Gold Coast Landscape Character Study

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RESEARCH BACKGROUND The 'Gold Coast Landscape Character Study' was an assessment of the City of Gold Coast using a new approach that incorporated landscape heritage alongside the integration of urban and non-urban character. This study has been recognised by the following awards: 2014 Commendation - PIA awards for planning excellence 2015 - Winner - Planning Award of Excellence - Australian Institute of Landscape Architects (AILA), Queensland Landscape Architecture Awards 2016 - Shortlisting, Australian Urban Design Awards 2017 - Commendation - The Deputy Premier's Award for Urban Design RESEARCH CONTRIBUTION Ata, as part of the consultancy project team who produced the study, was responsible for field surveys, data collection, landscape assessments and GIS mappings that contributed to the work. The innovative processes of historical landscapes identification, character assessment and mapping were developed for the project to work across both city-wide and local scales. This adaptability supports the identification of distinctive attributes, derived from the landscape setting, heritage stories or combinations of detailed land uses and community attachments. This work contributes to Ata's research in developing quantitative approaches to analyse different aspects of urban environments. RESEARCH SIGNIFICANCE The work is a significant contribution to the new City Plan for Australia's sixth largest, and largest non-capital city. The excellence of the Character Study is evidenced by its multiple, prestigious awards - the preeminent AILA 'Planning Award of Excellence' recognising outstanding achievements by landscape architects that promote excellence in landscape planning, design and research. Details of this competition win were reported in ArchitectureAU (June 2015).