Greening Port Misery: Marketing the Green Face of Waterfront Redevelopment in Port Adelaide, South Australia

Abstract

Port Adelaide is on the cusp of an urban renaissance. Once a thriving industrial centre, economic restructuring has left the Port in a vulnerable position. Suffering from the ills of economic and environmental decline, collaborative efforts between the South Australian State Government and private sector property developers have aimed to transform the Port to a cosmopolitan and progressive landscape. While much urban regeneration literature has focused on the social and economic issues associated with such large-scale redevelopments, the environmental improvements purported by these developments are largely unexplored. A significant aspect of Port Adelaide's transformation is the deliberate mobilisation of an environmental discourse in marketing materials. These materials are key texts serving to both promote and legitimise the redevelopment. Data presented in this article problematises the purported environmental benefits associated with the marketing of Port Adelaide's redevelopment, revealing it as a rhetorical form of ‘greenwashing’.