Utopian resort living: Islands of reclamation and environmental resistance in Bali and Western Australia

This article provides a comparative analysis of localised contests over the reclamation of new islands for resort-style development projects in waters near tourist destinations in Bali and Western Australia. The research focuses on the Tirta Wahana Bali Internasional Resort proposed for a seabed sit...

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Main Authors: Kerr, Thor, Wardana, A.
Format: Journal Article
Published: 2019
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/77004
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author Kerr, Thor
Wardana, A.
author_facet Kerr, Thor
Wardana, A.
author_sort Kerr, Thor
building Curtin Institutional Repository
collection Online Access
description This article provides a comparative analysis of localised contests over the reclamation of new islands for resort-style development projects in waters near tourist destinations in Bali and Western Australia. The research focuses on the Tirta Wahana Bali Internasional Resort proposed for a seabed site in Benoa Bay, Bali, and the North Port Quay development proposed for a seabed site off the coast of Fremantle, Western Australia. The investigation finds that proximity plays a common critical role in the shaping of discourses, environmental alliances and planning determinations around the resort-island reclamation projects. Representations of the proposed new islands stimulated local community resistance movements because the projects reflected the utopian desires of their developers to create resort lifestyle communities that were geographically near yet socially far from people already enjoying the coastal waters targeted for reclamation. By comparing discourses around the two projects, we identify how the artful reimagining of environmental and cultural heritage within each of the resistance movements has influenced local politics and created opportunities for bringing Indigenous perspectives into public view to unsettle nationalist and colonial nativist views of lands and waters in tourist areas.
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spelling curtin-20.500.11937-770042021-05-28T01:01:57Z Utopian resort living: Islands of reclamation and environmental resistance in Bali and Western Australia Kerr, Thor Wardana, A. This article provides a comparative analysis of localised contests over the reclamation of new islands for resort-style development projects in waters near tourist destinations in Bali and Western Australia. The research focuses on the Tirta Wahana Bali Internasional Resort proposed for a seabed site in Benoa Bay, Bali, and the North Port Quay development proposed for a seabed site off the coast of Fremantle, Western Australia. The investigation finds that proximity plays a common critical role in the shaping of discourses, environmental alliances and planning determinations around the resort-island reclamation projects. Representations of the proposed new islands stimulated local community resistance movements because the projects reflected the utopian desires of their developers to create resort lifestyle communities that were geographically near yet socially far from people already enjoying the coastal waters targeted for reclamation. By comparing discourses around the two projects, we identify how the artful reimagining of environmental and cultural heritage within each of the resistance movements has influenced local politics and created opportunities for bringing Indigenous perspectives into public view to unsettle nationalist and colonial nativist views of lands and waters in tourist areas. 2019 Journal Article http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/77004 10.1080/14766825.2019.1694534 fulltext
spellingShingle Kerr, Thor
Wardana, A.
Utopian resort living: Islands of reclamation and environmental resistance in Bali and Western Australia
title Utopian resort living: Islands of reclamation and environmental resistance in Bali and Western Australia
title_full Utopian resort living: Islands of reclamation and environmental resistance in Bali and Western Australia
title_fullStr Utopian resort living: Islands of reclamation and environmental resistance in Bali and Western Australia
title_full_unstemmed Utopian resort living: Islands of reclamation and environmental resistance in Bali and Western Australia
title_short Utopian resort living: Islands of reclamation and environmental resistance in Bali and Western Australia
title_sort utopian resort living: islands of reclamation and environmental resistance in bali and western australia
url http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/77004