TY - JOUR
T1 - Preferences for the future of the Southport Spit
T2 - evidence from a choice experiment
AU - Graham, Victoria
AU - Fleming, Christopher M.
AU - Agimass, Fitalew
AU - Smart, James C.R.
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2020 Environment Institute of Australia and New Zealand Inc.
PY - 2020/11/20
Y1 - 2020/11/20
N2 - The Southport Spit, an undeveloped open space at the northern end of the Gold Coast beaches, has been subject to contentious development proposals. This study employs a choice experiment to elicit residents' preferences for the future of the Spit in terms of development focus, maximum permitted height of development and extent of developed space. From an online choice experiment survey, we estimate a latent class model that reveals two strongly opposing viewpoints and a third, more nuanced, viewpoint. A pro-conservation segment opposes development of either a cruise ship terminal or casino, prefers low-rise development and opposes any increase in the extent of developed space. In contrast, a pro-development segment favours building a cruise ship terminal, a casino, or both a cruise ship terminal and a casino, prefers medium-rise development and has no clear preferences for how much of the available footprint should be developed. This study contributes to the small body of literature employing choice experiments to elicit the land-use preferences of urban communities; findings may help to explain why, to date, so little progress has been made towards reaching consensus on the future of the Spit.
AB - The Southport Spit, an undeveloped open space at the northern end of the Gold Coast beaches, has been subject to contentious development proposals. This study employs a choice experiment to elicit residents' preferences for the future of the Spit in terms of development focus, maximum permitted height of development and extent of developed space. From an online choice experiment survey, we estimate a latent class model that reveals two strongly opposing viewpoints and a third, more nuanced, viewpoint. A pro-conservation segment opposes development of either a cruise ship terminal or casino, prefers low-rise development and opposes any increase in the extent of developed space. In contrast, a pro-development segment favours building a cruise ship terminal, a casino, or both a cruise ship terminal and a casino, prefers medium-rise development and has no clear preferences for how much of the available footprint should be developed. This study contributes to the small body of literature employing choice experiments to elicit the land-use preferences of urban communities; findings may help to explain why, to date, so little progress has been made towards reaching consensus on the future of the Spit.
KW - choice experiment
KW - environmental management
KW - land-use planning
KW - Southport Spit
KW - urban policy
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85096366389&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1080/14486563.2020.1843193
DO - 10.1080/14486563.2020.1843193
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85096366389
SN - 1448-6563
VL - 27
SP - 396
EP - 414
JO - Australasian Journal of Environmental Management
JF - Australasian Journal of Environmental Management
IS - 4
ER -
