Does New Zealand need an urbanisation project to improve productivity?
This is a guest post from Cantabrian reader Brendon Harre, taking a look at New Zealand’s slow productivity growth and whether better-functioning cities can improve it. It was originally posted on Brendon’s blog.
It is election season in New Zealand and recently the two main contenders squared off in a televised debate.…
41 Comments A Green Light
Auckland Law Revue have come up with a fantastic cover of Lorde’s Green Light, looking at transport in Auckland.
Just like Lorde, we’re waiting for that green light but Auckland Transport still won’t let us move! Watch the Auckland Law Revue lament the sad state of the New Zealand public transport system and roading in our first video for 2017.…
Council’s updated vision for the city centre
Auckland’s city centre has improved remarkably in recent years. The likes of Wynyard, Britomart and our shared spaces have showed that Auckland is capable of making significant and world class urban improvements.
Now, the details have emerged of the council’s refresh of the City Centre Masterplan and the Waterfront Plan.…
Guest Post: A Visit to Perth, Western Australia
This is a guest post from reader and friend of the blog, Warren Sanderson
If you are interested in the design of cities and transport, for those of us in Auckland this is indeed a very interesting time. With the adoption of the Greater Auckland’s Congestion Free Network 2 (more or less) by the Labour Party we seem as citizens, to be reaching some consensus that Auckland has to well and truly ease off on further motorway development and play catch-up with public transport.…
We need to talk about Brisbane, and other strategic policy matters
Why not Auckland?
I grew up in Auckland. I love Auckland. My partner and I would like to live in Auckland. As it stands, I can’t see it happening for the foreseeable future. I’m sure some of you are rather relieved, but it makes me sad.…
Streetfilms on Tactical Urbanism
Last week the excellent Streetfilms published a new video on tactical urbanism and some of those leading the charge. It’s a great look at how often simple and cheap changes can help make significant changes to our streets.
Tired of waiting for local governments to fix dangerous conditions, in many cities everyday citizens are practicing DIY traffic-calming to make streets safer for walking and biking.…
Research: Pedestrian Connectivity and Economic Productivity in Auckland’s City Centre
For several decades productivity in New Zealand has lagged behind leading OECD countries. A couple weeks back Peter (Connecting cities: it’s a matter of scale) mentioned Phil McCann’s great paper that convincingly explains New Zealand’s productivity problem (“Economic geography, globalisation, and New Zealand’s productivity paradox“).…
Women in Urbanism – Event
In exciting new news for Auckland, an emerging new group called Women in Urbanism has been formed. We are passionate about cities and ensuring they meet the needs of women as well as our most vulnerable.
We have two major aims
1.…
Connecting cities: it’s a matter of scale
New Zealand is a long way from the rest of the world. It takes three to four hours to fly from Auckland to the big eastern Australian cities; over half a day to reach the US West Coast or Southeast Asia; and most of a day to reach Europe.…
Reviewing the OECD’s economic review
The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, the ‘rich countries club’, conducts an economic survey of its members. They just published their latest (2017) edition for New Zealand, which makes for some interesting reading.
While the OECD’s reviews reflect its own views about what’s going right and wrong in its members’ economies, it sends staff to check out things on the ground.…
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