Consuming master-planned estates in Australia : political, social, cultural and economic factors

Abstract

Over the last three decades master-planned estates (MPEs) have grown in popularity in developed and developing countries alike. Building on the body of Australian research on this topic, this thesis is concerned with MPEs developed since the early 1980s in Australia, and with analysing some of the social and cultural factors underpinning their contemporary growth and popularity. The thesis examines the relationship between MPEs in Australia as a consumer product and the aspiration of its residents for social distinction. A number of social, political and cultural trends related to the consumption of social and spatial geography such as exclusivity, tendency for private governance, lifestyle and taste, consumer culture such as brand and subculture, and the motivation behind this consumption have been examined and matched to an empirical study involving residents of MPEs as consumers, in addition to developers and officers of local governments. The study relies on qualitative research method based on case study design consisting of two MPEs in the Sydney metropolitan area. The findings based on the two estates support the argument that MPEs as consumer product that consumed in pursuit of a desire of social distinction. The findings also suggest that the estates are a product through which residents live an imagined sense of community and the house as walls and roof become a symbolic mark for that social distinction. Furthermore, the study finds that the estates could constitute a subcultural capital in addition to the current social capital residents are accumulating. Findings also suggest that MPEs represented in these estates have the potential to become a brand culture in the future due to the high level of interest from the growing number of buyers seeking to procure social and cultural distinction.

Date of Award	2015
Original language	English