Tiffiny Hodgson_Urban Rooms

URBAN ROOMS Thematic Densification: A Character Perspective for Managing Growth and Transportation in “Super Auckland” EMU European Master of Urbanism Fall Semester 2009, Thesis Presentation, Tiffiny Hodgson Mentors: Dr Stephen Read, TU Delft & Paola Vigano, KU Leuven & IUAV Venezia

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European Postgraduate Masters in Urbanism: TU Delft, Faculty of Architecture EMU Coordinator Delft, Meta Berghauser Pont

Acknowledgements: Thanks to family and friends who supported me in the process of the European Postgraduate Masters, and especially during the formulation of the Thesis. Heartfelt thanks to Sam, Jesse and Max Hodgson for being so paitent and Gael Orr, Ben Statham and Nicolette Pool.

Thanks to EMU colleagues who have taught me much, especially how different each person’s ‘home’ is, and how similar we all are despite this. Thanks also to the enthusiastic and knowledgeable staff of TU Delft and IUAV Venezia, particularly Drs Roberto Rocco, Akkelies van Nes and Wendy Tan and my mentors Drs Stephen Read and Paola Vigano.

EMU European Master of Urbanism, TU Delft, Netherlands, Fall Semester 2009 2

Grateful thanks to organisations that have supported the project with images and data including Auckland City Council, GoPix New Zealand, Eyeball NZ, and Chris Gin. Special thanks to Inge Vergroesen, Jovanna Leonardo and Ludo Campbell-Reid, Urban Design Manager at the Auckland City Council. Accessing accurate data can be fraught for research projects, and their help with GIS information and their time made the final product more accomplishable. All GIS data for the project has been provided by the Auckland City Council.

URBAN ROOMS - Thematic Densification: A Character Perspective for Managing Growth and Transportation in “Super Auckland” EMU, Fall Semester 2009/10, Thesis Project, January 2010, Tiffiny Hodgson

Contents

Foreword Introduction

Overview

Project Scope and Concept

Methodology An Overview of Auckland and New Zealand

New Zealand

Spatial Planning Context

Auckland

Image

Geography

A Brief Comparison to Europe’s ‘Randstad Holland’ A Multicultural View of Space, Place and Land Main Issues for Auckland Regional Planning

Growth

Transportation

Identity

Open Space Problem Statement and Research Question: From from Sprawl to Sense

Problem Statement

Research Question Urban Patterns in Auckland

Testing the Centres

Typologies and Developments in Time Urban Rooms: Using Character as City Narrative and Driver of Growth

Urban Rooms

Auckland Domain Strategy: Inward Growth, Increased Density, and Restructuring the Local

Strategic Direction

Strategic Goals

Space Syntax and the Urban Loops and Rooms Principles: Selecting Tools for Spatial Development Scenario Testing: Managing Strategies from Extreme Alternatives

Guidlines from the Strategy

Testing the Criteria

Dominion Road Loop Test - Focus on Density

Airport Loop Test - Focus on Public Transport Evaluation - Grow, Move, Protect Executive Summary Endnotes Bibliography and References

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URBAN ROOMS - Thematic Densification: A Character Perspective for Managing Growth and Transportation in “Super Auckland” EMU, Fall Semester 2009/10, Thesis Project, January 2010, Tiffiny Hodgson

If we do what we’ve always done, we will get what we’ve always got. In this instance Auckland’s ‘Scenario 0’ – do nothing but a bit more of the same.

Foreword

It is no longer acceptable to view Auckland with the same post industrialisation eyes that we have become accustomed to for many decades. It is no longer acceptable to do ‘the same’, but further spread. It is no longer acceptable to continue to increase the reach of the city, without thought for the environment or the inhabitants. It is no longer acceptable to propose new growth in greenfields areas, which will pull demands even further into the hinterland, exacerbate exiting transport and infrastructure issues, and leaving hundreds of thousands of people with little or no choice but to own more cars, and spend more time in them.

More time to access jobs, education, health, or even just good places to play, stay, or shop.

Auckland needs to change its perspective. Such changes can, and of course must, be made on multiple levels, however due to time constraints and the issue of academic selectivity this project focuses on public transport as the key intervention and framework for managing the elements of growth and identity.

This is just one strategy for change. One set of possible futures to counteract the dangerous sprawl condition we have found the metropolitan area to be in. The discussion of such possibilities must start now.

Image - ‘Auckland City From the East Above’ (Source: www.wikimedia.com)

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URBAN ROOMS - Thematic Densification: A Character Perspective for Managing Growth and Transportation in “Super Auckland” EMU, Fall Semester 2009/10, Thesis Project, January 2010, Tiffiny Hodgson

An Introduction to the Project

Image - Google Earth view of the Auckland Isthmus with the Waitamata Harbour and Hauraki Gulf to the North and the Tamaki Harbour to the South (Source: Google Earth)

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Indicative figure ground map of metropolitan Auckland, with low density in grey and higher density built space in black (these usually correspond to ‘city centres’

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URBAN ROOMS - Thematic Densification: A Character Perspective for Managing Growth and Transportation in “Super Auckland” EMU, Fall Semester 2009/10, Thesis Project, January 2010, Tiffiny Hodgson

Overview

An Introduction to the Project

It is always interesting studying ones ‘home town’. Well worn ideas are tested and inherent feelings are challenged by a more rigorous analysis of the territory.

