern growth corridor of Gold Coast city. </p>
<p>The Gold Coast has been coping with explosive rates of growth. The population is expected to double to more than 1 million in the next two decades. Growth-management policies are increasing densities in many suburbs. </p>
<p>On the suburban fringe in places like Upper Coomera, land clearing for development typically removes much of the native vegetation. This in turn increases heat. </p>
<p>The trend in the Gold Coast, like many cities, is for comparatively disadvantaged people to <a href="https://theconversation.com/australias-most-disadvantaged-suburbs-where-are-they-and-who-lives-there-13181">seek more affordable housing in outer suburbs</a>. Less affluent householders become concentrated in suburbs where housing is packed tightly with fewer trees and less greenery. </p>
<p>Hotter houses and neighbourhoods lead to <a href="https://theconversation.com/sustainable-housings-expensive-right-not-when-you-look-at-the-whole-equation-60056">residents paying more for electricity</a> to keep cool. Excessive heat can also <a href="https://theconversation.com/smart-urban-design-could-save-lives-in-future-heatwaves-33246">increase healthcare expenses</a> and reduce productivity.</p>
<h2>Research shows residents are struggling</h2>
<p>As we explain in the video abstract for our article, we used a mail-back survey of 1,921 households to examine three questions:</p>
<p>1) Are residents aware of climate change?</p>
<p>2) Are residents concerned about climate change?</p>
<p>3) Do residents understand the potential of green infrastructure to help neighbourhoods adapt to climate change? </p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/0Fe45YOPpVM?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Video abstract for Environmental Research Letters article on thermal inequity.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>We found more than 90% of residents were aware of climate change and almost 70% were concerned about it. Residents living in townhouses were particularly worried. Paradoxically, those living in dwellings with dark roofs were less worried, as were those with larger families.</p>
<p>We also found that more than 90% of respondents had air conditioning. Using statistical analysis, we determined that renters are especially vulnerable to associated energy costs, as are those with kids. </p>
<p>Interestingly, we found that people living in townhouses were less likely to consider buying energy-efficient devices to lower household energy expenses, as were those with more children. This could be because renters and those with larger families may be struggling financially. </p>
<p>In sum, we found that more disadvantaged households with less disposable income were living in dwellings that were more vulnerable to heat.</p>
<p>Next, we examined the attitudes of residents to urban greening to help combat heat in their neighbourhood. We found almost two-thirds favoured tree planting. More than half felt local streets lacked shade.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/140623/original/image-20161005-20152-10486xr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/140623/original/image-20161005-20152-10486xr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/140623/original/image-20161005-20152-10486xr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/140623/original/image-20161005-20152-10486xr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/140623/original/image-20161005-20152-10486xr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/140623/original/image-20161005-20152-10486xr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/140623/original/image-20161005-20152-10486xr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/140623/original/image-20161005-20152-10486xr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Few trees to be seen: residential landscapes in Upper Coomera.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Jason Byrne</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>While 90% of surveyed residents saw that shade was a key benefit of trees, just over half understood that trees can lower air temperatures. Although most residents recognised maintenance costs of trees as a disadvantage, they still favoured more urban greening.</p>
<h2>So what can be done?</h2>
<p>Our findings have important repercussions for urban policy. As <a href="http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0169204615000419">we have previously noted</a>, urban greening has many advantages for climate change adaptation. It is comparatively inexpensive and is politically palatable.</p>
<p>However, higher-density neighbourhoods like Upper Coomera often have less land available for greening. Yards are smaller and verges are typically dominated by on-street parking. </p>
<p>We advocate for education campaigns about the benefits of urban greening and <a href="https://theconversation.com/heres-how-green-infrastructure-can-easily-be-added-to-the-urban-planning-toolkit-57277">better urban design guidelines</a> to make it easier for developers to increase neighbourhood greenery. Better knowledge about species selection is needed to reduce maintenance issues.</p>
<p>Urban greening initiatives should also use technologies like permeable paving to limit pavement uplift and <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-your-garden-could-help-stop-your-city-flooding-42473">capture rainfall</a> on-site. </p>
<p>Thermal inequity exists but it can be reduced. After all, if urban greenery can benefit all residents, why should the poor miss out?</p>
<hr>
<p><em>The authors wish to acknowledge the contribution of Chloe Portanger, Information Analytics Specialist with Climate Planning, to the research on which this article is based.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/66213/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jason Byrne undertakes research consultancy work for the City of Gold Coast Council. Jason has been funded by the Australian Research Council for research into climate change adaptation, green space and social equity. He contributes to the Australian Conservation Foundation. Jason is a member of the Planning Institute of Australia, Society for Human Ecology and Institute of Australian Geographers.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Tony Matthews undertakes research consultancy work for the City of Gold Coast Council. He receives funding from the Australian Research Council for research which examines the nexus between urban planning and climate adaptation. Tony is affiliated with the Planning Institute Australia and the Royal Town Planning Institute.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Christopher Ambrey undertakes research consultancy work for the City of Gold Coast Council. Christopher's research is situated within the economics of happiness and also reflects a keen interest in the environment and social justice. Christopher is funded by St Vincent de Paul and the Institute for Social Science Research at The University of Queensland for research into homelessness and disrupting disadvantage.</span></em></p>Recently published research has found that the concentration of poorer people in hotter places is a real problem for cities’ capacity to cope with climate change.Jason Byrne, Professor of Human Geography and Planning, University of TasmaniaTony Matthews, Senior Lecturer in Urban and Environmental Planning, Griffith UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/642752016-08-24T10:32:09Z2016-08-24T10:32:09ZBritish Empire’s forgotten propaganda tool for ‘primitive peoples’: mobile cinema<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/135162/original/image-20160823-30231-1j4d3lf.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Van in Ghana early 1950s. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">CFU</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>It’s 1945. A mobile cinema van drives into a village in Ghana. Word spreads, music plays and a crowd gathers. The travelling commentator gives local chiefs a tour of the equipment, showing off this latest British technology, and explains the aims of the film show. Once darkness falls, the screen is set up, the commentator organises the crowd and the film show begins. </p>
<p>Such a scene was <a href="http://cinemastandrews.org.uk/archive/colonial-cinema/">far from unusual</a> in the British Empire. It was commonplace in many parts of Africa, not to mention other parts of the world through different modes of delivery. From <a href="https://muse.jhu.edu/article/567236/summary">trains in interwar Britain</a> to river boats in 1950s Malaya (Malaysia) to cinema vans in colonial Africa, the mobile film show was part of a bigger project to use new forms of film and spaces to administer, control and maintain a rapidly changing empire. </p>
<p>It was often brought to colonial subjects courtesy of the <a href="http://www.colonialfilm.org.uk/production-company/colonial-film-unit">Colonial Film Unit</a> in London. The unit was set up at the outbreak of war in 1939 and disbanded on the cusp of widespread independence in 1955, producing over 200 films in the process.</p>
<p>The African shows typically contained four or five short films, mostly made for African audiences. They would include an “entertainment” film, with edited Charlie Chaplin films especially popular, but the majority would be “instructional” shorts and talks designed to promote government initiatives. Audiences were encouraged to sign up and act on what they had seen afterwards – visiting an accompanying Post Office Savings van, for example, or a vaccination unit – with a local leader first in the queue. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/135164/original/image-20160823-30252-vtlwmc.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/135164/original/image-20160823-30252-vtlwmc.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/135164/original/image-20160823-30252-vtlwmc.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=387&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/135164/original/image-20160823-30252-vtlwmc.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=387&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/135164/original/image-20160823-30252-vtlwmc.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=387&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/135164/original/image-20160823-30252-vtlwmc.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=487&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/135164/original/image-20160823-30252-vtlwmc.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=487&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/135164/original/image-20160823-30252-vtlwmc.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=487&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Colonial Film Unit sample film programme.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">CFU</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Whether promoting child welfare <a href="http://www.colonialfilm.org.uk/node/6730">in Ghana</a>, instructing in modern methods of cocoa production <a href="http://www.colonialfilm.org.uk/node/759">in Nigeria</a> or depicting Africans <a href="http://www.colonialfilm.org.uk/node/1007">living</a> and working <a href="http://www.colonialfilm.org.uk/node/1444">in Britain</a> (see the clips below), these films sought to project a modern vision of empire. It was about instructing and defining colonial citizens and legitimising the work of the colonial government. </p>
<p>The Colonial Film Unit did this not just through the subjects it filmed but in the way it filmed them. It championed a specific mode of production that avoided close-ups, cross-cutting, short scenes or excessive movement within the frame. This was based on reductive assumptions about the intellectual capabilities of its rural audience or “primitive peoples”, as unit producer William Sellers <a href="https://archive.org/stream/documen02film#page/172/mode/2up">referred to</a> them.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/yBOcLnyMX-M?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
