Can destination character be designed when you're planning a new city?

SUZHOU » one of over 100 new Chinese cities now being built or planned 

I was recently asked this question by a planner when I spent some time in China.  His interest stemmed from a long line-up of master plans he was responsible for delivering, all for new cities.   He pointed out that it’s challenging enough to create a destination character for an existing city, let alone for a city of several million that hasn’t even been built yet.

This question thrilled me for two reasons: firstly, destination character is often overlooked by clients (and quite often their planners) in rapidly developing countries like China.  And secondly, when destination character is a consideration, it’s usually code for “design for me a new industrial / tourism / technology city that is progressive like other world-class cities.”  Although I understand the desire to be progressive, this only skims the surface of what destination character can deliver.

I believe that for a new city to take off and compete with other cities it has to be more than just modern – it needs to have a distinctive character unlike no other.  This should be encapsulated in the destination brand - designed at the beginning, and not at the end, of the master planning process.   And so my response to the question was that not only is it possible to design destination character for a new, unplanned city, but the fact that a city isn’t yet developed provides an enormous opportunity – to create your new destination brand from scratch, and to incorporate the brand into every design aspect of the master plan. 

Whilst there are many components to a destination brand (see the Gold Coast brand summary below as an example), there are two aspects of destination branding that I think have particular relevance to planners – Destination Personality and Destination Experiences.

Destination Personality

If you want to be noticed at a dinner party, you need to have a distinctive personality.  People will be captivated by your colourful stories, your style, your attitude, and behavioural nuances.  Likewise, a city that wants to attract attention needs to have its own charming personality that sets it apart from other destinations.  Although destination character develops over time, a branding expert can help develop an appropriate personality from the outset which planners can incorporate into design aspects such as landuse mix, choice of recreational uses, signage, transportation modes, methods of activating open spaces etc.   Consider, for example, the differences between two iconic cities with completely different personalities – New York and Paris.

• New York: exciting, provocative, slightly neurotic
• Paris: romantic, stylish, authentic

Both cities share similar functional attributes, but the delivery of these functions reflects their opposing personalities.

Destination Experiences

Although a new city might have a functional theme based on a key economic driver (e.g. technology, industrial park, tourism etc), as planners we need to remember that it’s not what jobs people do in that city that define the destination character, it’s how people live their lives and how they interact with the city, and with each other.  Imagine you’re thinking of relocating to a new city.  Apart from the functional reasons of, say, a job offer, what are the key deciding factors?  More often than not, it’s considerations like:

•  Are there enough things to see and do / places to visit in my spare time?
• Are there many opportunities for making new friends?
• Will I find enough interesting places to spend time with my friends or family?

As planners, we have enormous opportunities to creatively inject the destination brand personality into each of these touch points, so that the collective experiences of the city’s residents and visitors are reflective of a city with a compelling, exciting and distinctive personality.

To illustrate how the brand personality and destination experience can be delivered through specific design features, I’d like to showcase three examples which I’ll share over the next few blog posts.  The first example is outlined below.

Case study #1: GEELONG, Victoria, Australia

Description: Heritage seaside port town, known for being home to car manufacturer Ford Australia and also the Geelong Football Club, nicknamed The Cats.

Destination personality: Optimistic, relaxed, proud, unpretentious

Iconic destination experiences:  Geelong is popular for its historic foreshore.   Tourist and recreational facilities are clustered along the Waterfront Geelong (revitalisation project during the 1990s), and include: The Baywalk Bollards | Yarra Street Pier | Cunningham Pier | Steampacket Quay | the Carousel Pavilion | The Royal Geelong Yacht Club | popular swimming and recreation area at Eastern Beach.

Distinctive design features that reflect the destination personality:  What sets Geelong apart from other heritage seaside towns is not just the concentration of recreational foreshore facilities, but most notably, the famous local installation art known as the Baywalk Bollards.  Created by local artist Jan Mitchell in the mid 1990s, this themed series features over 100 colourfully-painted sculptures depicting famous local characters and events.   The bollards are cleverly sited in the most unexpected of places all along the waterfront, and are a highly visual medium for telling the story of Geelong.  Locals proudly identify with the artwork, and visitors are fascinated by these characters and the stories behind them.  Each piece is sculpted from huge wooden pylons, many recovered from the Yarra Street Pier which was destroyed by fire in the 1980’s and later removed.  

Some of the memorable historic characters featured include former Prime Minister of Australia John Howard, explorer Mathew Flinders overlooking the bay he discovered in 1802, the historic Geelong Footballer near the old Hi-Lite Park site and various sea captains and the rustic fisherman at Fisherman’s Pier.

The popularity of this installation art series is a testament to the distinctive destination character of Geelong – a city that is optimistic, relaxed, proud, and unpretentious.

This is the first of a three-part blog, with two more posts to uploaded over the coming weeks.  Click on any of the “subscribe” links if you’d like to be informed of when the next post is uploaded.