This is even more pronounced when viewing a well known place from the elongated perspective of another hemisphere – literally from the other side of the world.

The concept of ‘Home’ becomes both more insistent and immediate, and much more abstract. When not constantly surrounded by the familiar, we are forced to try and understand what this quality is, and what it is we lack without it.

Globally, this sense of belonging to somewhere particular, is, it seems, being gradually degraded by the spread of commerce, technology, and people – “the way in which places are tied into global flows of people, meanings and things - has led some to perceive an accelerating erosion of place. A combination of mass communication, increased mobility and a consumer society has been blamed for a rapidly accelerating homogenization of the world. More and more of our lives, it has been argued, take place in spaces that could be anywhere - that look, feel and smell the same wherever in the globe we may be. Fast food outlets, shopping malls, airports, high street shops and hotels are all more or less the same wherever we go. These are spaces that seem detached from the local environment and tell us nothing about the particular locality in which they are located. The meaning that provides the sense of attachment to place has been radically thinned out.”1

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It has long been argued that we need our spaces to be an innate representation of our ‘place’ – in the world, in our community, and as individuals. “...cities, and similar human settlements, are significant to our lives essentially because they represent places - that is, specific locations in space that provide an anchor and a meaning to who we are.”2 But, “Not many of us however experience the abiding pleasure of daily life in a distinctive environment.”3 It is the assertion here that in a fundamental sense what most people want, and that more and more of us are lacking, is precisely that indefinable sense of ‘home’ – the feeling of being ‘in place’ (in Orum and Chens words4), and of belonging with, and adding too, a particular neighbourhood, city, or region.

It is perhaps easier to understand such strong ties to ‘place’ when one comes from a position of global isolation. Located at the ‘bottom of the world’ as it is, New Zealand is one of the farthest places you could choose to travel to from almost anywhere, but especially from Europe. As such it has perhaps not had the same level of human adaptation, but is, however, every bit as globalised when seen in the context of its virtual connections and trade.

I believe that in conjunction with making such spaces sustainable and enduring at all scales over time, this above all, will be the major challenge for Spatial Planning for this century. This research project attempts to position the quality of ‘sense of place’ and cultural identity firmly in the functional domain of spatial planning and regional strategy and policy making. With this 10

in mind, the project will also address the more pragmatic issue of transportation and population growth with the benefit of both European and ‘new world’ perspectives. As the single major infrastructure imposed upon a city or landscape, and the means of moving from one point in it to another, the transport system would seem a logical place to start attempting to join ‘feeling’ and ‘function’.

Therefore the research is confined to interventions in the public and transportation and residential spaces in Auckland, New Zealand, a dispersed city territory, as it undergoes a major policy and societal change into the large “Super Auckland” region. This will be compared to issues, where relevant, in the Randstad region, Holland. The research will also attempt to connect esoteric considerations of identity and uniqueness with the very practical issues of transportation and public space within a low density, dispersed region.

Project Scope Auckland is at a cross road.

GROW MOVE PROTECT

With the impetus of major political and municipal change taking place, there is an opportunity to address many of the issues facing the Auckland region in a new, more comprehensive way. With little physical barrier to growth, Auckland has spread from its historical roots at the foreshore of Waitamata Harbour almost unchecked. This growth has enabled an enviable lifestyle where 70% of dwellings are detached ‘family houses’ enjoying gardens, parking and privacy. It has also however, spread budgets and infrastructure thinly and has resulted in a region with high levels of congestion, huge demands made on stretched services such as water and waste provision, healthcare services, and educational facilities, and making places that, far from being desirable and “100% pure” are ever less sustainable (refer to the section on “Image” for further discussion).

In an overview of several plans, visions, and strategies for Auckland from different stakeholders, it appears that there are three recurring themes; population and economic growth, transport and connectivity, and uniqueness and character (‘sense of place’) – essentially to Grow, to Move, and to Protect.

Low Income - Otara

High Income - Remuera

Public Open Space - Auckland Domain

Commercial (historic) centre CBD

URBAN ROOMS - Thematic Densification: A Character Perspective for Managing Growth and Transportation in “Super Auckland” EMU, Fall Semester 2009/10, Thesis Project, January 2010, Tiffiny Hodgson

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Auckland Regional bus lines. While this map seems to show an evenly networked city, it does not indicate the fact that most lines are from centre to periphery only (see Auckland Regional Council Maps on Person Trips on Regional Public Transport opposite).

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URBAN ROOMS - Thematic Densification: A Character Perspective for Managing Growth and Transportation in “Super Auckland” EMU, Fall Semester 2009/10, Thesis Project, January 2010, Tiffiny Hodgson

In all forecasts for the region, population is set to rise with most estimates predicting that the population will top two million well before 2050. This, coupled with the likelihood of shrinking borders (particularly in the Franklin District in the South and around Wellsford/ Warkworth/Snells Beach in the North), means that there will be an expected 56% increase in demand for housing in Metropolitan Auckland5, equating to around 200,000 new dwellings6. This growth has ramifications far beyond merely housing this new population, and will impact such things as the requirement for and spread of facilities and services, demand on transport infrastructure, and greenfields development. Integral to this is the impact on the natural and built environment, along with how we view and use our open space.

One of the major issues that all the Auckland visions agree on is the inadequacy of our public transport system and the lack of alternatives to the car (and its associated negative impacts including congestion, decreased trip speed, economic loss and damage to the environment). With increased population also comes increased person trips each day and these are estimated to increase by 65% from current levels7.