</figure>
<p>The film shows were also a way of organising the colonial space, <a href="https://www.dukeupress.edu/signal-and-noise">for example</a> through carefully outlined seating plans that reaffirmed traditional hierarchies. Some government officials reportedly took most pride in the fact that the crowd had learned to stand to attention at the end of the show and sing the British national anthem – empire in microcosm. </p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/6QbHhm4620I?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
</figure>
<h2>A change is gonna come</h2>
<p>Unlike in much Western cinema the pivotal figure in these events was not the director but the <a href="https://cinemaintransit.wordpress.com/2011/01/26/an-interview-with-a-former-cinema-van-commentator/">local commentator</a>. He might set up the screening, provide an introductory lecture, answer questions and translate and talk over the films. </p>
<p>He would offer call and responses, ask questions of the audience, outline the intended message of the film and direct where the audience looked on screen. He might talk over or replace the British voice on the soundtrack, in the process emerging as a new voice in African cinema. Indeed audience responses <a href="http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/01439685.2015.1049863?journalCode=chjf20">show how</a> the commentator could completely transform a film event, even prompting widespread laughter during a film on venereal disease. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/135167/original/image-20160823-30249-14qo6s7.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/135167/original/image-20160823-30249-14qo6s7.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/135167/original/image-20160823-30249-14qo6s7.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=390&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/135167/original/image-20160823-30249-14qo6s7.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=390&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/135167/original/image-20160823-30249-14qo6s7.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=390&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/135167/original/image-20160823-30249-14qo6s7.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=490&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/135167/original/image-20160823-30249-14qo6s7.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=490&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/135167/original/image-20160823-30249-14qo6s7.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=490&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">In western Nigeria.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">CFU</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The colonial authorities largely overlooked or downplayed the importance of this commentator, allowing him to work unsupervised for example. Yet they did recognise the value of using a local figure to convey its messages – <a href="https://books.google.co.uk/books/about/The_use_of_mobile_cinema_and_radio_vans.html?id=4VPHFXWOA4oC">noting for example</a> that audiences “believe much more readily what is told them by other Africans” and that “their jokes went down better than ours”. </p>
<p>While the Colonial Film Unit could be dismissive of its audiences’ capabilities – one official in Tanganyika (Tanzania) <a href="http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/01439685.2015.1049863?journalCode=chjf20">suggested</a> they were “not sufficiently sophisticated to be bored” – audience responses often challenged the intended government aims. At the height of the <a href="http://www.historyofwar.org/articles/wars_malaya.html">Emergency in Malaya</a> in the 1950s, the government <a href="http://www.colonialfilm.org.uk/node/2545">cancelled screenings</a> of a propaganda film made by the Malayan Film Unit after reports that cinemagoers had cheered the onscreen appearance of communist leader Chin Peng. </p>
<p>In Nyasaland (Malawi) at the height of the nationalist movement, mobile units, and by extension government messages, <a href="https://books.google.co.uk/books/about/Flickering_Shadows.html?id=F15xAAAAMAAJ">were blocked</a> from reaching their destination. On other occasions, people stood in front of screens or nationalist leaders took to the microphone themselves. In Ghana a lamp was actually fitted to the screen to prevent unrest among the audience, using the cinema screen to light up political dissidence. It was as if the film was watching the audience. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/135169/original/image-20160823-30252-124wyv1.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/135169/original/image-20160823-30252-124wyv1.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/135169/original/image-20160823-30252-124wyv1.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=451&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/135169/original/image-20160823-30252-124wyv1.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=451&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/135169/original/image-20160823-30252-124wyv1.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=451&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/135169/original/image-20160823-30252-124wyv1.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/135169/original/image-20160823-30252-124wyv1.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/135169/original/image-20160823-30252-124wyv1.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">On location in West Africa, 1946.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">CFU</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>The end is nigh</h2>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/135168/original/image-20160823-30249-r9y5ph.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/135168/original/image-20160823-30249-r9y5ph.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/135168/original/image-20160823-30249-r9y5ph.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=945&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/135168/original/image-20160823-30249-r9y5ph.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=945&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/135168/original/image-20160823-30249-r9y5ph.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=945&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/135168/original/image-20160823-30249-r9y5ph.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1187&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/135168/original/image-20160823-30249-r9y5ph.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1187&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/135168/original/image-20160823-30249-r9y5ph.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1187&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">1950 Colonial Film Unit magazine.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">CFU</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The work of the Colonial Film Unit took place against a backdrop of global war, civil unrest, Cold War politics and emerging independence movements. The film shows revealed and were a response to the tumultuous changes taking place across the British Empire. </p>
<p>When William Sellers had outlined his plans for the film show in 1941 he suggested that a good way to get the crowd’s attention was for the commentator to “ask a question to which the obvious answer is ‘yes’”. Such a question, he suggested, might be: “Are you proud to be British?”. The question would be asked three times, and “almost every member of the audience will reply and their answer comes back in a roar”.</p>
<p>A decade later, when Sellers revisited these plans, the suggested question had intriguingly changed from “Are you proud to be British?” to “Are you all well?” It would appear that by the 1950s, the original question was no longer rhetorical as the moves towards independence gathered pace. </p>
<p>The Colonial Film Unit would soon <a href="http://hansard.millbanksystems.com/written_answers/1955/jun/29/colonial-film-unit">close</a>, but its influence often lived on beyond independence, whether through personnel, equipment, or films. As one example, the Colonial Film Unit had set up training schools in Ghana, Jamaica and Cyprus in the late 1940s as part of political moves to transfer power to the colonies. These schools provided a core group of filmmakers for the emerging <a href="http://www.colonialfilm.org.uk/production-company/gold-coast-film-unit">local film units</a>, which would continue to produce, and exhibit films for many years to come.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/64275/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Tom Rice does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>In the dying days of empire, the British financed a global cinema service.Tom Rice, Senior Lecturer in Film Studies, University of St AndrewsLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/618512016-07-21T01:11:56Z2016-07-21T01:11:56ZA tale of five cities: applying foresight to shape their futures<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/130828/original/image-20160718-2147-nb3akg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">How people conceive of their city's future is important in shaping how the city's future unfolds.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://500px.com/photo/142911911/brisbane-at-night-panaramic-goodwill-bridge-by-zachary-powson">Zachary Powson/500px.com</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Mayors, CEOs, citizens and policy analysts are working to create uplifting images of their future cities. Their intended result is clear unifying visions for the city futures they desire.</p>
<p>So how can foresight make a difference in cities? </p>
<h2>Visioning</h2>
<p>The first way foresight improves cities is through <a href="http://www.dse.vic.gov.au/effective-engagement/toolkit/tool-visioning">visioning</a> projects. The City of Greater Geelong is aiming to look ahead 20 to 30 years through its first visioning and strategy project, Geelong 2040. Interviewed about this, Geelong City CEO Kelvin Spiller said:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Geelong 2040 will be a city-changing experience, for the long-term betterment of its residents and stakeholders. City visioning will be supported by community engagement. In the same manner that corporate engagement helps the carriage of new innovations upwards, visioning can do this for the planning of urban areas. </p>
<p>Perhaps longer-term visioning should be legislated to encourage managers to help cascade preferences upward and not only into the city vision.</p>
</blockquote>
<h2>Scenarios</h2>
<p>The second way foresight shapes cities is by applying futures methods like scenarios. Scenarios use group problem-solving and collective cognition to shape insights into alternatives.</p>
<p>What are our 2040 city futures scenarios? Considering an emerging <a href="http://www.shapingseq.com.au">regional plan</a> for Southeast Queensland, professor <a href="http://www.metafuture.org/about-us/">Sohail Inayatullah</a>, the first UNESCO Chair in Futures Studies, created the following alternatives:</p>
<p><strong>Scenario one:</strong> visions are achieved and our cities are still liveable. By 2040, the population has dramatically increased, but good governance, community consultation and foresight have mitigated negative possibilities (crime, congestion, pollution) and enhanced positive possibilities (job growth, green belt protection, water and energy management). </p>
