Planning Successful Cities: Submission Guide
This is a guest post by Stephen Davis. It was first published on City Beautiful on 30 September 2019.
Introduction
In my previous piece I talked about the proposal by the Ministry for the Environment (MfE) to direct local councils to allow for more intensification, through a device called a National Policy Statement.…
52 Comments Fifty Percent May Be Acceptable To You
Auckland’s Climate Action Framework – Te Tāruke-ā-Tāwhiri is a very readable piece of work resulting from extensive public engagement, and covering a lot of topics. It’s time to make your submissions – they’re due Monday.
Auckland has had a Low Carbon Strategic Action Plan since 2014.…
Solid planning shakeup undermined by sprawl push
Yesterday the Government released a discussion document on a “National Policy Statement for Urban Development”. This represents a pretty big shakeup to how our planning system guides urban development and the provision of housing.
A new approach to urban planning designed to allow our cities to make room for growth has today been released by Urban Development Minister Phil Twyford and Environment Minister David Parker.…
Auckland Building Activity soars
In mid-2009, in the wake of the global financial crisis, the number of new building consents issued over a 12-month period plunged to the lowest point since the regional level data began in 1990 (prior to that it is only at a national level).…
Flashback Saturday: How should we pursue good urban design?
Every weekend we dig into the archives. This post by Peter was originally published in November 2016.
I’m not an urban designer or an architect – economists are famously bad at that sort of thing – but I do pay attention to the way places are built.…
Good Density
(Credit for above image: Point and Miller)
Promoting density is critical to avoid locking in sprawling, inefficient and climate-vulnerable modes of growth, but the kind of density matters. ‘Good density’ means functionally and socially mixed neighbourhoods with access to green spaces, comfortable, affordable, and climate-smart housing for all, and high-quality public transport networks.…
Flashback Saturday: Why I love intensification in my neighbourhood
Every weekend we dig into the archives. This post was first published in May 2013 as one of John Polkinghorne’s first guest posts. Six years on, John has never quite gotten used to referring to myself in the third person. He’s still living in Auckland’s city centre, albeit with a much worse commute – it’s gone from a 10 minute walk to 15 – now has an actual baby rather than hypothetical kids, and a much larger apartment.…
Great North Boulevard
With Aucklanders suffering a housing crisis and poor transport choice, new housing in convenient, well-connected parts of Auckland can’t come soon enough. While the unitary plan allows for new housing along transport corridors, there are still a number of barriers slowing the regeneration of these areas.…
Drury Structure Plan still not quite right
Back in January I highlighted a major risk that the Council was ruining the Drury growth area by preferring the position of a few landowners over years of previous technical analysis and common sense. Key to my concern was the location of train stations to serve the southern greenfield growth area – the largest area of sprawl currently being planned, but also an area with a train line running right through the middle of it.…
A transit oriented development at Smales Farm?
The Northern Busway has been one of Auckland’s most successful transport investments. In the 11 years since it opened it has become the best and most used public transport corridor in probably all of the country. At peak times in the peak direction there are now buses, mostly double deckers, every minute or two and off-peak and counter-peak there are buses every 5-10 minutes.…
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