Five years ago Gehl Architects enlisted a team of volunteers to document public life across the city centre. The work culminated in a summary report (1, 2) and a great Auckland Conversation event.
Since that time there have been remarkable changes across the city. Here are a few things that stand out:
- Shared spaces across the city
- A resurgence of retail and hospitality offerings
- Introduction of global flagships stores on Queen Street
- Two urban supermarkets (how did we survive without these?)
- Britomart Quarter (see photo above)
- Wynyard Quarter
- HOP ticketing
- Massive non-car travel increases into the city
- EMU’s and rail electrification
In addition to all these changes it seems like the city has finally achieved a critical mass of scale and concentration making it actually feel like a proper city. The streets are packed every day of the week and on weekends, events are happening all the time, and people seem to be genuinely proud of the place. This trend is unstoppable.
Importantly, while the global winds are pushing in this direction, this is not something that “just happened” (Asheville Just ‘Happened’ to Develop a Nice Downtown—or Did It?) . There has been a concerted effort, investment and leadership push that has delivered most of what we now take for granted.
This is how James Fallows describes the disconnect between what people see on the ground and how it got that way (Nice Downtowns: How Did They Get That Way):
It’s tempting, if you haven’t seen the varied stages of this process, to imagine that some cities just “naturally” have attractive and successful downtowns, and others just don’t happen to. It’s like happening to be located on a river, or not.
But in every city we’ve visited with a good downtown, we’ve heard accounts of the long, deliberate process that led to today’s result.
Auckland Council’s Auckland Design Office is working with Gehl Architects to update its research survey later this week and is looking for volunteers.
A follow up survey has been set for May 12th – 18th, 2015. To successfully deliver the survey volunteers are invited to participate in observational analysis across the city centre; counting, mapping, tracking and recording the behaviour, movement and activities of people in public spaces…
If you are interested in the urbanism, survey methods, and meeting interesting people, this is a great opportunity.
More information can be found here (pdf), or by emailing dennis.aitken@aucklandcouncil.govt.nz.
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In terms of supermarkets I much prefer countdown quay and new world victoria park. The victoria st countdown and metro new world are horribly congested at times which gives me a horrible shopping experiance and have very limited range of items I often find they dont have what im looking for where the larger ones do. Also quay countdown being 24 hours is really handy. But none the less I agree – it is great that they are there.
Countdown Metro can get really ridiculous at times. If you’re lucky you can just jump in the queue at the back of the store and do your shopping as you advance through it. It’s very much reached a new level of efficiency for supermarkets.
Most profitable store they have, I’m told by an executive. Plus no carpark to fund.
So the problem is they are too popular! I find that too, try to go at lunchtime, but not after work. Still prefer them over Countdown Quay St, has a despciable “urban” environment, surrounding by dangerous crossing points.
I really hope the supermarkets are working on finding some bigger spots in town, long term would be great for each CRL station to have one, but Countdown could open another supermarket sooner that is similar to Victoria St and that would be packed too.
Quay St has some of the poorest pedestrian access I’ve seen in a supermarket. Car-centric to the core.
I really like the convenience of NW Metro. I live in town so must’ve fluked missing the gridlock you guys are talking about. It saves me a lot of time to pop in here instead of leaving the city centre to go “out” to Victoria Park or Quay St. We don’t do our big shopping here (the wife works near a big supermarket) but it is great for getting items you need in a hurry like tomatoes, dip, cheese, wine, etc. Ok so we had an impromptu visitor Saturday night but there you go. Quick, close and what you need – perfect.
Ive found the metro new world is not as bad as the countdown in terms of ridiculas queues that go from one end of the store to the other and having to dodge everyone else whilst trying to browse… You really need a list and a lot of patience at times in that store…
I dont understand what is being asked for or offered in this post?
Brook,
The City is looking for volunteers (surveyors) to document public life (people) across the city centre. I added the following into the post from the More Info link:
A follow up survey has been set for May 12th – 18th, 2015. To successfully deliver the survey volunteers are invited to participate in observational analysis across the city centre; counting, mapping, tracking and recording the behaviour, movement and activities of people in public spaces…
This sort of work should be paid, not volunteer work
When they are plenty of dedicated enthusiastic volunteers, you think that this should be rates funded? Volunteers will probably do a better job too. They’re there to make a difference, not to tick a box on minimum wage.
The city still has a lot of people at night, I still couldnt understand why the shop doesnt extend their opening hours
Yeah thats what i found strange. Quay countdown is 24 hours but Victoria street countdown closes at 10pm…
24 hr supermarkets aren’t necessary. Sure, 10pm, maybe 12 but having loads of people working past midnight is cruel to the workers.
I think you’d be surprised how many people in the CBD/CBD fringe work 24hrs, the trip to the supermarket is also a way to freshen up and clear ones head. You find yourself going to the supermarket for reasons other than lack of prior preparation…
Speaking as someone who has done night work in the past…
Cruel to the workers? Is pretending that night shifts and blue collar work that takes place at night doesn’t exist going to get us a livable city, or are we just interested in shaping Auckland for middle class people who punch out at five?
It’s hard on any worker working a night shift. Insisting that stores be open all hours means more people are working that shift. Nothing wrong with closing down midnight to 5 or 6 to avoid people working when it is worst for their health. There are still small shops open to service people who need stuff at that hour. And yes, I’ve worked plenty of night shifts too.
Most gas stations in Auckland are 24×7, a supermarket can run with 3 or 4 workers and usually gets a lot more customers. Plenty of people work at night, I.T. (such as me), Fast Food Joints, 24×7 Countdowns in Quay, Greenlane, New Lynn and the Airport, many stores in the airport, Pilots, Security… list goes on and on, that isn’t going to change any time soon, in fact its only going to end up being more of thing. Last time I did night shifts I found it very frustrating that I had to go waste my money on overpriced goods at the local petrol station (and use my entire lunch break getting there and back) as its the only thing open in the Newton area at those times. Sure I could get stuff in advanced and bring it in but I am really not the type of person to remember to that every day, even when working a business hours shift i generally get something from the shop… lol. Wish I was in Midtown as it has a bit better of a nightlife stuff like Starbucks is open quite late (Midnight or 1am depending on the day, so at least you can get a kickstart before your shift) yes, I would take starbucks over petrol station coffee any day, but no I am stuck in annoying business-hours-orientated Newton/Grafton area). Don’t even get me started on how terrible PT caters to evening shifts (E.g. 2.30pm-11pm) or night shifts (E.g. 11pm-7:30am).
Don’t miss the point of all the other things that are good in this post beside the grocery store. Auckland is changing and it makes people want to go there.
Indeed, sorry for kicking off the Supermarket frenzy! 😛
auckland could learn from Cairns. they have developed their water front in an excellent way. as a result they have an incredible business of tourists. in fact their water front development is considered one of the best things to do in Cairns…..
Lets get smart and make Auckland work for Auckland.