<p>People want to move into these visionary cities, even with higher housing prices. A fair go is still possible.</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/130650/original/image-20160715-2153-134evzm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/130650/original/image-20160715-2153-134evzm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/130650/original/image-20160715-2153-134evzm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=841&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/130650/original/image-20160715-2153-134evzm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=841&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/130650/original/image-20160715-2153-134evzm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=841&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/130650/original/image-20160715-2153-134evzm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1057&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/130650/original/image-20160715-2153-134evzm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1057&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/130650/original/image-20160715-2153-134evzm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1057&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Scenario two: hot and paved.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/danspink/15698491719/in/photolist-pVdSEk">dnlspnk/flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/">CC BY-NC</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p><strong>Scenario two:</strong> cities arrive at the fate of being “hot and paved”. Market pressures kept driving up housing prices. Developers paid lip service to green and social concerns and a two-class society has emerged. Traffic problems did not decrease; rather, efforts to widen highways led to more congestion. Funding went to major highway connections while public transport and alternative working-from-home practices were overlooked. </p>
<p>Global warming has only made life worse – temperatures continue to rise, water shortages increase. Health indicators worsen. </p>
<p>Three tiers of government look to each other for solutions. Federal governments just seek to stay in power. Capacity for sustainable futures shrinks. </p>
<p><strong>Scenario three:</strong> worse yet, 2040 could be wired and miserable. In this scenario, the previous 20 years have been a series of confrontations between local, state and federal governments, between developers and environmentalists, between individual freedom and security, young and old, rural and coastal areas, and new migrants (many environmental refugees) and old migrants. </p>
<p>It is a world of endless sprawl, congested highways and gang warfare. Technology and power are used to keep collective peace.</p>
<p><strong>Scenario four:</strong> the concern is for the long-term future. Councils all over Australia continue to develop their own visions. As a result, there is a community capacity to innovate. </p>
<p>The percentage of people known as “cultural creatives” has grown dramatically. The values of sustainability, spirituality, innovation and global governance have become the official values.</p>
<p>The main changes are toward home-based work, public transport and active transport. Futures thinking is helping cities get ahead of challenges such as climate change, population growth and democratic policy selection. </p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/L5MJ_APlLc4?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">An introduction to Sohail Inayatullah’s work on futures thinking.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Inayatullah’s new book, <a href="http://www.metafuture.org/product/what-works-2">What Works</a>, discusses other studies about city futures.</p>
<h2>Sustainable actions</h2>
<p>A third way foresight shapes futures is through sustainable actions. The following four southeast Queensland cities have undertaken city visioning in areas of public transport, energy and environment, and liveability.</p>
<p>Brisbane is planning <a href="https://www.brisbane.qld.gov.au/traffic-transport/public-transport/brisbane-metro-subway-system">subway metro</a> and cross-river rail projects. These will benefit commuters in the middle and outer suburbs, who are increasingly experiencing long periods of gridlock.</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/130651/original/image-20160715-2150-7c1ekh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/130651/original/image-20160715-2150-7c1ekh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/130651/original/image-20160715-2150-7c1ekh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=721&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/130651/original/image-20160715-2150-7c1ekh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=721&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/130651/original/image-20160715-2150-7c1ekh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=721&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/130651/original/image-20160715-2150-7c1ekh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=906&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/130651/original/image-20160715-2150-7c1ekh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=906&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/130651/original/image-20160715-2150-7c1ekh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=906&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">On the Sunshine Coast, the council is building a solar plant to offset all its energy use.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://d1j8a4bqwzee3.cloudfront.net/~/media/Corporate/Images/AuthorsPageImages/artists-impression-solar-farm-carousel.jpg?la=en">Artist's impression, Sunshine Coast Regional Council</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>On the Sunshine Coast, a 15-megawatt <a href="http://www.sunshinecoast.qld.gov.au/Council/Planning-and-Projects/Major-Regional-Projects/Sunshine-Coast-Solar-Farm">solar-powered plant</a> is a first for Australian local government. It will offset the council’s entire electricity consumption by 2017. </p>
<p>On the Gold Coast, 7.3km of <a href="http://www.tmr.qld.gov.au/Projects/Name/G/Gold-Coast-Light-Rail-Stage-2.aspx">light rail</a> extensions will be delivered before the 2018 Commonwealth Games. This will ease congestion, improve accessibility and promote economic growth.</p>
<p>In Logan, a <a href="http://www.couriermail.com.au/news/queensland/brisbane-south-bank-entertainment-precinct-inspires-plans-for-similar-project-in-logan/news-story/b84b85d938a861baced5c2f22686f4c4">Southbank development</a> will create recreational space on river banks alongside floating restaurants to stimulate investment.</p>
<p>When I interviewed former Brisbane City CEO Jude Munro about city foresight, she observed: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>The benefits from closely linking land use and transport planning are a clear priority. However, more is required. Better legislation is called for to help cities to plan with foresight, but also city councils should be trialling a range of other measures being employed successfully in Australia. </p>
<p>For example, having a community coalition of local leaders like the one the City of Logan is building can have positive insights for local governance teams to consider. Also, a dedicated team like the <a href="http://www.planning.org.au/documents/item/3245">urban renewal team in Brisbane</a> in the mid-1990s to mid-2000s could help re-establish principles of local area planning in cities of southeast Queensland.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>In southeast Queensland, a <a href="http://www.shapingseq.com.au/">new regional plan</a> will unite its cities’ plans under a high-level strategic vision for the next 50 years.</p>
<p>Inayatullah, Spiller, Munro and I agree that, to ensure long-term actions work sustainably, cities should engage stakeholders and communities in visioning, involve futurists who understand how to apply and deepen scenarios and foresight methods, and create strategies within a futures framework. The last step relies upon:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>developing stronger sectoral, suburban and regionally aligned long-term plans;</p></li>
<li><p>aligning city short-term corporate plans to long-term visions;</p></li>
<li><p>working with state and federal government to align city visions with global East-West strategies, including geopolitical, economic and cultural elements; and</p></li>
<li><p>refreshing visions using futurists’ methods to ensure a scientific and democratic engagement process. </p></li>
</ul>
<p>Foresight is synonymous with a transforming, renewable and complex urbanism. Globally, cities are driving change and applying foresight to open their markets and improve collective prosperity and places.</p>
<p>The need for sustainable urbanism compels us to update plans not only for physical infrastructure but also for “softer” matters of population, energy, ecology, safety, education, health and seamless connection up, down and across sectors, borders and cultures. The more we think ahead with greater depth and breadth of understanding and co-operation, the better our city futures will be.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/61851/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Colin Russo does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>With foresight, we can steer our cities closer to the future we want instead of the futures we fear.Colin Russo, Futurist, University of the Sunshine CoastLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/622772016-07-15T01:13:30Z2016-07-15T01:13:30ZUrban hacktivism: getting creative about involving citizens in city planning<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/130619/original/image-20160714-23350-1sr9mbx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Billboard hacktivism in Toronto, Canada.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.blogto.com/city/2012/07/guerrilla_art_group_hacks_dozens_of_astral_info_pillars/">blogTO</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/">CC BY-NC-SA</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Urban and regional planning, as an institutional practice, is increasingly criticised for failing to meet ordinary citizens’ needs. Enter “<a href="https://au.pinterest.com/murmuracc/urban-intervention/">hacktivism</a>”. </p>
<p>Fusing hacking and activism, the term has previously referred to using information technology to achieve political goals. While “hacking” often entails malicious attacks on websites, it has another meaning. Hacking also means innovative problem-solving by combining new ideas with readily available materials. </p>
<p>Examples include taking an old DVD and using it as a drink coaster, bending a paperclip to reset a digital device, or twisting a coat hanger to unblock a drain. These are do-it-yourself “hacks” like those of the television character <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0088559/">MacGyver</a>.</p>
<p>Essentially, hacking is creative problem-solving. “Hackathons” are a case in point. <a href="http://bit.ly/inov8hack">Hackathons</a> involve the “brainstorming, designing and testing of ideas with change-makers”.</p>
<p>Hacktivism in this sense refers to grassroots problem-solving by like-minded people who are willing to “go round the back” of established institutions to achieve social objectives. Hacktivism reflects a growing disenchantment with mainstream institutions, pervasive <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-neoliberalisms-moral-order-feeds-fraud-and-corruption-60946">neoliberalism</a>, and cultures of consumption.</p>
<p>Hacktivism is different to “<a href="http://www.placehacking.co.uk">place-hacking</a>” by urban explorers. Recent examples of this include <a href="https://theconversation.com/look-out-behind-the-bus-stop-here-come-guerrilla-gardeners-digging-up-an-urban-revolution-29225">guerrilla gardens</a>, pop-up libraries, <a href="http://weburbanist.com/2014/03/12/city-hacktivism-12-fun-diy-urbanism-interventions/2/">repurposing</a> infrastructure and even disco traffic lights and <a href="http://www.smart-magazine.com/en/urban-hacks/">street pong</a>.</p>