Above: Person Trips on Regional Public Transport, showing the large majority of trips taken on buses in the region (Source: Auckland Regional Council, www.arc.govt.nz) Below: Car Trips on Regional Public Road Network, illustrating the huge volume of vehicles travelling on the state highways and main regional roads - a major cause of Auckland’s congestion problems (Source: Auckland Regional Council, www.arc.govt.nz) The maps unfortunately do not give an accurate picture of the ratio of public transport usage to private car usage, which is heavily weighted towards private cars.

Based on the overview of growth visions and strategies and relying heavily on data from the admittedly outdated “Auckland Regional Growth Strategy: 2050”9, it seems that Greater Auckland’s answer to proving efficient transport alternatives, is to increase the options in the centre10 while sacrificing the options of those in the urban fringe. Given the proposed strategy of housing much of the new growth in Auckland in these peripheral “Future Urban Areas”11, (approximately 180,000 people given a 600,000 person increase by 2050), this equates to a significant proportion of people who will have few alternatives but to use either existing mono-directional, time consuming bus services12 or to drive a car. There is little chance it will increase the low figure of 1.4% of people that live in the periphery who travel by public transport13 and thus help decrease traffic issues such as congestion and CO2 emissions.

(Further information on Growth, Transportation, Open Space and Identity can be found in the chapter “Main Issues for Auckland Regional Planning”.)

The region already has a dense road network across varying scales from high-speed national highways, to small local roads, and there is little room for increasing quantity in the existing urban fabric. The common solution is to increase the function of roads (both for private cars and the public transport system of which 80% is by road-going bus services8), and the availability of alternative means of connection via public transport.

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URBAN ROOMS - Thematic Densification: A Character Perspective for Managing Growth and Transportation in “Super Auckland” EMU, Fall Semester 2009/10, Thesis Project, January 2010, Tiffiny Hodgson

Proposed High Restraint Area

Proposed Medium Restraint Area

Proposed Low Restraint Area

Proposed New Growth Area

Proposed New Regional Road

Proposed Rapid Transit Station

Proposed New Regional Road

Roading Infrastructure ‘Shadow’

Global Roads

Main Regional Roads Bus Routes

Volcanic Crater and Cone

The cost of these decisions is difficult to estimate precisely, but is all too apparent. There are of course economics costs to congestion and increased travel times, particularly in the major agricultural corridors such as State Highway One south to the main production areas in the Waikato. The global cost too is high – our commitments to cutting CO2 emissions and our obligations under the Kyoto Protocol are unlikely to be aided by becoming the forecast top private cars users14 as alternatives become less and less attractive, or nonexistent.

The spatial implications are also enormous when considering where this new population is to be located.

Not only will this put further pressure on infrastructure, but also on less fiscally quantifiable resources such as open space, and cultural heritage.

Left: Map of restraint areas where the darker red is more constraint.

These areas are a close fit to the existing regional bus lines which are an indicator of the ‘urban area’. It is interesting that this map implies that growth in the periphery would adversely effect the environment, and is therefore not desirable. (Source Data: ‘Relative environmental of constraints in the stage 2 study area’, “Auckland Regional Growth Strategy”) Right: Map of growth areas, where ‘future urban areas’ are marked in grey. These areas fall just inside the areas of restraint (or, oddly, slightly overlap them), but imply that the future pull of urbanisation is still outward to the hinterland. Those who currently live in this semi-rural border will be forced to more further south or north which their previous neighbourhoods are rapidly urbanised. This will in turn push the borders outward (with presumably a resulting re-draw of the areas of restraint) continuing the cycle of sprawl and the increasing demand on roads, and facilities in the perpiphery and use of the private car. (Source Data: ‘Growth Concept 2050’, “Auckland Regional Growth Strategy”)

Unfortunately current proposals have been unable to offer sensible solutions. The “Auckland Regional Growth Strategy” in one breathe argues against the historic typology of the ‘quarter acre section’ in favour of a more dense city region – “The Growth Concept is based on compact urban environments.

This means where urban growth occurs… it should result in a compact urban form to avoid spreading the effects of urbanisation over a greater area.”15 – while in the next it provides us with the contradictory solution of further sprawl “The second way the Growth Concept accommodates urban growth is in the new greenfield areas that could accommodate up to 30% of regional growth.”16 The “Grow” part of the shared visions is tackled but neither “Move” nor “Protect”.

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URBAN ROOMS - Thematic Densification: A Character Perspective for Managing Growth and Transportation in “Super Auckland” EMU, Fall Semester 2009/10, Thesis Project, January 2010, Tiffiny Hodgson

Proposed High Restraint Area

Proposed Medium Restraint Area

Proposed Low Restraint Area

Proposed New Growth Area

Proposed New Regional Road

Proposed Rapid Transit Station

Proposed New Regional Road

Roading Infrastructure ‘Shadow’

Global Roads

Main Regional Roads Bus Routes

Volcanic Crater and Cone

Left: Rapid Transit Network Map showing ‘future passenger transport corridors’ and Rapid Transport Station points.

