The sustainability of an upcoming reclamation project at Southport Parklands on the Gold Coast, Australia, was assessed. Southport Parklands has been under development for a long time, which led to irreversible damages to the coastal environment. Therefore, it is important to have a proactive design strategy for a sustainable development. In the present study, a numerical model has been established to simulate hydrodynamic processes. A better understanding of the physical processes advocated developers to adopt a proactive strategy for all new foreshore protection designing.
Land reclamation has always been widely used for the development of coastal areas. Its impacts on the environment need to be considered. The purpose of this study was to assess the sustainability of the land reclamation to reshape coastal zones for human convenience. The new development to extend the foreshore at Southport Parklands, Gold Coast, within the Broadwater is shown in Figure 1. The Broadwater is a semi-enclosed estuarine which plays a significant role in the Gold Coast community life (Mirfenderesk, 2007). It has been continuously modified during the last 60 years to respond to the community aspirations. The earlier modifications have not always been conducted by a sustainable approach, and led the Southern part of the Broadwater to a dangerous situation (Burton, 2003; Mirfenderesk, 2007). The Broadwater's sub-area, Southport Parklands, which runs from the Loders Creek to the Sundale Bridge in Southport, is particularly relevant. It is the outcome of 60 years of land reclamation fully dedicated to recreational activities. A proactive strategy is needed to shape the reclamation in order to minimize eventual impacts on local hydrodynamic and sediment transport processes. A depth averaged two-dimensional hydrodynamic model GEMS has been developed by the Griffith Centre for Coastal Management on the software MIKE 21.