<h2>What’s driving hacktivism?</h2>
<p>Hacktivism can challenge the trend among governing bodies to embrace neoliberal rhetoric about fast-tracking development. Cutting “red” and “green” tape disenfranchises residents. </p>
<p>Debates about <a href="https://theconversation.com/media-picture-of-urban-consolidation-focuses-more-on-a-good-scare-story-than-the-facts-58044">urban consolidation</a> are an example. Big developers seem to be able to bulldoze communities into accepting projects, which some residents feel will destroy the places they love, overshadow backyards, reduce privacy, increase congestion and noise, or even ruin neighbourhood character.</p>
<p>These concerns are often <a href="https://theconversation.com/calling-people-nimbys-wont-stop-development-arguments-25715">dismissed as “NIMBYism”</a> and self-interest. </p>
<p>But streamlined development assessment processes and “consultation” typically limit citizen engagement. Who can blame residents for getting angry?</p>
<p>Citizen groups, civic-minded planners, environmentalists and others are beginning to resist the <a href="https://theconversation.com/sydney-risks-becoming-a-dumb-disposable-city-for-the-rich-38172">privatisation of public spaces</a> and the <a href="https://theconversation.com/public-spaces-are-going-private-and-our-cities-will-suffer-60460">erosion of public functions</a> by offering alternatives. These range from interventions such as the <a href="https://betterbeaufort.com.au/parklets/">parklets</a> and pop-up venues of so-called “<a href="https://issuu.com/streetplanscollaborative/docs/tactical_urbanism_vol_2_final?backgroundColor=">tactical urbanism</a>” to more “activist”-oriented responses such as a <a href="http://www.planetizen.com/node/57714">Toronto group’s</a> subversive use of advertising billboards.</p>
<h2>Case studies in Australia</h2>
<p>In Australia, a small but growing cadre of residents is experimenting with hacktivism in planning. Two recent examples are instructive:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>Gold Coast Hinterland and Environment Council’s (<a href="http://gecko.org.au/">GECKO</a>) initiative to “hack planning” by producing a community-led climate change action plan; and</p></li>
<li><p>organised community resistance to the “West Village” development in West End, Brisbane, where residents have developed their own collaborative planning processes to create an alternative vision for the site.</p></li>
</ul>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/129977/original/image-20160711-24087-fkb14u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/129977/original/image-20160711-24087-fkb14u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/129977/original/image-20160711-24087-fkb14u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=750&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/129977/original/image-20160711-24087-fkb14u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=750&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/129977/original/image-20160711-24087-fkb14u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=750&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/129977/original/image-20160711-24087-fkb14u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=943&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/129977/original/image-20160711-24087-fkb14u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=943&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/129977/original/image-20160711-24087-fkb14u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=943&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Challenging the developer’s model at a community picnic.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>West End has a history of community-based resistance to evictions and inappropriate or undesirable development. It also has a history of challenging developers and governments to engage in a more sophisticated debate around <a href="http://westendcommunity.org/about-weca/">best practice in planning and development</a>. </p>
<p>The <a href="https://brisbanedevelopment.com/west-village-proposal-unveiled/">West Village</a> development proposes seven 15-storey apartment towers and a large supermarket on an inner-city lot. This project highlights the ongoing struggle for social justice in inner Brisbane in the face of rapid development. </p>
<p>Stage 1 of West Village was deemed code-assessable, meaning no provision for public notification and no appeal rights. The full masterplan for the site is, however, impact-assessable.</p>
<p>Many residents saw the development proposal as flawed and creating many serious problems. Building on existing social ties and strengths, a group of residents and interested parties have begun to create an alternative vision (“Instead of West Village”) for the site. The aim is to pressure both the developer and government to engage with their concerns and aspirations. </p>
<p>Residents are using an open, collaborative, community-based planning process, similar to earlier grassroots engagements in the suburb. Community-led draft masterplans have been developed and discussed <a href="http://jonathansri.com/absoe/">at various events</a>. These plans are contrasted against community-generated models and images of the proposed development. Public meetings and workshops have enabled input from diverse quarters. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/130497/original/image-20160714-12372-vdib7f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/130497/original/image-20160714-12372-vdib7f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/130497/original/image-20160714-12372-vdib7f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=388&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/130497/original/image-20160714-12372-vdib7f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=388&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/130497/original/image-20160714-12372-vdib7f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=388&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/130497/original/image-20160714-12372-vdib7f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=487&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/130497/original/image-20160714-12372-vdib7f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=487&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/130497/original/image-20160714-12372-vdib7f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=487&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">An alternative plan (right) is presented alongside the developer’s model (left) at the community picnic.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The alternative vision is still being finalised, but the collaboration and spirit of hacktivism underpinning it transcend the importance of the alternative master plan. </p>
<p>This hacktivism asserts a <a href="https://www.jacobinmag.com/2015/10/mexico-city-df-right-to-the-city-harvey-gentrification-real-estate-corruption/">right to the city</a>. It demands that planning be better: more just, more sustainable, more inclusive. In doing so, communities are beginning to “hack” planning itself.</p>
<p>GECKO’s recent <a href="http://climatechangeforgood.com.au">Climate Change For Good Conference</a> is a second example. This local non-profit organisation has partnered with the Queensland government to pioneer a new model of local climate-change adaptation. </p>
<p>The process began with a weekend of presentations by a range of experts and practitioners. These were accompanied by community-based problem-solving workshops. The forum closed with an innovative proposal to “hack planning”.</p>
<p>The intent is to devise a living document that crowdsources innovative adaptation ideas from the community to meet challenges such as health, food and water security, emergent business opportunities and place-making. This offers an alternative to Gold Coast City Council’s climate change <a href="http://www.goldcoast.qld.gov.au/documents/bf/climate_strategy.pdf">adaptation plan</a>, which has been shelved. </p>
<p>The community-led plan will enable engagement with diverse groups that are often marginalised in the planning process, such as Aboriginal groups, caravan park dwellers, migrants, youth and homeless citizens. </p>
<p>By giving a voice to real people living in everyday places, and by drawing on citizen knowledge and ingenuity, hacktivism promises action on issues beyond the remit of traditional planning. So, how could you “hack” your city?</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/62277/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jason Byrne is a member of the Gold Coast and Hinterland Environment Council (GECKO) and works with GECKO on community-led climate change action projects. He also receives funding from the Australian Research Council on climate change adaptation and urban green-space and health. Jason provides consultancy services to the Gold Coast City Council. He is affiliated with the Queensland Greens and cares deeply about issues of environmental justice, citizen wellbeing, and urban ecologies. Jason is a member of Griffith University's Environmental Futures Research Institute.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Natalie Osborne is affiliated with a number of grassroots activist groups in Brisbane working for social and environmental justice, including the group campaigning against the West Village development and a broader movement on the Right To The City - Brisbane. She is also affiliated with the Greens, and is a member of Griffith University's Cities Research Centre.
</span></em></p>In Australia, a small but growing cadre of residents is experimenting with hacktivism in planning. Giving a voice to real people living in everyday places can help ensure planning meets public needs.Jason Byrne, Professor of Human Geography and Planning, University of TasmaniaNatalie Osborne, Lecturer, School of Environment, Griffith UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/486692015-10-07T19:23:54Z2015-10-07T19:23:54ZThe light rail genie is out of the bottle, but how many cities will get their wish?<p>The <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-10-03/light-rail-funding-renewed-federal-focus-on-public-transport/6825182">federal government’s rekindled enthusiasm for public transport</a> has sent state and local governments across the country scurrying back to their light rail plans – even those that many of us thought would <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-09-22/light-rail-back-on-agenda-with-turnbull-expert-hopes/6793438">never see the light of day</a>.</p>
<p>It now looks as if the two-year effective moratorium on rail spending under Tony Abbott will be just a relatively brief hiatus. Besides the <a href="http://www.goldcoastbulletin.com.au/news/game-changer/gold-coast-light-rail-stage-2-to-get-go-ahead-with-tenders-to-open-for-tram-to-train-link/story-fnvizjmv-1227551373338">Gold Coast</a> and <a href="http://www.pta.wa.gov.au/max/">Perth</a>, the light rail revival could also involve <a href="http://yoursay.revitalisingnewcastle.com.au/projects/light-rail.aspx">Newcastle</a>, <a href="http://www.transport.nsw.gov.au/lightrail-program/parramatta-light-rail">Parramatta</a>, <a href="http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/commuter-trams-may-return-to-bendigo-streets-20140805-100pfk.html">Bendigo</a>, <a href="http://www.capitalmetro.act.gov.au/">Canberra</a>, <a href="http://www.takesteps.org/cast/Dual_mode_rail.pdf">Cairns</a>, <a href="http://www.ntnews.com.au/news/northern-territory/darwin-cbd-masterplan-proposes-a-light-rail-corridor-and-a-ferry-terminal-off-the-esplanade/story-fnk0b1zt-1226832670027">Darwin</a> and <a href="http://www.urbanalyst.com/in-the-news/tasmania/2172-hobarts-proposed-riverline-light-rail-service-to-be-extended.html">Hobart</a>.</p>
