Sunday reading 31 May 2015
Stephen Woodcock, “The maths of congestion – springs, strings and traffic jams“, Phys.org (via my dad): How can one report filed with the NSW Major Project register predict 20,000 fewer cars per day on a section of Parramatta Road, while other reports within the Roads and Maritime Services state that no significant reductions are likely to be seen?…
22 Comments Nederland (Re) Cycle and (E) Cycle
This is a guest post by Andre de Graaf, Architectural Director of Isthmus, who is travelling the Netherlands. The post originally appeared on the Isthmus Blog.
We all know the Dutch do the bike priority thing really well, but they are not resting on their laurels as they continue to reprocess existing infrastructure for more equitable multi-mode travel.…
City centre employment and the CRL: good news or bad?
If you’ve been keeping up with the news or if you’ve been following our Development Tracker, you’ll know that there’s a lot of new office development activity starting to happen in Auckland’s city centre. And a significant amount of it right on the CRL route:
Under construction: 151 Victoria Street West, with 17,600 square metres (sqm) due for completion later this year.…
Photo(copy) of the Day: The Rational Plan
I guess this is just one of those ones we should have on high rotate. The advice from the North American consultants in 1965 for Auckland at the height of the sprawl era was this: ‘a co-ordinated bus and rail Rapid Transit plan‘ to go along with the gradual construction of motorways.…
Helping Our Heritage Come Alive – Karangahape Rd
This is an image from Mark Bishop. Here are the previous posts: Queen and Wellesley, Newton Rd, Kingsland, Mt Eden Rd, Dominion Rd
These images were developed by merging together various historic black and white photographs (all from the “Sir George Grey Special Collection” – Auckland Library) with contemporary colour photographs taken at the same location.…
Are vacant homes adding to Auckland’s housing shortage?
As Auckland housing hysteria gets more, well, hysterical, there seem to be a few people worried that investors are leaving homes vacant rather than bothering to rent them out – preferring to rely on capital gains as a source of income instead.…
Trade over distance and the Auckland export paradox
What, exactly, does Auckland do to pay its way?
Last year, I took a look at the geography of the New Zealand economy, finding that New Zealand’s three main cities accounted for at least 56% of GDP. Auckland alone accounted for at least 34% of economic activity – considerably more than the entirety of rural New Zealand: (By the way, these figures are likely to under-estimate the size and productivity of the Auckland economy.…
Submit on the Rules Reduction Taskforce
The Government has set up a “Rules Reduction Taskforce” to look at options for revamping housing and property rules. They’re currently asking for online submissions to help inform their work. Submissions close on Monday 1 June, which is next week, so if you want to have a say, head to their website and put in a submission.…
The high cost of low rise
Last week the Government announced an interesting scheme to advance housing supply by redeveloping up to 500 hectares of State land. It’s still not clear how the land will be released, what the land tenure arrangement will be, or how affordable units could be delivered. …
‘Thanks, but no I really don’t need a lift’
The Public Transport offer in Auckland has a long way to go, but on some routes, especially in the inner city, it can be not only the quicker but also more pleasant option than driving, particularly once the hassle and costs of parking are considered.…
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