Interestingly those with the most distance to the centre, and therefore potentially the most in need of rapid transit, are served by only two stations. (Source Data: ‘Growth Concept 2050’, “Auckland Regional Land Transport Strategy 1999”, found in the “Auckland Regional Growth Strategy”) Right: Map of ‘intensive centres and corridors’. These lines and points can be equated to areas with high levels of existing vibrancy and character, and are usually areas with correspondingly high levels of facilities and infrastructre - few correlate to the ‘future urban areas’. This would seem to suggest an enormous long term effort and capital is required to turn these areas into the kinds of desirable places mentioned in many visions. (Source Data: ‘Growth Concept 2050’, “Auckland Regional Growth Strategy”)

Here it is important to state that “Grow” in the sense of this project, is meant in terms of population, not for area or the further spread of the metropolitan. In fact “Grow” could more accurately be replaced by “Densify”.

Add to this the unusual strategy that only two out of the 20 proposed rapid transit points are actually in these new growth areas (see map) and it appears that the vision is to privilege the few at the cost of the many, and ultimately, at the long term cost of the region. To provide rapid transit points that do not service these outlying areas and a large portion of the new regional growth – precisely the places that would benefit from a rapid transport service due to distance – seems not only anti-intuitive and unsustainable in the long term, but completely contrary to the desired outcome of a more efficient, connected region. Again, only one of the three goals “to Move” is considered, out of context with the proposed patterns of growth, or with due care to the quality of space and place.

Correcting, or utilising the possibilities provided by such inconsistencies, while protecting what is already interesting and diverse about the region, is therefore the goal of this project.

The project looks at the various typologies of growth over time and distance in Auckland to view diagrammatically how the city has developed neighbourhood areas within the regional network. Three main types are proposed (see “Testing the Centres” section in the chapter “Urban Patterns in Auckland”). It is suggested that the one currently in favour in current development 17

such as Sylvia Park or Albany, fragments the urban fabric causing disconnection between residential and other areas. These areas are connected only in a limited fashion to the regional and national road network with insufficient links to public transport, few streets that act in multiple scales (which is seen as one key to local vitality), and do not provide the kind of places considered desirable or vibrant. Further discussion is in the chapter “Urban Patterns in Auckland” and the third typology eliminated as useful for future development.

Using the remaining two typologies, and the characteristics generated from the reading of the geography of Auckland, and the ‘room’ or ‘loop’ way of encircling areas of significance (discussed in the chapters on “Urban Rooms – Using character as a narrative of cultural identity and a driver of growth”, and the case study on the Auckland Domain), a series of public transport loops is proposed around new urban ‘rooms’.

The ‘Urban Rooms’ concept makes overt the existing pattern of regional development in Auckland. As places of significance for both Maori and Pakeha alike, Auckland’s volcanic field has had a enormous influence on both our physical development (as a new network built in the shadow of an ancient one – refer to the section on “Geography”), and on the way we view ourselves as Aucklanders. Far from being ‘holes’ in the urban fabric as figure ground maps may suggest, they are highly visible and unique markers in the landscape and are often protected as municipally managed parks. We have tended to circle such areas that are important to us and use this as the physical skeleton for growth. They become islands of character in the sea of the territory.

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The Urban Loops lines which outline these rooms are derived from calculating neighbourhoods and lines of ‘vibrancy’ (through the use of space syntax, and related field work) with development following principles resulting from analysis of the Auckland Domain area existing area of high cultural and social value.

The chapters on “Scenario Testing” and “Strategy” will extend these concepts and show how they can encompass the three main issues for Auckland – Grow, Move and Protect, by mixing parts of or all of the Scenarios with adaptations in roads, barriers, transport hubs and mixité. This visual evaluation of the concepts and scenarios will provide a set of ‘possible futures’ for the Auckland Region.

The Urban Room/Urban Loop concept is tested at both the regional and local scale. Criteria for the tests are: > GROW: ‘Auckland + 50%’ – increase the residential housing stock by 50% using different built typologies > MOVE: ‘Light rail loops’ – new light rail infrastructure (the Urban Loops themselves) in conjunction with reducing or condensing existing car parking areas > PROTECT: ‘Stay and Play’ – create hubs based on transport, activity, leisure and character These tests are shown at the neighbourhood scale through mapping, density and typography studies, and pictorial visualizations.

Top to bottom: Diagrammatic version of the three typical typologies with light grey representing residential areas and the line being global roads - Central (global roads intersecting a dense core with complex integrated regional and local scale roads or roads acting at multiple scales and high mixité of uses), Linear (similar to Central but with a single global road and intensity based along this), and Segregated (global road directly accessing commercial/retail centre with physical barriers between that and residential and low mixité).

URBAN ROOMS - Thematic Densification: A Character Perspective for Managing Growth and Transportation in “Super Auckland” EMU, Fall Semester 2009/10, Thesis Project, January 2010, Tiffiny Hodgson

Methodology Below is a diagram of the process for the project (and here it is accepted that the process is not strictly linear and that all parts will be undertaken, to a greater or lesser extent, simultaneously). The rational for this being that in a field such as urbanism, to test is to understand – “With the narrative we bring our imagination

PROBLEM FIELD/ RESEARCH QUESTION

EVALUATION

LITERATURE - underpinning

“Urban Rooms”

- 2 x Auckland - densify/grow Auckland Loops - move - Networked Culture - protect

PROBLEM FIELD & ISSUES - transport/car dependance - population growth - boundaries - identity

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EMU Dimension

CONCEPT

- dispersed city regions - network cities - globalization - indentity and homogenity - sustainable development - congestion/emmissions

SITE ANALYSIS - mapping - geography - growth projections - networks - public transport - interviews & articles - culture

REFERENCE

- case study/comparison Randstad, Holland - Auckland “Super City” - mobility environments -’sense of place’

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STRATEGY SCENARIO TESTING

- control scenaro “0” - scenarios from concepts

DESIGN

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to the fore. With stories we can explore the impossible.