Resort Planning » Why you should start with your target market in mind

The problem » your potential visitor can’t distinguish your resort from the next

Imagine you’re dreaming of where to book your next holiday.  It’s winter, you’re over it, and you just want to escape with your partner somewhere sunny to relax, preferably at a beachside resort.  All your friends have been bragging on facebook about their amaaaaazing holiday in Bali, so you decide you wouldn’t mind experiencing Bali for yourself.  You start searching TripAdvisor for beachside resorts, and BAM! you’re inundated with thousands of listings - and endless photos of impossibly glamorous couples gazing lovingly at each other while sipping cocktails in an infinity pool.  Ok, so you get that there are a lot of infinity pools in Bali, but what’s so special about any particular resort over another?

Now imagine you’ve just been employed to market a brand new resort.  Obviously, you need to showcase something special about your propertyt (other than the infinity pool), but truth be told, what you’ve got to work with is just one of many beautiful resorts in the destination.  Damn – why didn’t those architects design something unique from the outset?

Now imagine you’re an independent resort owner.   Despite having one of the most upmarket properties in the destination, you’re reduced to discounting in order to stay afloat in this competitive market.   This increases your occupancy rates, but your RevPAR (revenue per available room) isn’t where you’d like it to be.

The challenge » incorporate a distinguishing brand feature into your resort design that appeals to the right target market

The solution » It’s too risky to wait until a marketing team is employed to develop your resort brand after the resort is built.  


Back at the concept stage, these are three things you can do to distinguish your resort from the next:resort from the next:

» Know your primary target market

·        Never think that the whole world is your target market.  When you promise something for everyone, you typically end up appealing to no-one.  What’s more, you end up throwing good money after bad trying to market to the whole world on a limited marketing budget.

·        Seek expert advice on what the primary target market is for your destination.  For example, at Tourism Queensland (a state tourism organisation), we have loads of research and insights into which target segments provide the greatest opportunity for each Queensland destination.  By picking a target market that already has your destination in their holiday consideration set, you’ve won half the battle.  Now use those consumer insights to understand exactly what they’re looking for – their underlying needs and wants.

» Design your brand

·        Excuse the obvious, but make sure it appeals to your primary target market.  To use a cruise ship analogy, an Active Explorer (consumer segment) is likely to choose an exploration cruise over a Disney cruise.  So if your target market is Active Explorers, then your brand would need to promise a holiday that’s about pushing boundaries and providing experiences that allow your guests to challenge themselves via physical activity. Their focus is on exploring the extremes of their physical environment and themselves, not about sipping cocktails in your infinity pool.

·        Make your brand different from the competitors in your destination.  Again, it’s valuable to seek expertise on this, because so many resort brands seem too bland to truly stand out from the crowd.

» Use the brand as a cornerstone for your resort design concept, not as an afterthought.

·        The brand should translate into signature experiences guests can expect that they won’t get elsewhere.   People remember meaningful experiences, personal encounters and defining moments of their holiday before they think about your specific hotel features.  So help them create those experiences, encounters and moments through your clever design.

·        Be creative in bringing your brand experiences to life in every design feature possible.  Let the colour, fragrance and design of your landscaping bring your brand story to life.  Let the pavement surface under bare feet enhance the guest experience. 

Here are some examples of resorts I’ve visited where the brand is distinctive, and cleverly integrated into all design aspects of the property.

Pulau Besar, Malacca, Malaysia

This island resort is no longer around, but back in the 90’s my travel agent passed me a brochure that had me intrigued from the front cover to back.  It was a hand-painted treasure map of sorts, promising an adventure on a mysterious island full of Malay folklore.  It spoke of sacred and historical sites waiting to be explored.  I immediately booked a weekend away, headed up to Malaysia, and hopped on a charming fishing boat (of questionable seaworthiness) to take me from the mainland over to this tiny island.  The resort was fairly basic, but true to its brand.  The traditional architecture and locally sourced artefacts spoke of another era.  Come to think of it, so did the food.  But the most memorable of experiences was reading the directional signs each morning and deciding which site to explore first – there was the Shrine of Seven Princesses, the Gua Yunus – a mysterious cave once inhabited by an old silat-practicing man, and a wishing well that could magically turn salt water into fresh water.   Pulau Besar was a great example of harnessing the power of story-telling, and integrating it into the design, marketing and operations of the property to give it an edge over other resorts.

QT Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia

One of the newest properties on the Gold Coast is QT Gold Coast – this is the first in a suite of designer hotel experiences set to open across Australia under the QT brand over the coming year.   The brand promises “something unique and untraditional, from our fun and quirky custom design to incredible food and bar experiences”.   And the design delivers on the brand promise to a tee.   I love the character of this property – the swanky staff are dressed like they’ve just stepped off a Pan Am flight from 1963.  The décor is playfully chic.  Step into the lift and check to see that the life-sized bikini-clad guest smiling from the back wall isn’t actually a mural.  Ditto for the toilet doors (a little creepy).   

