The bright pink stitching on this city map is a signal that the sky is the limit for developers.
In Australia's sixth biggest city, the Gold Coast, the blocks marked in pink have an HX designation, which means there is no height limit for buildings.
It's one of the reasons why the Gold Coast is home to Australia's tallest building — Q1, which sits among an array of skyscrapers — despite having a population eight times smaller than Sydney or Melbourne.
An unusual city
The Gold Coast is an example of a "postmodern" city without a clearly defined centre, says associate professor Thomas Sigler, an economic and urban geographer from the University of Queensland.
The area has developed with different hubs focused on things like health, education, administration, or tourism.
"So packing as many tourists in seemed to be the strategy," Dr Sigler says of the tourist strip.
"That's pretty common in other tourism-oriented places like Florida or coastal Spain, where you really want to get as many tourists into as small an area as possible."
What is uncommon for an Australian city is the Gold Coast's lack of a height limit. Dr Sigler says the country doesn't have a tradition of building skyscrapers.
Dr Sigler says the first high-rises on our skylines were constructed mostly for commercial purposes, but now they're built for other reasons.
"The justification has changed over time. [Now] we mainly build them for prestige reasons and the motives of individual developers," he says.
Amid Australia's housing crisis, residential towers are increasingly emerging from what used to be sand dunes along the coastal strip.
Billionaire's fondness
Meriton's managing director Harry Triguboff has built so many towers he's earned the nickname "High-rise Harry".
Mr Triguboff recently received approval for the construction of his 21st high-rise project in the city, named Cypress.
"Life on the Gold Coast is easier for me," Mr Triguboff says.
Plans show the three-tower project will be home to roughly 1,000 apartments as the city grapples with a housing shortage where supply is often highlighted as an issue.
Mr Triguboff's company recently completed a 76-storey high-rise called Ocean across the road from the Cypress site. He is also about to build a 78-storey and 53-storey twin tower project nearby called Iconica.
"To build in Sydney is difficult. On the Gold Coast, the planners and councils recognise the situation that there are very few properties for people to buy and rent," Mr Triguboff says.
"They are willing to change the outdated rules. So the result is we get approvals much more quickly, and people are able to have more accommodations that suit their demands in a shorter time."
Mr Triguboff says he likes the Gold Coast because the market is "buoyant", more young people are moving to the city, and it's home to some of the "world's most desirable beachfront locations".
"But most importantly, the planners and councils here are very different from those in Sydney," he says.
A 'carrot' for builders
This is music to the ears of Mark Hammel, the Gold Coast City Council's planning chair.
"If one of the most prolific builders in the country is saying that we've got the right formula on the Gold Coast, and that is why he's investing his money, I want to see more of that," Cr Hammel says.
He says the HX designation acts as an incentive for large developments.
"It is there as a carrot to encourage developers to join blocks together," he says.
Cr Hammel says there are also plenty of practical limitations on building height. Mr Triguboff amalgamated nine city blocks for his latest proposal.
"Purely through natural things such as ground conditions and through to the size of blocks, [that] will determine what a height is that you can build to," he says.
Cr Hammel says places like Surfers Paradise and Broadbeach will play a part in easing the housing shortages.
But he says suburbs across the city will need to accommodate more homes, highlighting the state government's plans stating that the city will need to deliver roughly an additional 150,000 dwellings in the next 20 years.
"To make sure that our residents and our future residents have got a roof over their heads, we need developers to be building here," he says.
'Density doesn't equal affordability'
Stephanie Wyeth, the University of Queensland's planner in residence, says housing supply is important but increased housing density does not create affordable housing.
She argues that authorities need to ensure that affordable housing is designed into developments.
"Density doesn't equal affordability," she says.
Ms Wyeth says all levels of government in Queensland are beginning to focus on affordable housing.
"This year is the first time we've actually had the three levels of government invested in the social affordable housing conversation," she says.
"I think we've hit a point where a number of people of influence have children who can't afford to rent, who can't afford to buy their own home — I think that's hitting home for people."
As the Gold Coast grapples with rising house prices and a razor-thin vacancy rate, the city also has a lower per capita rate of social housing compared to other South East Queensland council areas.
"We can't let that deficit get any bigger," Cr Hammel says.
"We're already behind and we've got strong population growth predicted for the next 20 years."
So, do unlimited heights help?
Well, it depends, according to Dr Sigler.
"If there's one place in the state that had to absorb [dwellings], Surfers Paradise would be the appropriate place," he says.
Dr Sigler says building towers is a way to meet dwelling targets without tearing down existing houses in suburban areas.
But he believes a better idea is creating higher-density living through the construction of more townhouses.
"Residents don't like it because they create traffic on their street and councillors don't like it because townhouses are built in batches of two or four not batches of 500 [like high-rises]," he says.
At the end of the day, Dr Sigler says buyers for new Gold Coast high-rise apartments are often from interstate.
He says local residents want "the Australian dream" of a standalone detached home and focusing on high-rises "is certainly not meeting all demographic needs".
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