With visions we point in the direction we want to go.

We constantly test our stories and visions in projects.

In combination and in step with the above, we develop instruments to make our visions come true.”17 The project was started with the understanding that Auckland has particular issues associated with its growth over time, and its spread, and that a new way forward must be found to accommodate both the pragmatic and prosaic considerations of the new “Super Auckland”.

To suggest a relevant and coherent strategy for the region, it is necessary to have an opinion as above, to then understand if facts and statistics support or refute this stance, and from there to develop a way forward, to test and to evaluate. The purpose of the project is to be able to offer ‘instruments’ to manifest the vision of “Super Auckland” as not only a growing, connected and accessible region, but one that has a highly developed sense of place. A region that truly fulfils the Auckland City Council Vision to “…celebrate its distinctive character and heritage. It will be an easy city to get around in, with a variety of transport options, balancing the needs of a growing population with efficient resource use.

Our neighbourhoods will be safe, welcoming places and we will share a sense of pride in our city.”18

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URBAN ROOMS - Thematic Densification: A Character Perspective for Managing Growth and Transportation in “Super Auckland” EMU, Fall Semester 2009/10, Thesis Project, January 2010, Tiffiny Hodgson

An Overview of Auckland and New Zealand

Image - ‘Rangitoto’ by Chris Gin. Rangitoto (Māori for ‘bloody sky’) is an island in Auckland’s Hauraki Gulf, and is one of the most iconic landmarks, and youngest volcanoes in the city (only 600-800 years old). It is such a part of the image of Auckland that it appears in many Auckland logos over the last few years. The 2311ha island rises 260m from sea level and is also a protected scenic reserve.

For more information go to the Auckland City Council website at www.aucklandcity.govt.nz/auckland/introduction/hauraki/default. asp#rangitoto (Image source: interfacelift.com/wallpaper_beta/ email/1672/rangitoto.html, used with permission)

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Dutch Map of the Indian Ocean and surrounding countries, 1680, showing the first part of New Zealand: “On 13th December 1642, the coast of New Zealand came into view, and Tasman [Dutch explorer Abel Janszoon Tasman] noted in his journal “groot hooch verheven landt” (a large land, uplifted high). Tasman named this land “Staten Landt”, which refers to the “Land of the (Dutch) States-General.” The area of New Zealand which Tasman sighted was in the vicinity of the coast between modern Hokitika and Okarito, on the west coast of the South Island.

Tasman thought, but was not sure, that he may have discovered the western edge of the land discovered in the South Atlantic Ocean in 1616 by his fellow countrymen, Willem Schouten and Isaac Le Maire. (Le Maire Strait, or Estrecho de la Maire, is situated to the south of Chile, between Terra des Fuego and Estados.) At the time, this was believed to have been part of the northern tip of the Southern Continent.

Tasman noted this in his journal : “To this land we have given the name of Staten Landt, in honour of Their High Mightinesses the States-General, since it could be quite possible that this land was connected with State Landt, although this is not certain. This land looks like being a very beautiful land and we trust that this is the mainland coast of the unknown south land”.”

(Source: history-nz.org/discovery1. html)

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URBAN ROOMS - Thematic Densification: A Character Perspective for Managing Growth and Transportation in “Super Auckland” EMU, Fall Semester 2009/10, Thesis Project, January 2010, Tiffiny Hodgson

New Zealand New Zealand (Aotearoa) is a group of low density islands in the bottom of the South Pacific, of 268,680sqkm and 4.2 million inhabitants.19 The islands were first inhabited by the Mori-ori, then the Māori, and had no formal land use in the Māori ruled years of 1350-1830. New Zealand was first discovered by Europeans in 1642 by the Dutch explorer Abel Tasman, followed in 1769 by the British lead Captain James Cook. It became a formal British colony with organised European settlements dating from the 1830’s.

An Overview of Auckland and New Zealand

The country has 16 provinces, and 12 Land Districts (the responsibility of central Government), and has a democratically elected Government (‘State’ or ‘Crown’).

Much power however, is in the hands of local City or District Councils (Municipalities), seven of which are in the Greater Auckland Region.

Population density (people per km2) by country, 2006, Wikipedia, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Population_density

Despite its Lord of the Rings view of the wide open spaces of the country, “In 2002 the New Zealand Official Yearbook 2002 recorded Aotearoa/New Zealand as one of the most highly urbanised countries in the world, with 85.7% of its population living in urban areas. Rates of urbanisation were similar in Australia (85%) but higher in the United Kingdom (90 percent).

In contrast, the United States and Europe had lower levels of urbanisation (77% and 75%, respectively).”20 However, the ‘wide open spaces’ do exist with National Parks alone being larger than the area of Belgium.

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Spatial Planning Context: As a Commonwealth country, the New Zealand legal system is based on British Common Law in an AngloAmerican model, typified by decisions being made on a case by case basis. The spatial planning tradition follows the British Land-use Management system, but is heavily influenced by Māori concepts of ‘land’ and by New Zealand’s founding document, the Treaty of Waitangi signed by the Crown and Māori chiefs in 1840.