I’m a big fan of their signature marketplace Bazaar Restaurant.  It truly is “something unique and untraditional”.  Each market station is hosted by a passionate chef, eager to explain the intricacies of their creations.  Favourite pickings: mini bubblegum fairyfloss, sherbert chocolate and cooked icecream. 

Gwinganna Lifestyle Retreat, Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia

Spas, like plunge pools, tend to be cloned around the world.  But this lifestyle retreat tucked away in the Gold Coast Hinterland has a distinctive “Australian Lifestyle” character integrated into its design, operations, and specifically, its spa.   Unlike many other Australian spas (often heavily South East Asian inspired), Gwinganna’s spa complex features local materials, with an elevated outdoor deck and a lounge overlooking a native spa garden.  The landscaping throughout the resort is minimal – meaning that they’ve retained most of the natural vegetatio

Destination Development + Destination Character » 3 things I love about the new Surfers Paradise Foreshore Redevelopment

How many successful examples spring to mind if you’re asked to think of a destination that has been transformed whilst retaining its own distinctive destination character?  Not just in the way it’s marketed, but also in terms of its architecture, street design and built tourism product?

The transformation of Las Vegas in the 1990’s from a seedy gambling town into an entertainment capital has for a long time fascinated me.  Without losing its iconic Sin City personality, Vegas has dialled up the charm, appealing to a much broader (and sustainable) target market.

And now closer to home in Queensland, I’m equally fascinated at how Australia’s “Famous for Fun” tourist capital, the Gold Coast, is undergoing a similar transformation.  I’m talking specifically about Surfers Paradise (aka the glitter strip) which up until a year ago was the Gold Coast’s equivalent of the Hollywood strip – a tired mix of cheap t-shirt and souvenir shops, deep-fried food, bemused tourists, shady characters and jaded locals.  Of course, there’s much more to the Gold Coast than Surfers Paradise, but once a destination’s jewel in the crown has lost its lustre, the whole crown somehow loses its shine.

Fast-forward 12 months, and Surfers Paradise has gone into overdrive to reshape its destination image as a much more upmarket act whilst staying true to its surf culture and beach holiday heritage.  It’s attracted some serious development, with the opening of the Hilton Surfers Paradise, an upgrade to Cavill Mall, and a complete redevelopment of the foreshore. 

Last weekend, I took my partner away to the Gold Coast for her birthday, and took the opportunity to check out the new developments.  The standout project I believe to be the catalyst for transforming the destination character is the new Surfers Paradise Foreshore Redevelopment.  As a public space, it works so well.  But unlike so many other redeveloped waterfront spaces I’ve visited around the world, this one truly captures the unique local identity – it is quintessentially the Gold Coast, remodelled in the most charming of designs.  Here are the top three things I love about the new foreshore design:

1.      Distinctive local character

Everything –from the surf-inspired street furniture, to the quirky signage – is a nod to the Gold Coast’s apt destination brand “Famous for Fun”.  It’s all co-ordinated, and with a distinctive local character.

2.      Designing to consumer insights

Having grown up by the seaside in a resort town,  I’ve observed one thing to be true – nearly everyone loves the beach, but generally from the comfort of the shore.  A trip to the beach is less likely to entail a dip in the water or a sunbaking session, and for the majority is more likely to involve a waterfront BBQ or a picnic, a walk, a throw of a ball, or watching your toddler tirelessly chase seagulls.

And so from a design perspective, the Surfers Paradise Foreshore Redevelopment has catered precisely to this consumer insight by extending the beach experience well beyond the high tide mark.

3.      Designing for Activity

Active spaces always attract activity.   We are hardwired to be attracted to places where we can see other people having fun, and quite often bypass (or actively avoid) spaces that appear to be devoid of activity.

The foreshore redevelopment design has taken this principle and enhanced it – with things to see, do, read, or play with every few steps.    Even though you think of it as one big public space, it’s really a series of cleverly-designed interlinking smaller spaces, each designed with a specific activity-generating feature every few metres. 

Design take-out:

I think the Surfers Paradise Foreshore Redevelopment is one of the best contemporary examples of public waterfront spaces, because:

·        its design truly lives up to the destination brand (Gold Coast – Famous for Fun)

·        it showcases a distinctly Gold Coast flavour (as opposed to a generic contemporary beach-themed design)

·        it has been purposefully designed to cater to some quite specific consumer insights into the way visitors undertake their beach experience, and

·        its activity-generating spaces give people a myriad of reasons for wanting to spend time using this public space.

Further reading »

Designer:             PLACE Design Group | www.placedesigngroup.com

Client:                   Gold Coast City Council | www.goldcoast.qld.gov.au

Masterplan:        www.surfersforeshore.com.au/surfers-foreshore-masterplan