<p>All have drawn up plans that they hope could emulate the success of light rail in <a href="http://www.railway-technology.com/projects/lyon">European</a> and <a href="http://trimet.org/max/">American</a> cities (not to mention Melbourne, home of the <a href="http://www.yarratrams.com.au/about-us/who-we-are/facts-figures/">world’s largest tram system</a>) as a focal point for urban development.</p>
<p>The main reason that so many Australian cities have been trying to copy this model is that it works. Europe has been using light rail as a major tool of urban regeneration, especially in France where many smaller towns have been very successful. In the United States between 1993 and 2011, public transport use <a href="https://islandpress.org/book/the-end-of-automobile-dependence">grew by 23% (and light rail by 190%), while car use growth peaked</a>.</p>
<p>The key reason for this seems to be the extra speed and capacity created when light (or heavy) rail goes around, under or over traffic that has been getting slower and slower in every major city (see the table below). Meanwhile, urban regeneration around light rail corridors allows people to end their automobile dependence, helping cities <a href="https://islandpress.org/book/the-end-of-automobile-dependence">grow inwards faster than outwards</a>.</p>
<iframe src="https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/rDwjw/1/" frameborder="0" allowtransparency="true" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen" webkitallowfullscreen="webkitallowfullscreen" mozallowfullscreen="mozallowfullscreen" oallowfullscreen="oallowfullscreen" msallowfullscreen="msallowfullscreen" width="100%" height="450"></iframe>
<p>Tony Abbott forced the genie back into the bottle by following through on his <a href="https://theconversation.com/its-not-in-the-knitting-urban-rails-growing-significance-13754">2013 pre-election decision</a> to drop all federal rail funding. The move showed scant regard for how modern cities attract talented people to live and work in the <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-east-west-link-is-dead-a-victory-for-21st-century-thinking-34914">knowledge economy</a> jobs that are so necessary for innovation. </p>
<p>Around the world, cities compete on <a href="http://www.smh.com.au/comment/the-future-is-walking-sydney-so-get-used-to-it-20151005-gk1zpt.html">walkability</a> and public transport, because these things make it less likely that young, creative workers will leave for London, Paris or New York. A <a href="http://www.smartgrowthamerica.org/documents/walkup-wake-up-call-boston.pdf">recent report from Smart Growth America</a> found that in Boston, 70% of young people working in the knowledge economy live in highly walkable areas. Their jobs typically require them to come together with lots of different people in an urban situation, and they don’t have time for long commutes.</p>
<p>So the knowledge economy needs spatial efficiency. Public transport, cycling and walking are spatially efficient; freeways, traffic jams and urban sprawl are not.</p>
<h2>Enough to go around?</h2>
<p>This is precisely the phenomenon on which Turnbull has picked up, by stressing innovation and freeing up infrastructure funding for light rail projects. The genie is out again, but obviously there will not be enough money to make every city’s transport wishes come true. So how can we proceed?</p>
<p>Cities now need to make a strong case for their light rail projects, based on the benefits of urban regeneration as well saving commuters time. The best way to do this is to attract private funding as well as taxpayers’ money, by <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-to-build-light-rail-in-our-cities-without-emptying-the-public-purse-39255">bringing private investors on board with the financing</a>, who then earn a return on the increased land values generated by rail development. This is called “land value capture” and still has not been done in Australia, although it’s common in the United States and Asia. </p>
<p>In fact, one could argue that the federal government should only release Commonwealth funding if these funds are multiplied many times over by the private sector. So cities could begin by calling for expressions of interest from private companies to design, build, finance, own and operate the light rail link and, crucially, make sure this includes land-development options (rather than letting in outside developers to gain windfall profits instead of directing the money into paying for the light rail).</p>
<p>Government would need to contribute a base grant and an operational fund that could be more specifically focused along the areas where the biggest benefits are felt in the corridor itself, where land values will go up most. Private expertise will ensure that the best sites are chosen for the light rail route. </p>
<p>These land-value increases will flow through taxes into treasury and can be set aside in a dedicated light rail fund for ongoing operations or for raising further finance. This way, with a bit of economic magic, the light rail genie could grant more cities their wishes.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/48669/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Peter Newman does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The Turnbull government seems to have lifted Abbott’s moratorium on rail funding, but giving light rail to every city that wants it will take some clever strategies to woo private investors.Peter Newman, Professor of Sustainability, Curtin UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/392552015-04-19T20:07:35Z2015-04-19T20:07:35ZHow to build light rail in our cities without emptying the public purse<p>In cities all around Australia, light rail is being considered as a solution to a range of urban problems. <a href="http://www.pta.wa.gov.au/max/">Perth</a>, <a href="http://revitalisingnewcastle.com.au/projects/light-rail.aspx">Newcastle</a>, <a href="http://www.transport.nsw.gov.au/lightrail-program/parramatta-light-rail">Parramatta</a>, <a href="http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/commuter-trams-may-return-to-bendigo-streets-20140805-100pfk.html">Bendigo</a>, <a href="http://www.capitalmetro.act.gov.au/">Canberra</a>, <a href="http://www.cairnspost.com.au/news/breaking-news/newman-promises-to-continue-light-rail/story-fnjbnvyh-1227199594365">Cairns</a> and <a href="http://www.urbanalyst.com/in-the-news/tasmania/2172-hobarts-proposed-riverline-light-rail-service-to-be-extended.html">Hobart</a> have all considered trying to do what many <a href="http://www.railway-technology.com/projects/lyon">European</a> and <a href="http://trimet.org/max/">American</a> cities have done – create new development around light rail. </p>
<p>Often, though, the high costs of these projects mean that the debate can soon become a question of whether buses might do the job just as well. But what if private financing could allow the preferred option of light rail to stay on the table? </p>
<p>Advocates of the cheaper bus mass transit option might ask whether there is truly any fundamental difference between steel wheels and rubber ones. My answer is that it’s not just a question of trams versus buses – it’s really an issue of rail-based versus road-based urban development. The former <a href="http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/08111146.2014.968246#.VTCQYBOUe6E">can attract private financing</a>, while the latter does not. </p>
<h2>Driving development</h2>
<p>Most of the world’s urban development over the past 50 years has been <a href="http://books.google.com.au/books/about/Sustainability_and_Cities.html?id=pjatbiavDZYC">road-based</a>. The assumption has been that most people will drive, with the odd bus laid on to pick up those who don’t. </p>
<p>Yet in recent years there has been a <a href="http://www.scirp.org/journal/PaperInformation.aspx?PaperID=38472#.VTCQ4hOUe6E">revival of rail-based urban development</a>, which brings <a href="http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S136192091400114X">reduced traffic</a>, creates more <a href="http://islandpress.org/the-end-of-automobile-dependence">walkable and lively places</a> to live and work, and most of all attracts developers and financiers to enable denser, mixed-use development.</p>
<p>Perth’s beleaguered <a href="http://www.pta.wa.gov.au/max/">MAX light rail project</a> – now <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-03-09/perth-max-light-rail-to-be-delayed-decades-dean-nalder-says/6292086">mothballed in favour of a bus rapid transit service</a> – was designed to deliver precisely these benefits. But when the bus lobby sidles in and whispers “we can do exactly the same for half the price”, they get a sympathetic ear from transport planners who are trained to get people efficiently from A to B, without thinking about whether they are also delivering good urban development. </p>
<p>Rubber-wheeled public transport does not create dense, mixed-use urban centres. Having <a href="http://islandpress.org/the-end-of-automobile-dependence">examined examples around the world</a>, I have found none that can be claimed to have resulted in more focused urbanity apart from already dense third world cities where BRT’s have been successful in attracting patronage as they get people out of traffic. In the United States, the <a href="http://islandpress.org/the-end-of-automobile-dependence">past 20 years of dramatic growth in public transport</a> has seen light rail grow by 190% and heavy rail by 52%, while bus transport has contracted by 3%. </p>
<p>It is no surprise that developers, banks and governments in developed cities have returned to light and heavy rail to help regenerate urban centres, while cities with rubber-wheeled public transport continue to be dominated by cars and urban sprawl. On current trends, Perth itself could conceivably turn into a 240 km sprawl stretching from Myalup to Lancelin, most of it made of nothing but car-dependent housing – more Mad Max than MAX.</p>
<p>Perth’s planners know that they must redevelop and create activity centres, but they do not control the decisions on transport. Transport planners, meanwhile, do not seem to see that their choices have impacts that go beyond simple modes of transport. </p>
<h2>Enter the private sector</h2>
<p>Here is my possible solution, which Infrastructure Australia has <a href="https://www.infrastructure.gov.au/infrastructure/iff/files/IFWG_Report.pdf">previously tried</a> to get state governments to adopt: get the private sector involved in the planning stage, as well as the delivery and operations, of any light rail project. Light rail lends itself to private-sector involvement, but only if the development outcomes being sought are built into the whole project, rather than being an afterthought. </p>
<p>The model for Infrastructure Australia’s approach was the A$1 billion <a href="http://www.goldlinq.com.au/">Gold Coast Light Rail</a>, which runs through areas that had lots of potential for redevelopment. Thus the funding was provided by a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public%E2%80%93private_partnership">public-private partnership</a>, with expressions of interest sought from private bidders to design, finance, build, own, operate and develop land as a basis for funding. </p>
<p>Government base funds and a general set of guidelines were delivered and bids were sought. Five consortia from around the world competed on this basis and included most of the world’s main consulting groups with expertise in light rail. </p>
<p>However, the group of transport experts (mostly main roads engineers) set up by the Queensland Government to deliver the light rail argued that they did not have the expertise to manage the land-development part of the exercise, and successfully appealed to avoid this approach. Instead, funding was delivered through an annual transport levy across the whole Gold Coast local government area.</p>