Left Image, Map of New Zealand, 1832 (Source: www.lib.utexas. edu/maps/historical/history_austral_pacific.html), Background Image, ‘Maori looking over land to become Auckland City towards Rangitoto Island’ (Source: Te Ara Encyclodaedia of New Zealand)

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URBAN ROOMS - Thematic Densification: A Character Perspective for Managing Growth and Transportation in “Super Auckland” EMU, Fall Semester 2009/10, Thesis Project, January 2010, Tiffiny Hodgson

Auckland21

(637 km2 Auckland City, 1,086 km2 Auckland Region www.aucklandnz.com)

The town of Auckland was established as the capital by Governor William Hobson in 1840 on land bought from the local Iwi (tribe), the The Ngāti Whātua. While the tribe sold the land near Auckland township, a decade on, Māori still owned much of the rest of the province.22 Auckland is now the smallest province in New Zealand by area with the largest population. Approximately one third of New Zealanders live in just over 1,000 square kilometres. It has a rich multi cultural heritage and was the gateway for the majority of the 2.4 million international visitors that arrived in New Zealand in the year to July 200923.

The region is currently undergoing a period of momentous change. In March 2009, the New Zealand Government voted to accept a proposal for the merging of the six City and two District councils that make up the ‘Greater Auckland Area’ in to one “Super City” – a single legal and physical entity which is to become the largest metropolitan area in the South Pacific. “With a population of some 1.4 people, the ‘new’ city would be the single biggest metropolis in Australasia.”24

Auckland Regional Rural/Urban Profile Catagories, Census of Population and Dwellings 2001

This provides the region with a unique but limited opportunity to rethink much of its fragmented structures including redressing the current transportation mode and infrastructure imbalance, and to reposition itself in a local and international context. Providing for all these 25

80km x 80km

The Greater Auckland Region (left) comprising seven City and District Councils, and the various ‘Auckland’ borders (Sources as stated). For the purposed of this project a working area similar to the Auckland Regional Land Transport boder has been choosen given its ‘official’ status as a regional entity, and for its jurisdiction over the transport network.

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URBAN ROOMS - Thematic Densification: A Character Perspective for Managing Growth and Transportation in “Super Auckland” EMU, Fall Semester 2009/10, Thesis Project, January 2010, Tiffiny Hodgson

very different requirements, within a highly politically charged environment, will require a careful and thoughtful analysis of the region and clear guidelines from which to go forward. Research that helps in this endeavour, particularly that which ties the pragmatic with the poetic, is vital before the opportunities presented in the next few years are lost.

Currently, 1,303,068 people usually live in Auckland Region equating to 32.4 percent of New Zealand’s population. There are 439,083 occupied dwellings and 33,354 unoccupied dwellings in the Region and, despite being the largest centre in New Zealand, has the relatively low population density of 1,927 inhabitants per square kilometre25. One-family households make up 70.3% of all households in the Auckland Region (a typology that crosses social and economic groups), with the average household size being 2.9 people26.

Under the “Super Auckland” framework, the boundaries of the region are currently up for debate, as are its future political ‘shape’ however there are some key issues that are, and will continue to be, important for the region – primarily transportation and population growth (and the associated increase in spatial demands from the built environment), and retaining its distinct character.

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URBAN ROOMS - Thematic Densification: A Character Perspective for Managing Growth and Transportation in “Super Auckland” EMU, Fall Semester 2009/10, Thesis Project, January 2010, Tiffiny Hodgson

Bottom Right: Auckland’s old ‘City of Sails’ logo image (Source: Tourism Auckland, www.aucklandnz.com), Top Right: The new logo of brand Auckland (Source: “Absolutely positively Auckland, or something the cat threw up?” article from the New Zealand Herald online, Tuesday Sep 16, 2008, www.nzherald.co.nz), Middle row: Auckland logos for hosting the Rugby World Cup 2011 (Source: ‘Auckland 2011’ Facebook site, www.facebook.com), All other “100% Pure” images part of a 10 year global marketing campaign for New Zealand (Source: Tourism New Zealand, www.tourismnewzealand.com)

Image The image of Auckland has been an issue both locally and on the international stage. For a city as far removed as Auckland a unique identity, wrapped up in an appealing city ‘brand’, is invaluable for promoting the region for both foreign investment and tourism.

In line with the countries ‘clean, green’ image – translated by Tourism New Zealand as “100% Pure New Zealand”, the city has traded on its green space, beaches and unique lifestyle within the framework of an economically stable environment. Both nationally and locally within Auckland it is clear that we are a people ‘in’ the land. Our environment plays a pivotal part in who we are, how we see ourselves, and how we portray ourselves to the world.

In terms of housing, the greatest increases in apartments as a proportion of residential building consents were in Auckland and Wellington, followed by North Shore and Manukau (three of the four in the new “Super Auckland”, and giving encouragement to the idea that Aucklanders could embrace new typologies and a new way of living). The ‘Social Connectedness’ compared to the rest of New Zealand, residents of the 12 cities are less likely to have their main social networks in the same area they live in and more likely for the network to be based on shared interests or beliefs (so travelling less is unlikely to change – travelling ‘better’ is called for).

