The wrong models

Surfers Paradise

Surfers Paradise is only 500 metres wide at its centre, surrounded by water. It is its own geographical choke point. This is important to remember when making comparisons. The scales and conditions are vastly different between our narrow spit of land and the quoted models.

The road network is already fragile. Cutting the Esplanade means we are reduced to just one two-way artery on the vital north south axis and two single lane one-way streets. There is nowhere else for north south traffic to flow. Just 60 cars fills Orchid Avenue back to the Boulevard. A couple of hundred cars and the centre is grid locked. We have serious issues before we even look at the other models.

Cutting the Esplanade has made it so Surfers Paradise can't handle influx.

It has turned visitors into a problem.

‍

Ten ways the models don’t fit

Times Square, New York

Strøget, Copenhagen

George Street, Sydney

1. Their landlocked streets are lined with shops

Times Square, Strøget, George Street — these are dense commercial streets. They’re surrounded by office towers, department stores, theatres and shopping. Removing cars makes sense there because people are already on foot and they’re already there to shop.

2. Theirs are commercial zones, ours is a lifestyle zone

These examples are in the middle of cities, not on the edge of a beach. They’re pressure-release valves in environments where there’s no natural space to slow down. Pedestrianising them creates breathing room. But Surfers already has that in spades — it’s called the Pacific Ocean.

3. They lack natural attractions nearby

In New York or Copenhagen, people walk these streets because there’s nowhere else to go. But in Surfers Paradise, the beach is the attraction. People don’t come here to stroll a shopping street — they come here for the sand, the surf, the skyline, and the energy.

4. Their climate doesn’t compare

Two of the three models are cold cities. People look for things to do indoors, or in sheltered public spaces. Surfers is subtropical. Shopping is not the only thing to do. Our outdoor lifestyle is about flow and movement, sports and fun. Shopping and dining comes before or after a dip in the ocean – not during.

5. They are surrounded by alternative routes

Those overseas examples work because they are surrounded by dense transport networks and alternative streets to absorb traffic. Close George Street in Sydney and traffic simply diverts to the next block. Close the Esplanade and you create a choke point — which is exactly what’s happened.

6. Our Esplanade is not a shopping precinct

The Esplanade has maybe a dozen food outlets. No fashion, no department stores, no arcades. Turning it into a pedestrian mall doesn’t feed an economy — it starves many by disrupting the operations of the other 99.6% of Surfers Paradise businesses relying on free movement for customers, trades, supplies and deliveries. Everything is harder.  

But if you do want to shop Cavill Mall is only a few metres away.

7. Our Esplanade is an artery, not a plaza

The Esplanade isn’t Times Square. It isn’t a public square at all. It’s an artery of activity. A circulatory system that brings walkers, riders, rollers and drivers through the leading eastern edge of the city where the the population stacks highest. Snip it and the heavily populated eastern side of Surfers is split in to a north/south divide.  

8. Our Esplanade is already a wildly successful pedestrian area

The Esplanade is already the most popular and healthy pedestrian zone in the city. It attracts thousands of regular visitors and first time tourists every day. It supports an extremely healthy range of physical activity – the kind most cities would give their back teeth for. It has energy, variety and vitality. The thing those other models set out to attain, we already have.

So what exactly are the specific gains for us in using these other place models? Are we expecting a 35% increase in visitation like Strøget? An 84% increase in people spending time in the area, a 74% boost in positive user experiences, and a 35% drop in pedestrian injuries like in Times Square?

Expected gains are not in the reports.

9. Our road is a commercial container  

The road is a buffer that separates the free public space on the sand from the commercial space in Cavill. This cap contains shoppers and diners to Cavill Mall. For the Esplanade restaurants it directs pedestrians through the corridor between shop front and seating – the selling opportunity. Remove it, and you don’t create vibrancy. You create dead space and reduced commercial energy.

10. Our road is a safety barrier

At night the road serves two security purposes.

It provides eyeballs. The thing attackers are very mindful of is being seen and cars with headlights can provide either a regular stream of viewers or at quieter times they can arrive without notice.

In 100 years the Surfers Paradise Surf Life Saving Club have never lost a swimmer during patrols. But they don’t patrol at night. At night the road becomes a visual safety barrier preventing after-party beer-goggle judgment from wandering to the shore, seeking relief on the sand and a refreshing dip in the midnight rip.

‍

Better models

So what other models are there we could look at?

Kalākaua Avenue, Waikiki

Avenida Atlântica, Copacabana

Ocean Drive, Miami

Ocean drive is of particular interest. During the Covid years the council closed traffic down to one way and introduced bike lanes. Five years later they are restoring Ocean Drive to two way traffic.

Few Comparisons

What is clear when looking for suitable comparisons just how unique Surfers Paradise is. Even those beach side models still don’t have quiet what we have. Surfers Paradise is more surrounded by water, more vertical and loaded with our own distinct culture. It deserves its own model pulling the best from the world while making our own statement of place on the world stage.

Closing

The imported models from land locked cities don’t work on our beach front Esplanade. Malling the Esplanade blocks a main artery, chokes the city, and brings little to an area already famed for its vibrancy.    

This closure has been a disaster for most business and residents. And now, thanks to the traffic snarl it’s created, the rest of the Gold Coast knows to avoid Surfers Paradise altogether.
Council thought they were importing world-class ideas.

They promised Times Square and we got New York gridlock.