<p>The private sector consortia were well prepared for the land-development option but of course went ahead without it. <a href="http://www.keolis.com/en">Keolis</a> won the tender and delivered a first-class light rail. As soon as the route was announced, developers from around the world bought up all the best sites and are now delivering them, albeit for their own interests rather than channelling back to the project. </p>
<p>This is the way to do it if you have tax funds to provide the capital and the operational expenses, and if you can find the initial public funding. But most politicians today say they do not have sufficient government funds for a light rail so they need to consider the cheaper bus option. Do we have to take second best? </p>
<p>The rubber-wheel option is never going to deliver the regeneration that many of Australia’s cities need. We need to be brave enough to go for the better option, the rail system, and that means embracing the public-private partnership financing model. </p>
<h2>Bringing the private sector on board</h2>
<p>To go for a full private-sector approach you must integrate redevelopment into every stage of the project. This is how you do it. Call for expressions of interest for private companies to design, build, finance, own and operate the light rail link and, crucially, make sure this includes land-development options (rather than letting in outside developers). This would help to create funds that can be used to finance and to operate the system. </p>
<p>Government needs to contribute a base grant and an operational fund that could be more specifically focused along the areas where the biggest benefits are felt in the corridor itself, where land values will go up most. Private expertise will ensure that the best sites are chosen for the light rail route. These land-value increases will flow through taxes into treasury and can be set aside in a dedicated light rail fund for ongoing operations and/or for raising finance (rather than instituting a city-wide levy as the Gold Coast did). </p>
<p>The approach, called <a href="http://infrastructureaustralia.gov.au/policy-publications/submissions/published/files/486_propertycouncilofaustralia_SUB2.pdf">tax increment financing</a>, allows infrastructure to be built where it can be shown that the taxes would not have been generated without it. A bus instead of a light rail would not generate such land-value increases, and hence the extra tax dollars would not flow. For instance, Perth’s southern rail line <a href="http://espace.library.curtin.edu.au/R?func=dbin-jump-full&local_base=gen01-era02&object_id=213658">raised land values around stations by 42% over 5 years</a> and could have raised 60-80% of the capital cost if tax increment financing had been used. </p>
<p>Across Australia we should accept that there is a real choice over steel or rubber wheeled development. We can choose MAX over Mad Max. But are we brave enough to go one step further than the Gold Coast and involve private financing? </p>
<p>Some might object to our public transport being in private hands, but if we manage it well, this kind of partnership with private expertise can deliver beautiful cities as well as beautiful trains.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/39255/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Peter Newman does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Light rail is good for cities, but it’s also expensive, which is why many Australian cities have opted for buses instead. But there is a way to get top-drawer public transport using private dollars.Peter Newman, Professor of Sustainability, Curtin UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/380442015-03-05T02:15:34Z2015-03-05T02:15:34ZSports stars do take drugs – but not as much as the rest of us<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/73780/original/image-20150304-15294-7d8c7n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">An Australian study found certain elite athletes were more at risk of taking drugs than others.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Lee Morley/Flickr</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/">CC BY-NC-ND</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>There’s a widespread public perception that substance use is rife among Australian athletes. Whenever I tell people I research substance use among athletes, the most common response is: “They’re all on it.”</p>
<p>But that perception is not backed up by the facts. Amid the headlines about <a href="http://www.theaustralian.com.au/sport/rugby-union/karmichael-hunt-faces-cocaine-charges/story-e6frg7o6-1227248893670">cocaine in football</a>, it’s worth looking at what research has revealed about drugs and elite athletes in Australian and overseas.</p>
<h2>What the official drug testers have found</h2>
<p>The Australian Sports Anti-Doping Agency (<a href="https://theconversation.com/au/topics/asada">ASADA</a>) is responsible for drug testing athletes and publicly publishes anti-doping rule violations. </p>
<p>For 2013-2014, ASADA <a href="http://www.asada.gov.au/publications/annual_reports/asada_annual_report_2013_14/chapter_9.html#b">conducted</a> 6,540 tests, 2,215 of them in-competition.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.asada.gov.au/publications/annual_reports/asada_annual_report_2013_14/chapter_9.html#b">ASADA’s figures show</a> that there were a range of offences in a range of sports related to a range of substances. Of the 20 cases that had been concluded, nine came from the stimulants category – though none of those were cocaine.</p>
<p>A few years ago I looked at all the ASADA reports from 2000/01 to 2011/12 to try to work out roughly what athletes were being caught using. </p>
<p>Collating the data suggested that substances falling into the anabolic agents category represented the highest number of anti-doping rule violations, with fluctuations across the years. </p>
<p>This isn’t a precise measure, and there are a number of reasons for this finding. For instance, targeted testing or law enforcement operations may influence who is tested and when. </p>
<p>Cocaine is banned in-competition only, unlike the anabolic agents that are banned both in- and out-of-competition. The drug testers clearly have more chance of catching people using substances that are banned at all times, rather than just on game day. </p>
<p>So if you relied solely on the official drug-testing data, then you might think Australian athletes don’t use cocaine at all. </p>
<p>But let’s not be naïve. </p>
<p>Many of us have heard the stories about the lengths athletes go to beat the system. For instance, we hear about athletes timing their substance use so that it has cleared their body on match day. We know of athletes who have admitted to substance use, yet who never provided a positive sample.</p>
<p>While the official statistics don’t tell us much about cocaine use, overseas research has long indicated that there is more to the story. </p>
<h2>Drugs use among top English footballers</h2>
<p>A decade ago, researchers got the support of the Professional Footballers’ Association to investigate drug use in English professional football (soccer), including what legal vitamin and minerals the players used, who they asked advice for before trying supplements, and what they knew about banned performance-enhancing and recreational drug use in the sport.</p>
<p>Reply-paid questionnaires were sent to all the players’ homes, and nearly 25% of them (706) came back. Recreational drug use proved to be widespread: 45% of the respondents indicated that they knew another player who used recreational drugs, versus just 6% who knew other players who used performance-enhancing drugs.</p>
<p>But until a few years ago, there were no comparable surveys like that here in Australia.</p>
<h2>Cocaine and other drugs in Australian sport</h2>
<p>Our study of recreational drug use among elite athletes was published in the international journal <a href="http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0306460311002930">Addictive Behaviours</a> in 2012. It was the first of its kind in Australia, and was funded by the Australian government’s Department of Health and Ageing.</p>
<p>Our study involved athletes who were eligible for state or national selection from 18 national sporting organisations, including the National Rugby League, Australian Rugby Union, Athletics Australia, Hockey Australia, Netball Australia, Weightlifting Australia and the Australian Institute of Sport.</p>
<p>Between July 2008 to April 2010, we compiled 1,684 confidential, anonymous responses from elite athletes, who answered questions on whether they had used any of six illicit drugs: ecstasy, cannabis, cocaine, meth/amphetamine, ketamine and GHB. </p>
<p>Overall, we found that <a href="http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0306460311002930">8%</a>, or 134 out of 1,684 athletes, said that they had used at least one of those six drugs in the past year.</p>
<p>Our <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21219499">preliminary data</a> from 974 athletes showed that 6.7% had used cocaine at least once in their lifetime, and 3.3% had used at least once in the previous year. </p>
<p>Of the 158 athletes who felt there was a drug of concern in their sport, cocaine ranked third, with 66 athletes believing this was a drug of concern in their sport. The other two major drugs they mentioned were ecstasy and alcohol.</p>
<p>We also compared substance use among the athletes in our survey aged 20-29 years (which is considered the “at-risk” group) with drug use in the same age group among the wider Australian population, using the 2007 <a href="http://www.aihw.gov.au/alcohol-and-other-drugs/ndshs/">National Drug Strategy Household Survey</a> results.</p>
<p>We found that 6.7% of athletes we surveyed had used cocaine at some point in their life, compared to 11.9% of the wider Australian population.</p>
<p>That gap narrowed when you asked about whether people had used drugs in the past year: among our group of 20-29 year olds, 4% said yes, compared to 5.1% of people the same age in the general population.</p>
<p>The obvious limitation to our study was that we had to rely on people telling the truth about their drug use. But those general population figures from the National Drug Strategy Household Survey rely on <a href="http://www.aihw.gov.au/alcohol-and-other-drugs/ndshs/2013/data-and-references/">self-reporting</a> too, so it is reasonable to compare the two.</p>
<h2>Who is mostly likely to use drugs?</h2>
<p>Our study found the strongest predictors of an elite athlete using any illicit drug in the past year were:</p>
<ul>
<li>being male</li>
<li>having been offered or had the opportunity to use illicit drugs</li>
<li>knowing other athletes who use illicit drugs</li>
<li>and identifying as a full-time athlete.</li>
</ul>
<p>Interestingly, having completed secondary or post-school qualifications reduced the likelihood of using illicit drugs.</p>
<p>While those findings might seem a bit obvious, they do provide some food for thought about which of our athletes are most at risk.</p>
<p>If you’re a full-time male athlete, who knows other athletes using drugs and you have the opportunity to use drugs, then you’re at a greater risk. </p>
<p>Many of the sporting codes in Australia where athletes make good money have implemented welfare programs designed to keep their athletes as occupied as possible when they’re not competing. Giving them a purpose other than just competing in their sport makes them a well-rounded person and helps them transition to life after sport. </p>