The actual picture of Auckland is somewhat less romantic. While we are definitely tied to our landscape, the way we have spread through it has taken a toll. It is true that Aucklanders are privileged with a high level of green space – Auckland has 4.9 hectares per 1,000 residents of council-managed green space [or 49m2 per person]27 – but they also have a lower likelihood of playing sports five times a week than rural counterparts, and those living in Auckland and Waitakere rate their health the least positively.

Further findings from the same report give a more balanced picture of the diversity (and not necessarily all positive) picture of the region. Auckland has the highest rate of general practitioners, while Rodney has the lowest (both areas will be part of “Super Auckland”).

29

Left: “This map was published by the German geologist Ferdinand Hochstetter in 1865–66, in English and German versions. He and artist–surveyor Charles Heaphy spent January 1859 examining the geology of the Auckland area. Hochstetter recognised that many of the volcanic features were similar to those he had seen in the Eifel district of Germany. The cones and lava flows show up very clearly – many have now been quarried away for use in aggregate.” (Source: Te Ara Encyclopaedia of New Zealand website, www.teara.govt.nz/ en/volcanoes/3/5/1 used with permission of the Alexander Turnbull Library, National Library of New Zealand) Right: ‘Auckland Volcanic Field’ with main cones in black (Source: Geological Society of America ‘Bulletin’ website, gsabulletin.gsapubs.org/)

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URBAN ROOMS - Thematic Densification: A Character Perspective for Managing Growth and Transportation in “Super Auckland” EMU, Fall Semester 2009/10, Thesis Project, January 2010, Tiffiny Hodgson

Geography The Geography of Auckland is one of its most distinct attributes, and a very visible part of the urban fabric.

There are 48 volcanoes in the Auckland volcanic field, all within 20km of the city centre. While none have erupted in recent times (most around 140,000-150,000 years ago), they have had a profound effect on both historic and contemporary habitation of the territory.

“Auckland’s volcanic cones were important sites of Māori occupation. They were ideal for palisaded fortresses, and were usually ringed with terraces of housing, storage pits, and large gardens on the fertile surrounding soil. European settlers in turn favoured the warm northern slopes for housing, and quarried volcanic basalt and scoria for buildings, walls, railway lines and roads. While the wide lava fields are built over today, the higher slopes of most of the cones are reserved as parks.”28 Although many are now municipally managed parks, they are far from being the voids that the urban fabric would suggest. In fact they are very visible points of significance loaded with memory and meaning. The page following illustrates their dominant impact on the city and its fabric.

In an historic sense, these volcanic cones have exerted pressure on urban form from the earliest times of New Zealands native history. Different cones are, of course, more important or significant than others, but despite their relatively limited height “Maungakiekie (One Tree Hill) is the largest after Rangitoto, 183 m high, with 31

32

Mt Albert (Source: www.images.gns.cri.nz)

Mt Roskill

Mt Richmond

(Source: www.images.gns.cri.nz)

Mt Mangere

(Source: www.images.gns.cri.nz)

(Source: www.nzarchaeology.org.nz)

(Source: www.images.gns.cri.nz)

One Tree Hill (Source: weblogs.mozillazine.org)

Mt St John

Main images - ‘Aerial Auckland City Looking South’ and ‘Aerial Auckland City and North Head Looking West’. This montage shows how cones in Auckland volcanic field act as visible and distinct markers in the urban fabric (Source for main images: used with permission of GoPix, www.gopix.com and Eyeball NZ, www.eyeballnz.com)

(Source: www.images.gns.cri.nz)

(Source: www.elliottaucklandcityhotel.com)

Mt Victoria

(Source: www.teara.govt.nz)

North Head

Auckland Domain

(Source: www.geonet.org.nz)

Mt Eden/Maungawhau

URBAN ROOMS - Thematic Densification: A Character Perspective for Managing Growth and Transportation in “Super Auckland” EMU, Fall Semester 2009/10, Thesis Project, January 2010, Tiffiny Hodgson

33

Roading Infrastructure ‘Shadow’

Bus Routes

Volcanic Crater and Cone

Volcanic Crater Lake

Volcanic Municipal Green

Left: When a graduated buffer is applied to the network of main or regional roads, the shadowed ‘circling’ effect of the infrastructure around the volcanic cones becomes clear.

Above: Position of cones in the Auckland volcanic field.

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URBAN ROOMS - Thematic Densification: A Character Perspective for Managing Growth and Transportation in “Super Auckland” EMU, Fall Semester 2009/10, Thesis Project, January 2010, Tiffiny Hodgson

three craters”,29 they are seen as important cultural markers, and are embedded in the Auckland subconscious.

While some were mined, about 30 of the 49 are well preserved and the infrastructure of the city has slowly spread around these highly visible points. “Māori built pā on the summits of Auckland’s volcanic cones, and terraces and defensive earthworks on their slopes.

European settlers used the volcanoes for earthworks of a different kind – they quarried them for building stone and road aggregate. Many larger cones are preserved in public parks, but some smaller scoria cones are completely gone, removed by the cartload and truckload over the last 150 years.”30 In a similar practice to honouring places such as cemeteries, roads have been built around the foot of the cones, rather than over or through them. The asphalt structure of this city has in fact been drawn in the negative space of the cones which remain green almost to sea level. These cones therefore are not negative spaces in the urban fabric, but quite the opposite; the volcanic field has itself been the dominant structure with the city growing in its shadow, filling the negative spaces between them.

