What is Urban Sprawl?
There’s been a rather long ongoing debate on the Better Transport forums about whether sprawl or intensification is the best way to grow a city. In particular, issues relating to housing affordability, whether sprawl has to lead to auto-dependency, and the environmental effects of sprawl have become particularly debated.…
0 Comments Holy Heck I’m Mentioned in Parliament!
I never quite realised that my vent about being ignored by the RMA Amendment Bill hearings organisers would become such a big issue. First, it caused a bit of a stir in online discussions at Frog Blog, then it made the NZ Herald, where I was quoted quite extensively in an article last Thursday.…
Is America’s love affair with the “exburbs” over?
An interesting article that I came across – from April 10 this year, looks at whether the decades long process of cities sprawling more and more has come to a halt. There are some bits to it which are particularly noteworthy:
Though the recession has left few areas of the United States unscathed, the sprawling neighborhoods out on the far edges of the United States’ metropolitan areas have been especially hard-hit.…
I’m in the NZ Herald!
I had a feeling that my concerns relating to the RMA Amendment Bill would be considered fairly important. So it’s quite cool to find myself extensively quoted in today’s NZ Herald. Anger as critics of RMA rejig miss out
4:00AM Thursday Apr 30, 2009
Joseph Barratt Anger is building among Auckland groups over what they see as a lack of public input into reforms of the Resource Management Act.…
Well… I do get my say
Ah yes I was pretty grumpy earlier today at the prospect of missing out on my chance to have a say on the RMA Amendment Bill. I still won’t get to present my case in person, but I will get to present it over the phone through teleconferencing next week on Thursday.…
RMA Amendment Bill – when do I get my say?
I went to a lot of effort putting together my submission on the Resource Management Act Amendment Bill. This bill makes some huge changes to the way in which planning and resource management happens in New Zealand. It makes huge changes to one’s right to have a say on what goes on around them and the formulation of planning documents.…
International Trends and Lessons in Growth Management
I wrote my 2005 thesis on Auckland’s Regional Growth Strategy, so it is interesting having a read through the evaluation of that strategy, that the ARC has undertaken over the past couple of years. There are a lot of lengthy PDF documents that I haven’t made my way through yet, but it is good to see that the ARC has been so thorough in examining the effect of the Growth Strategy.…
Why Peak Oil Matters
Somewhat continuing the theme of Friday’s post, it can feel difficult to be a “peak oil believer” at the moment. The narrow-minded retorts of “oil was $147 a barrel in July 2008, now it’s barely a third of that – pah!”…
A Super City it is
Well it has now been somewhat confirmed: Auckland most definitely is becoming a super city. The government’s response to the Royal Commission’s findings doesn’t change that fact, but does change a few other things quite interestingly. A brief summary of the changes are shown below: The big changes from the original Royal Commission report is the 20-30 local boards rather than the 6 local councils, and the fact that Maori seats won’t be specifically allocated in what’s now proposed.…
My Thoughts on the Royal Commission’s Report
I’m slowly getting through reading the entire report by the Royal Commission on Auckland’s local government, and I have also read quite a few articles giving differing opinions (and a few nice summaries of the important bits) on the Report as well.…
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