Youth, consumption, and creativity on Australia's Gold Coast

Abstract

This chapter will examine how patterns of consumption and creative practice on the Gold Coast engender social inclusion, citizenship, and participation in a commodified city. Drawing on relevant theory alongside empirical research, this chapter will trace youth’s consumption on the Gold Coast, focusing on cultural spaces where community participation and social inclusion are fostered. By highlighting cultural youth spaces in contradistinction with grand narratives of consumption, this chapter aims to shed light on youth cultures that challenge and disrupt everyday culture. In doing so, it aims to profile youth on the Gold Coast as active participants in the city, reinforcing cultural landscapes of youth. Far from being “flawed consumers” as in (Bauman (1998). Globalization: The Human Consequences. Cambridge: Polity Press) sense of the term, this chapter concludes with an introduction to a group of young, active citizen-consumers who creatively and reflexively negotiate pragmatic responses to “wicked problems” in a site-specific context: Australia’s Gold Coast.