The Oceanway project aims to establish a shared use ‘smart transport’ route along the Gold Coast ocean frontage from the Spit to Coolangatta. The Oceanway is an iteration of a Council foreshore public access plan dating from the 1980s. It has also become a project of cycling advocacy groups on the Gold Coast and within the Gold Coast City Council bureaucracy. The Oceanway proponents cite the benefits of the project as sustainable coastal tourism with improved active transport outcomes in line with active healthy living objectives. The case study suggests the proposition that the shared path policy in the foreshore park sections of the Oceanway creates a loss of amenity in the highly valued social, recreational and restorational spaces of the beachfront transitional corridor. Cycling is a probable cause of deterrence to the use of the foreshore parks by a constituency of disadvantage who may only have walking as a viable option to enjoy a degree of physical exercise and mental restoration. Cyclists can achieve their desired transport route and exercise needs elsewhere in the city and should be prioritised with the provision of an alternative purpose-built, shared route in the gateway transitional corridor.

1. Nigel Cartlidge
Faculty of Society and Design
Bond University
Planning Institute of Australia, Queensland State Conference
Plan, People, Place
The Oceanway, Promenade or a Smart Transport Route?
Copyright Nigel Cartlidge 2014

2. Case Study Research
Three Gold Coast Beach Precincts:
Broadbeach
Burleigh Heads
Mermaid Beach
An examination of the complex relationships between people and place.
Oceanway or Promenade ?
Plan, People, Place

3. Oceanway or Promenade ?
Crochetme.com 2013
Textual Analyses
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Delphi Group
Urban Design Analyses
Questionnaire
Case Study Research Methods

4. Oceanway or Promenade ?
Cartlidge 2014
Typology of Form, Use and Transition

5. Oceanway or Promenade ?
Brisbane City Council 2011
Transitional Corridor Planning for Cars
Plan, People, Place

6. Oceanway or Promenade ?
Identifying the Groups

7. Oceanway or Promenade ?
Plan, People, Place
Constituency of Advantage:
• adult males
• local residents
• cyclists
• beachfront residents, and
• surf lifesaving clubs and their members
This constituency of advantage is likely to be overrepresented in the
urban design, planning, management and governance of beach
precincts (Mees and Groenhart 2012)

8. Oceanway or Promenade ?
Plan, People, Place
Constituency of Disadvantage:
• children and carers
• seniors
• women and in particular older women
• socially, economically, perceptually and mobility-
impaired people, and
• in the context of the Gold Coast, all those people
who live in inland and hinterland suburbs.

9. Oceanway or Promenade ?
Plan, People, Place
Designed for cars
v=d/t
Inland Residents
Too far to walk
Too dangerous to cycle
Too long on a bus
And, only three
foreshore park
Beach precincts
on 36km of beachfront

10. Oceanway or Promenade ?
Beach Precincts as Restorative Places
Requirements of a Restorative Place
Kaplan (1995)

11. Oceanway or Promenade ?
Beach Precincts as Restorative Places
Being Away
designrulz.com 2013

12. Oceanway or Promenade ?
Beach Precincts as Restorative Places
Fascination
Capetown.travel.com 2014

13. Oceanway or Promenade ?
Beach Precincts as Restorative Places
Extent
wordpress.com 2013

14. Oceanway or Promenade ?
Beach Precincts as Restorative Places
Compatibility
wordpress.com 2013

15. Oceanway or Promenade ?
Observed Age and Gender Distribution
Men and Young People Dominate the Beach Precinct

16. Oceanway or Promenade ?
Moving in the Beach Precinct
People come to the beach to walk

17. Oceanway or Promenade ?
Social Groupings
People come to the beach to socialise

18. Oceanway or Promenade ?
Top Reasons for Coming to the Beach
Foreshore Parks are for Passive Recreation
Beaches are for Active Recreation

19. Oceanway or Promenade ?
Plan, People, Place

20. Oceanway or Promenade ?
Plan, People, Place

21. Oceanway or Promenade ?
Plan, People, Place

22. Oceanway or Promenade ?
Plan, People, Place

23. Gambol, Hike, Swan, Trek, Trudge, Catwalk, Hoofed
Some Qualifiers and Synonyms for Walking (Nicholson 2008)
,
Tabbing, Limping, Hobbling, Sleepwalking, Wading
Cruising, Trolling, Mincing, Strutting, Striding, Stomping
Stagger, Roll, Barrel, Careen, Drift, Flâneur, Moonw
Lope, Pace, Peregrinate, Perambulate, Promenade, Swagger
Oceanway or Promenade ?

24. Oceanway or Promenade ?
Plan, People, Place
Active Transport
For Whom?

25. Oceanway or Promenade ?
Plan, People, Place
Cycling Anyone?

26. Oceanway or Promenade ?
Mermaid Waters Resident
Southport Resident
Bilinga Waters Resident
Palm Beach Resident
Who is talking about Cycling?

27. Oceanway or Promenade ?
Robina Resident Burleigh ResidentCarrara Resident
Who is talking about Driving and Parking?

28. Oceanway or Promenade ?
Plan, People, Place
Bike Rider of Forest Lake:
“I can ding my bell and they stare at me like
a dipshit thinking WTF is that thing. It is their
own fault if they get hit, serves them right
for being greedy path hogs :)”
O’Loan, Brisbane Times, 2010

29. Oceanway or Promenade ?
Plan, People, Place
mythreebikes.com 2013

30. Oceanway or Promenade ?
Kidspot.com 2013
Plan, People, Place

31. Oceanway or Promenade ?
Lostateminor.com 2014
Plan, People, Place

32. Oceanway or Promenade ?
Plan, People, Place
angloinfo.com 2013

33. Oceanway or Promenade ?
Plan, People, Place
Epivax.com 2014

34. Oceanway or Promenade ?
Plan, People, Place
art-in-duesseldorf.de 2012
Rhine Promenade Dusseldorf

35. Place is security, space
is freedom: we are
attached to the one
and long for the other.
Yi-Fu Tuan 1977
Oceanway or Promenade ?
Plan, People, Place