<p>We also need to remember that not all our athletes are drowning in money. Many elite athletes work two jobs, or have family and study commitments. And most don’t earn the money to be regularly buying drugs like cocaine, which costs between <a href="https://ndarc.med.unsw.edu.au/resource/key-findings-2014-edrs-drug-trends-conference-handout">A$300</a> and <a href="https://ndarc.med.unsw.edu.au/resource/key-findings-2014-idrs-drug-trends-conference-handout">A$350</a> per gram, depending on where you live. </p>
<p>I don’t think the latest allegations about some footballers means we should assume cocaine use is rife in sport. Equally, we shouldn’t kid ourselves that some elite athletes won’t use cocaine sometimes, along with other drugs.</p>
<p>It’s important to keep things in perspective. </p>
<p>Yes, some sporting stars do take drugs; they have told us as much. But contrary to many people’s assumptions, the evidence indicates that our elite athletes are not “on it” as much as other Australians.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/38044/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Matthew Dunn received funding from the Australian Government Department of Health and Ageing to conduct a study into recreational substance use among elite athletes. </span></em></p>Our study found that 8% of the 1,684 elite Australian athletes we surveyed said they had used at least one of six illicit drugs – including ecstasy, cocaine and cocaine – over the previous year.Matthew Dunn, Senior Lecturer in Public Health, Deakin UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/358922015-01-19T19:26:14Z2015-01-19T19:26:14ZThe revealing facts on bikie laws and crime in Queensland<p>Queensland’s Liberal National government has made <a href="http://qld.lnp.org.au/more-police-resources-keep-queenslanders-safe/">law and order</a> – particularly its <a href="http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/queensland/bikies-back-on-queensland-agenda--this-time-in-governments-favour-20150105-12hziz.html">anti-bikie laws</a> – a key part of its re-election pitch. </p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/69349/original/image-20150119-2742-vlh8og.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/69349/original/image-20150119-2742-vlh8og.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/69349/original/image-20150119-2742-vlh8og.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=493&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/69349/original/image-20150119-2742-vlh8og.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=493&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/69349/original/image-20150119-2742-vlh8og.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=493&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/69349/original/image-20150119-2742-vlh8og.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=619&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/69349/original/image-20150119-2742-vlh8og.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=619&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/69349/original/image-20150119-2742-vlh8og.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=619&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The government recently claimed that <a href="http://statements.qld.gov.au/Statement/2015/1/5/criminal-gang-laws-keeping-queenslanders-safer">“Criminal Gang laws (are) keeping Queenslanders safer”</a> and that they have driven a general decrease in crime.</p>
<p>Yet when you compare those claims against Queensland’s crime statistics, something soon becomes clear: the spin and the statistics tell two different stories.</p>
<h2>Sunshine State’s falling crime rate</h2>
<p>An examination of the overall crime rate in Queensland indicates that it has been steadily reducing for the past 12 years. Apart for an aberration in 2011/12, this trend has been consistent.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/68260/original/image-20150106-13816-lm0xyy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/68260/original/image-20150106-13816-lm0xyy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/68260/original/image-20150106-13816-lm0xyy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=261&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/68260/original/image-20150106-13816-lm0xyy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=261&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/68260/original/image-20150106-13816-lm0xyy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=261&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/68260/original/image-20150106-13816-lm0xyy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=328&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/68260/original/image-20150106-13816-lm0xyy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=328&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/68260/original/image-20150106-13816-lm0xyy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=328&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The overall crime rate for Queensland.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Queensland Police Service</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>A reduction in general offences such as robbery, break and enters, and stolen vehicles was also attributed to the introduction of the Vicious Lawless Association Disestablishment (VLAD) laws, aimed at criminal bikie gangs.</p>
<p>However, comparison of the levels of reported property crime in Queensland year-to-year clearly show that property crime was already substantially reducing in 2013 – before the VLAD laws came into effect.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/68258/original/image-20150106-13843-1k49033.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/68258/original/image-20150106-13843-1k49033.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/68258/original/image-20150106-13843-1k49033.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=346&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/68258/original/image-20150106-13843-1k49033.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=346&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/68258/original/image-20150106-13843-1k49033.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=346&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/68258/original/image-20150106-13843-1k49033.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=435&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/68258/original/image-20150106-13843-1k49033.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=435&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/68258/original/image-20150106-13843-1k49033.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=435&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Year-to-year comparison of Queensland property crime sourced from Queensland Police crime data.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Terry Goldsworthy</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p><a href="https://theconversation.com/crime-stats-provide-reality-check-in-queenslands-bikie-crackdown-30908">Previous analysis</a> of government data shows that bikies had little involvement in the type of offences being put forward by the government. As I’ve <a href="https://theconversation.com/a-phony-war-bikies-arent-the-only-problem-on-queenslands-glitter-strip-19231">explained before</a>, Queensland Police data indicates that outlaw motorcycle gang members commit <a href="https://www.police.qld.gov.au/programs/acglfaq.htm">only about 0.6%</a> of overall crime.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/68317/original/image-20150106-18597-1m71ffu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/68317/original/image-20150106-18597-1m71ffu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/68317/original/image-20150106-18597-1m71ffu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=253&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/68317/original/image-20150106-18597-1m71ffu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=253&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/68317/original/image-20150106-18597-1m71ffu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=253&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/68317/original/image-20150106-18597-1m71ffu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=318&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/68317/original/image-20150106-18597-1m71ffu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=318&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/68317/original/image-20150106-18597-1m71ffu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=318&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Table showing comparison of reported offences and outlaw motorcycle gang (OMCG) member arrests for January to May 2013 for the South East Region of Queensland.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Winning the media war</h2>
<p><a href="http://www.couriermail.com.au/news/queensland/queensland-war-on-bikies-turbocharged-after-top-cops-meet/story-fnn8dlfs-1227145345828?login=1">Senior Queensland police</a> have also made similar claims linking the bikie crackdown with falling crime rates in the state.</p>
<p>As part of the bikie war, the police have worked hard to win the media war, wooing and winning over most of the mainstream media, in particular the print sector. This is in alignment with objectives set out by the bikie Strategic Monitoring Team to reduce bad news stories – and their efforts have paid off.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/68322/original/image-20150106-18607-15db5kj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/68322/original/image-20150106-18607-15db5kj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/68322/original/image-20150106-18607-15db5kj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=171&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/68322/original/image-20150106-18607-15db5kj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=171&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/68322/original/image-20150106-18607-15db5kj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=171&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/68322/original/image-20150106-18607-15db5kj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=214&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/68322/original/image-20150106-18607-15db5kj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=214&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/68322/original/image-20150106-18607-15db5kj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=214&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Extract from Strategic Monitoring Team report obtained under Right to Information, Queensland Government.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Terry Goldsworthy</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Critically, the bikie crackdown has been <a href="http://www.couriermail.com.au/news/opinion/editorial-premier-campbell-newman-has-delivered-real-results-for-queensland/story-fnihsr9v-1227155912674">strongly backed by The Courier-Mail</a>, Queensland’s only major state-wide daily newspaper, as this recent editorial shows:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>The Courier-Mail has been unashamedly supportive of the crackdown on outlaw bikie gangs, reflecting genuine fear among Queenslanders who were terrorised by these thugs acting like they ran the state.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Instead of much-needed investigative journalism on law and order, there has been far too much of what could best be described as regurgitative journalism. Too often, the government line on “cutting crime” is repeated without meaningful analysis or independent opinion being sought.</p>
<p>However, some media outlets have remained independent and on occasion have <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2015/jan/01/queensland-bikie-laws-success-claims-are-propaganda-former-outcast-says">taken the propaganda</a> to task.</p>
