Darwin Waterfront success story can guide Townsville’s waterfront transformation
After transforming their own waterfront, Darwin has offered some tips for Townsville to revitalise its own waterfront area. See what experts have said.
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Townsville is ready to take the next step in transforming its waterfront area to meet the demands of its growing population to create a must-visit destination which supports economic growth, employment, liveability, and cultural experiences.
Looking around Australia and the world, Townsville can learn from the experiences of other successful waterfront redevelopments, like the Darwin Waterfront, which has quickly transformed the northern city since its masterplan was released in 2022.
Darwin Waterfront Corporation spokeswoman Yasmine Welsh traced the project’s journey back to 2003, when the Northern Territory’s Chief Minister unveiled a bold vision to transform a disused industrial site into a thriving hub for tourism, business, and recreation.
“This vision became the Darwin Waterfront – a $600 million redevelopment that redefined the city’s relationship with its harbour and created a vibrant precinct at the edge of the CBD,” Ms Welsh said.
“At its heart is the Darwin Convention and Exhibition Centre, surrounded by world-class features including the saltwater Recreation Lagoon, the popular Wave Lagoon, a network of parks and promenades, residential apartments, commercial outlets, and two hotels.
“The Darwin Waterfront has become the jewel in the city’s crown — a place where more than one million locals and visitors each year come to dine, shop, play, and stay.
She said the precinct seamlessly blended the Top End’s natural beauty with the energy of urban life, creating a uniquely Territorian destination.
“Our work isn’t done — we continue to pursue our long-term vision to grow the Darwin Waterfront through the next phase of development, guided by our Masterplan,” she said.
“To the people of Townsville, we’re excited to watch your waterfront journey unfold. “Remember that success takes time — and it’s your local community who will ultimately bring the precinct to life. As your tropical neighbours, we’re always happy to offer advice, share our learnings, or work together.”
Professional planners share waterfront redevelopment expertise
Founded in Melbourne in 1962, Urbis is a professional consulting firm that operates throughout Australia and internationally, offering expert advice regarding the development, expansion and optimisation of property, cities and communities.
Urbis national design director James Tuma has highlighted how our cities were once again reconnecting with their waterfronts transforming neglected post-industrial docklands into contemporary cultural, recreational and lifestyles spaces blessed with abundant amenity and open spaces.
“Today, our waterfronts are becoming our cities’ hottest property demanding a 20 per cent uplift in property prices and becoming home to major public facilities and open spaces,” Mr Tuma said.
“Our cities are realising the potential of our waterfront land.”
A passionate urbanist and place maker with more than 25 years of international experience, Urbis director Kate Meyrick shared her expertise in visioning and positioning city scale precincts, working sensitively with stakeholders and the community to co-create powerful new futures for well-loved places.
“If we are prepared to be bold today, Townsville’s future can be extraordinary,” Dr Meyrick said.
“The most important thing for Townsville is to become more differentiated – i.e. to be more like Townsville and less like other places, building on its tropical identity and way of life.
“Precincts that coalesce cultural, recreational and entertainment uses are useful for bringing local people together and contributing to visitor appeal and experience.”
She warned that we needed to be careful to “complement rather than cannibalise existing destinations” by taking an additive approach and growing our great places ecosystem sustainably.
To make Townsville’s waterfront more liveable, she recommended firstly consulting with local residents and businesses to understand their priorities to “enable conscious decision making that builds on the actual needs and aspirations of the community”.
“There are some no regrets interventions like increasing walkability and personal mobility infrastructure to prioritise active transport for local trips – increasing public transit at a mid tier level would also be a powerful driver to increase liveability,” she said.
“Somewhat allied to this is the provision of shade and safe streets and great wayfinding.
“This will have a double dividend of increasing connectivity and encouraging healthy and active lifestyles (two aspects of liveability that are currently under performing in the city).”
Other considerations include cultural expression and creativity, shared social and recreational activities that encourage diverse community cohorts to come together to explore differences and foster cohesion.
“Cultivating a diverse and low alcohol night time economy is essential to liveability and will be a critical success factor in attracting a young, highly skilled workforce to the region and encouraging them to stay,” she said.
Urbis lists 10 ways to unlock Townsville’s waterfront
1. Think strategically – Waterfronts should work hard to support urban growth.
2. Local relevance – International success is reliant on local engagement.
3. Variety of experience – Make places for everyone.
4. Water on water – Deliver true interaction with the water.
5. Make destinations – Concentrate activity in contained nodes.
6. Design for change – Embrace our changing environment.
7. Connect everything – Stitching our waterfronts back into the community.
8. Conflict works – Encourage people to stop, interact, and enjoy key nodes.
9. Ease of access is key – Connectivity, public transport, and carparking are critical success factors.
10. High performance places – Density and activity drive waterfront success.
Future Townsville is a series launched by The Townsville Bulletin showcasing economic, employment and innovation opportunites for North Queensland. The series, running over the next six days, is supported by S. Kidman, Bravus, Port of Townsville, Aurizon, Queensland Resources Council, Sun Metals, Ark Energy and Urbis.
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Originally published as Darwin Waterfront success story can guide Townsville’s waterfront transformation
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