Urban heritage walks in a rapidly changing city: tensions between preservation and development on the Gold Coast, Australia

Abstract

This article examines the emergence of urban heritage walks on the Gold Coast, Australia. As a popular beachside mass tourism destination, the Gold Coast has a longstanding reputation for rapid development and for lacking historical and cultural depth. In this context, heritage walks present an opportunity to reorient the city's identity and to stage a sense of heritage in the urban environment.Focusing on a case study of the Gold Coast's Southport Heritage Walk (SHW), this article aims to analyse the discursive, material and political dimensions of urban heritage walks, and how practices of heritage unfold in places marked by rapidly changing urban landscapes and resident populations. Drawing on observational fieldwork, as well as interviews with key individuals involved in designing the walks, the article discusses the dominant narratives of history and urban identity enshrined in the SHW, and how these discourses are encountered and interpreted within the context of the contemporary materialities of lived space. Although the SHW aims to highlight the city as a place with a rich history and heritage, the walk's missing interpretive markers and scarce remnants of built heritage instead emphasise the city's ongoing tensions between development and preservation.

A location-aware app to support the heritage trail experience in Singapore

“…We also draw upon learnings from Miles' (2017) organic development and Fagence's (2017) purposive development of trail to understand how it enhances experience of heritage and subsequently the trail itself. Additionally, as Cantillon (2019) argues in the Gold Coast (Australia) context, trails are a useful way for tourists to navigate and appreciate rapidly changing urban landscapes, an aspect of close interest in the current Singaporean context.…”

Highlighting the Potential of Kampung Kuchai, Ipoh, Perak Through a Heritage Trail

“…A uniquely designed heritage trail should help visitors experience a place through well-told stories. Types and categories of heritage trails vary depending on "length, location, and scope, from short, city-center walks, to extended hikes, scenic drives, and international trade routes" (Cantillon, 2020). Therefore, every heritage trail will be different, depending on the story, place, and it could create empathy between people from different times, cultures, and places.…”