Migrants encounters of a lifestyle destination: From coastal idyll to activated city

Abstract

Lifestyle destinations draw migrants in with a promise of certain place encounters. However, these place encounters are likely to change over time, particularly with increased amenity migration and associated development. In this article, I consider the lifestyle destination settlement of Maroochydore and surrounding suburbs in the Sunshine Coast in Queensland, Australia. Plans to build a central business district (CBD) have been approved, with the local council aiming to build infrastructure for growing populations. However, these plans may jeopardise the imaginary of Maroochydore as a quiet sea change idyll that draws lifestyle migrants and tourists to the area. In order to understand the potential impact of a CBD to migrants' place encounters, I interviewed 34 migrants of different ages and life stages to Maroochydore and surrounds (the Maroochy area) as part of a larger study. I used narrative, visual, and virtual visitation methods to explore their prior place‐based experiences and current encounters with the area. Housing form and density were the most discussed material components related to the CBD, likely because of fears that high‐rise buildings affect an imagined coastal lifestyle. Employment and transport were the most discussed day‐to‐day practices potentially affected by the CBD. Participants thought the CBD positively affected public transport services but had little effect on future employment opportunities. The challenges discussed in this article have implications for how lifestyle communities manage and maintain positive place encounters, balancing the realities of growing development with idyllic expectations.

Lifestyle migration in place: Notes from the field

“…It draws on the question of how place is felt physically, how life is lived through it materially and the distinctions between places that emerge as a result. For instance, Surfers Paradise in Queensland is materially distinct from, and often used as a comparison to other coastal places such as Noosa or other smaller sleepier coastal idylls (Buckle, 2018(Buckle, , 2021. Buckle (2021) then proceeds to examine how people attach meaning to these places and, further, how the style of life is practised thereafter (Benson, 2011).…”

“…For instance, Surfers Paradise in Queensland is materially distinct from, and often used as a comparison to other coastal places such as Noosa or other smaller sleepier coastal idylls (Buckle, 2018(Buckle, , 2021. Buckle (2021) then proceeds to examine how people attach meaning to these places and, further, how the style of life is practised thereafter (Benson, 2011). Lifestyle migrants drawn by materiality then experience that materiality of place which at times causes them some discomfort, especially if that place does not hold opportunities for employment (Buckle, 2021: 265).…”

“…However, the lack of amenities can produce difficulties for migrants (Buckle, 2021). This is clear especially in places where easy access to employment is not as forthcoming.…”

“…Usually an event occurs, such as divorce, redundancy or perhaps a pandemic, which provides mental space and time to undertake a migration to places of high cultural or natural value (Benson and O’Reilly, 2009). These idylls are presented in their minds already through broader cultural narratives around non-urban places, and within potential life biographies (Buckle, 2021; O’Reilly, 2014).…”

“…Middle-class movement for lifestyle reasons in transnational and internal migrations is mostly examined in Europe, but extends to North America, South America (Benson and O’Reilly, 2018; Croucher, 2015; Hayes, 2018; Rainer, 2019), Asia (Ono, 2015; Stones et al, 2019), Australia and New Zealand (Buckle, 2017, 2021; Higgins, 2018; Osbaldiston, 2012). Empirically, the research cuts across lines of class, ethnicity, gender and other sociological variables.…”