2025 – A Year in Review
Here we are at the end of 2025, so it’s time for quick wrap-up of the most important things that happened this year for urbanism and transport in our city.
A huge thank you to everyone who has visited the blog, shared our work, and supported us in our mission to make a greater Tāmaki Makaurau.…
21 Comments Progress on the Carrington (UNITEC) housing development
This is a guest post by Malcolm McCracken. It previously appeared on his blog Better Things Are Possible and is shared by kind permission. In 2023, I published the following post on the plans for the development of land that was formerly part of the Carrington UNITEC Campus.…
Plan Change debate: more housing was the winner on the day
Housing has been much in the headlines recently, with a few Auckland Councillors fighting tooth and nail to prevent more of it in their own neighbourhoods and instead push it out to other parts of the city. That approach failed yesterday, with a committee of council as a whole voting to accept a new Plan Change 120, to replace the existing Plan Change 78.…
Is Auckland Council planning to raze the inner suburbs?
Almost exactly three years ago, Auckland Council notified “Plan Change 78” (PC78) in response to government direction to allow apartments near major centres/transit stations and to allow townhouses throughout the suburbs.
Since then, Council has fought that government direction tooth and nail, while also facing extreme weather events like the infamous Auckland Anniversary floods in 2023.…
Let’s go there now: the future of our urban villages
This is a guest post by David Slack, who has kindly shared it from his excellent long-running newsletter ‘More Than a Feilding’, for the benefit of Greater Auckland readers. (Header image and accompanying photos also by David Slack.) If the only line Joni Mitchell had ever written was about paving paradise and putting up a parking lot, she’d have left words for the ages.…
The State of It
Yesterday I went to the launch of the Committee for Auckland’s third The State of The City launch. It’s great they are doing this work, and the event was very interesting. You can read the report itself here.
There has been a lot of media coverage since, some of which you’ve no doubt seen, ranging from the sensationalist (Stuff) to the bored and dismissive (Auckland Now).…
New Density Rules for Inner West train stations
The government have announced more details about their plans to require even more density around some train stations to make the most of the City Rail Link.
A few weeks ago, Chris Bishop who is the minister for both transport and housing, announced changes to how Auckland processes its zoning changes in response to government requirements for allowing intensification.…
More Housing Plan Changes on the way for Auckland
The government requiring the council to zone for more housing in Auckland is dead, long live the government requiring the council to zone for more housing in Auckland.
One of the governments key housing polices when was to make optional the Medium Density Residential Standards (MDRS) requirement for councils to allow up to three storey town houses throughout our cities, something National made a bipartisan deal with the former Labour government to introduce in the first place.…
Richer or poorer?
Patrick Reynolds is deputy chair of the City Centre Advisory Panel, and a previous director of Waka Kotahi/NZTA.
Recently there has been some good attention on New Zealand’s relatively low productivity. Just last week the Mayor led on this issue: Brown stressed that Auckland’s economic future relies on shifting from low productivity and long hours to high-value, scalable innovation.…
Will the Auckland City Skyline ever change again?
It’s been nearly five years since the NPS-UD directed councils to enable more apartment-style housing in high-access areas. After years of delay, Auckland’s response — Plan Change 78 (PC78) — is finally up for a key vote before the Planning Committee on May 22.…
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