<p>An analysis of media reports on the bikie war by The Courier-Mail and its weekend News Corp stablemate The Sunday Mail over a two-month period showed that 60% of stories had a police viewpoint, while only 20% had independent input.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/68560/original/image-20150109-23804-1x6yxtk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/68560/original/image-20150109-23804-1x6yxtk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/68560/original/image-20150109-23804-1x6yxtk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=405&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/68560/original/image-20150109-23804-1x6yxtk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=405&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/68560/original/image-20150109-23804-1x6yxtk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=405&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/68560/original/image-20150109-23804-1x6yxtk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=508&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/68560/original/image-20150109-23804-1x6yxtk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=508&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/68560/original/image-20150109-23804-1x6yxtk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=508&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Analysis of Courier Mail and Sunday Mail bikie war reports over a two-month period.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Terry Goldsworthy</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Queensland’s media has been flooded with operational police stories, with seemingly every bikie arrest the subject of a specific media release. In the same period, other offenders arrested for similar offences often didn’t rate a mention. </p>
<p>In a government media statement released the day before the election was called, Queenslanders were told that since the anti-gang laws were introduced, <a href="http://statements.qld.gov.au/Statement/2015/1/5/criminal-gang-laws-keeping-queenslanders-safer">more than 1700 “criminal gang participants”</a> had been arrested.</p>
<p>Yet Right to Information data from the police showed that there were only 900 gang members in Queensland in 2013. No information was provided to the media as to exactly how many of the 1700 “gang participants” were <a href="http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/queensland/queensland-state-election-2015/queensland-election-biker-not-bikie-running-for-lytton-20150107-12js7q.html">actual criminal gang members</a>. Perhaps no-one bothered to ask.</p>
<h2>Politicisation of the police</h2>
<p>In July 2014, Queensland Police Commissioner Ian Stewart went public claiming <a href="http://www.couriermail.com.au/news/queensland/lnp-governments-criminal-reforms-pay-off-says-queenslands-top-cop-ian-stewart/story-fnihsrf2-1226988952164?nk=050c8abc22ca76b394bcbdfc1843722f">a crime reduction of at least 10%</a> before the official crime data was settled. As The Courier-Mail reported at the time:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Crime in Queensland dropped at least 10% in the past financial year, according to Police Commissioner Ian Stewart, who attributed the fall to sweeping reforms and a crackdown on bikies. The state’s top cop says he can’t release official figures yet but declared he expected to exceed his target of a 10% decrease in crime. “I don’t want to crow about it but when I started last year I said I was hopeful we would get a 10% reduction in crime, that is the reported crime … I think we’re going to exceed that and quite honestly that is a real hallmark and milestone figure.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>The same day, Queensland Premier Campbell Newman used the media story to justify his government’s law-and-order efforts when giving evidence to a <a href="http://www.google.com.au/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&ved=0CB8QFjAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.parliament.qld.gov.au%2Fdocuments%2Fhansard%2F2014%2F2014_07_15_EstimatesFAC.pdf&ei=9zT8U9zQMoWTuATFioLABw&usg=AFQjCNH-yxxUEzgGOL-OA8Zq1R4o51NuVw&bvm=bv.73612305,d.c2E">parliamentary estimates committee</a>.</p>
<p>Stewart was rightly criticised for making that claim. Less than a fortnight later, the data showed that the <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-07-26/newman-government-accused-of-cherry-picking-on-crime-rate-stats/5626414">overall crime rate</a> had decreased by only 2.1% and not "at least 10%”, leading to calls for an independent body to <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-01-09/queensland-election-2015-crime-rates-dropped-campbell-newman/6009282?section=qld">interpret and publish an overall view of crime statistics</a>.</p>
<p>Perhaps worst for the government was the fact that in an attempt to claim the much higher decrease they had discarded an entire crime category, “other crime”, as <a href="http://www.4bc.com.au/radio/qld-govt-accused-of-sugarcoating-crime-stats-20140807-3daiq.html">not being crime important to “mum and dads”</a>. This category contained domestic violence crime, which had increased some 15%. </p>
<p>Within days of this being identified in the media, the government suddenly announced an <a href="http://www.couriermail.com.au/news/queensland/former-governorgeneral-quentin-bryce-to-head-task-force-into-domestic-violence/story-fnihsrf2-1227019541404?nk=fe8b48d675a6b2587f7a8cdcf92cdae8">inquiry into domestic violence in Queensland</a>.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.goldcoastbulletin.com.au/news/coast-cop-jim-keogh-says-no-plans-to-run-for-public-office-despite-comments-on-vlad-laws/story-fnj94j0t-1227175375524">Claims by police</a> that they could not have achieved the overall crime results they have without the bikie legislation are unsustainable. </p>
<p>The <a href="http://www.peo.gov.au/learning/fact-sheets/separation-of-powers.html">separation of powers doctrine</a> would dictate that comments with political connotations, such as the ones we have seen from <a href="http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/hands-off-bikie-laws-police-warn-politicians-ahead-of-state-election/story-e6frg6n6-1227174266560?nk=1e3531afe318ce1f4d7ba4bea3090d1b">senior police</a>, should not have been made. It was the government’s failure to observe these principles in its unfounded <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-10-25/expert-lashes-newman27s-swipe-at-judicial-system/5047008">criticism of the judiciary</a> that led to a public backlash and an <a href="http://www.smh.com.au/it-pro/premier-campbell-newman-apologises-for-getting-some-things-wrong-20140721-zvaqd.html">apology</a> from Newman in July 2014.</p>
<p>Tellingly, despite the <a href="http://www.google.com.au/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&ved=0CB8QFjAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.hcourt.gov.au%2Fassets%2Fpublications%2Fjudgment-summaries%2F2014%2Fhca-46-2014-11-14.pdf&ei=v4OrVJeqMIKD8gWTuoLIDg&usg=AFQjCNHZp70QV2NsnaJXLgWSRtfLSi763g">High Court decision</a> in November 2014 clearing the way, not one other Australian jurisdiction has moved to implement similar bikie laws to Queensland, despite having ample time to prepare and do so. </p>
<p>In reality, other jurisdictions appear to see the VLAD laws for the distraction that they are and to realise that the laws remain untested despite <a href="http://www.couriermail.com.au/news/opinion/editorial-high-court-decision-on-bikie-laws-vindicates-newmans-tough-stand/story-fnihsr9v-1227123628285?nk=8143c97abb89f108092aad9340f73651">government claims</a> to the contrary.</p>
<h2>The opposition’s plan – what plan?</h2>
<p>If the Liberal National government’s VLAD laws are unpalatable, the alternative proposed by Labor is hardly more enticing. </p>
<p>Labor has mooted a return to utilising their <a href="http://www.couriermail.com.au/news/queensland/queensland-labor-pledges-to-scrap-extended-sentences-for-bikies-if-elected/story-fnn8dlfs-1227175354983?from=public_rss">Criminal Organisation laws</a> – laws that also have an association aspect. </p>
<p>Introduced in 2009, the “elite” anti-bikie squad, Taskforce Hydra, failed to make a single successful application in the four years following. The only application sought was against the Gold Coast Chapter of the Finks and this action was discontinued in the Supreme Court in 2014.</p>
<p>Labor has been <a href="http://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/2014/03/05/labor-repeal-qlds-anti-bikie-laws">all over the place</a> in its stance on bikies and crime. </p>
<p>The opposition voted with the Liberal National Party to pass the laws in October 2013, even while criticising the government’s rushed approach. Labor has since complained that the laws had “gone too far, affecting innocent Queenslanders whose only crime is to ride a motorcycle”. </p>
<p>Labor is now promising to “repeal, review and replace” the VLAD laws, with little detail on what would replace them.</p>
<p>As a former Gold Coast police detective with 28 years’ experience, I’ve investigated my fair share of bikies in the past – and as I’ve said many times, being a critic of poor policy <a href="http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/state-politics/mixed-reviews-for-campbell-newmans-blitz-on-bikies/story-e6frgczx-1226751524190">does not make me an apologist</a> for criminals in the bikies’ midst. </p>
<p>It’s just a pity that we’ve seen this area of law-and-order policy become so politicised from all sides, at the expense of giving more credit for falling crime rates where it’s due.</p>
<h2>Who deserves more credit for a safer Queensland?</h2>
<p>The current Queensland crime rate is more likely to be the product of a long-term, declining trend, combined with the Newman government employing an <a href="http://www.northweststar.com.au/story/2802311/queensland-state-election-campbell-newman-promotes-vlad-laws/?cs=12">extra 800 police</a>. </p>
<p>Those are certainly more likely to be significant factors than laws that have only been used minimally, on a single group, which commits a <a href="https://theconversation.com/crime-stats-provide-reality-check-in-queenslands-bikie-crackdown-30908">very small amount of crime</a>. </p>
<p>The issues of better resourcing, better crime management and an actual commitment by senior police to deal with criminal groups are the real reasons for recent successes.</p>
<p>The government’s own bikie Strategic Monitoring Team has recognised this. Last year, the former army officer heading the team <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-07-22/queensland-police-winning-battle-against-bikies-on-gold-coast/5614982">told the ABC</a> that significant decreases in Gold Coast crime could “be attributed to more police available to carry out operations on the Gold Coast and the targeted nature of the enforcement activity”.</p>
<p>Politicians of all stripes will always try to take credit for falling crime rates. But the media and voters need to look beyond the official spin and give credit where it’s really due for the long-term decline in Queensland crime: in particular, to the many unheralded police officers doing their jobs.</p>
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<p><em>Read more of The Conversation’s <a href="https://theconversation.com/au/topics/queensland-election-2015">Queensland election 2015</a> coverage.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/35892/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Terry Goldsworthy does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Queensland’s Liberal National government has made law and order – particularly its anti-bikie laws – a key part of its re-election pitch. The government recently claimed that “Criminal Gang laws (are…Terry Goldsworthy, Assistant Professor, Criminology, Bond UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.