Above left: Municipally managed parks that correspond with the volcanic cones.

Above right: In red, the bus lines (predominantly following the main regional roads) also circle around the cones.

Main roads (and therefore much of the Auckland bus routes) weave an open pattern around these spaces of significance, providing an historic precedent for circling or looping places of cultural identity than can be used as a spring board to densify the region in the future.

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URBAN ROOMS - Thematic Densification: A Character Perspective for Managing Growth and Transportation in “Super Auckland” EMU, Fall Semester 2009/10, Thesis Project, January 2010, Tiffiny Hodgson

A Comparison to Europe’s ‘Randstad Holland’ In a key note speech from the 4th International Forum on Urbanism, in Delft, November 2009, the Dutch Director for National Spatial Planning made the following statement about Randstad Holland:

for their area (Randstad Holland and the Auckland Region both contain over a third of their national populations in less than 5% of their countries area), and both have an extensive and dense road network making the vast majority of the territory accessible by private car.

In both regions, there is of this wider regional network by many people in a daily basis.

“Whereas elsewhere [in Europe] signs of demographic contraction are already evident, the Randstad’s growth is forecast to continue for the next few decades. The growth will be in numbers of people and even more in the number of homes for households that are continually becoming smaller and smaller. Economically speaking there will be a rise in employment, which demands greater ease of access to the cities. And we all want green, attractive and climate-resilient living environments, not just for ourselves, but also for the generations to come. In the meantime, we are rightly concerned about uncontrolled ‘urban clutter’ and the loss of green and open spaces. This concern illustrates the potential conflicts that the government and the Randstad’s administrators have to address in their vision for 2040.”31

The two regions - Greater Auckland and Randstad Holland - are an interesting comparision as much for their similarities as their differences. The diagrams at left show graphically the similar physical attributes such as size of the metropolitan region as a ratio of the total national area, percentage of national population, and size and dispersion of urban/metropolitan areas. (Base information sources: www.nationsencyclopedia.com, www.regio-randstad.nl, www.arc. govt.nz, www.stats.govt.nz, www.wikipedia.com, with all diagrams and maps made by the author)

This is surely a pertinent question for any growing region in the current climate, and remarkably similar to the current situation in Auckland. As there are also similarities in density and urban structure, a brief comparison of the two may be interesting to discern where lessons learnt from the European paradigm may be applicable to New Zealand.

Structurally the two regions have some distinct similarities – both have a disproportionately large population 37

‘Traffic Intensity (national and provincial roads)’ (Source: The supply, use and quality of Randstad Holland’s transportation networks in comparative perspective, Hilbers and Wilmink, 2002) While both populations use the dense road networks regionally on a daily basis, it will be argued in later sections that for identity, the perception of travelling from one ‘city’ to another - as in the Randstad - is a very different one from travelling a similar distance within the same city. One would not expect Utrecht and Amsterdam to have the same character, identity, or sense of place, but travelling from one suburb to another has a difference social and perceptual impact.

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URBAN ROOMS - Thematic Densification: A Character Perspective for Managing Growth and Transportation in “Super Auckland” EMU, Fall Semester 2009/10, Thesis Project, January 2010, Tiffiny Hodgson

Dissimilarly, the amount of trips that are taken by public transport varies hugely, with a much more limited (primarily road based) network found in Auckland.

Unlike most of their European counterparts who have a single ‘base’ city or environment, Aucklanders live with an intimate knowledge of multiple centres within a single large region.

The main difference is that Aucklanders do not cross any municipal or perceptual boundaries (post “Super Auckland”), and as such remain within the same city.

Travel is not therefore between cities or towns each with their own distinct identity, but between centres of varying intensity. Unlike the mental image of travelling from one place to another in the Randstad (‘I live in Den Haag, and work in Delft’) with the inherent issue of a ‘base’ place and a ‘secondary’ place, the Aucklander never leaves the ‘base’ place (‘I live and work in Auckland’), but swaps this for the multi-centrality concept.

In this regard, the Auckland region acts like a polycentric region with many neighbourhoods rich in their own cultural and economic intensity. This is much more of a multiple view of habitation, rather than the European singular one.

A strong link to the landscape (of which both are heavily influenced by water and coast), is also clearly discernable in the population, albeit with dissimilar cultural readings. Water has shaped not only the physical shape of the land, but also the way the two societies live with it.

39

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URBAN ROOMS - Thematic Densification: A Character Perspective for Managing Growth and Transportation in “Super Auckland” EMU, Fall Semester 2009/10, Thesis Project, January 2010, Tiffiny Hodgson

Image - ‘Māori feast’ “In 1844 Waikato chiefs hosted a week-long feast near Mt Hobson in Remuera. It was attended by about 4,000 Māori and many Pākehā, including an official party led by Governor Robert FitzRoy. He was greeted by a haka (war dance) performed by 1,600 armed warriors. This 1890 lithograph is from a painting by Joseph Merrett.” (Source: Te Ara Encyclopaedia of New Zealand, from the Alexander Turnbull Library, www.teara.govt.nz/en/aucklandplaces/12/5/1)

A Multicultural View of Space, Place and Land

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“Māori did not have a tradition of drawing maps – their geographical knowledge was expressed in oral traditions. But once Europeans began visiting New Zealand, Māori were able to translate this knowledge into map form. The earliest Māori map to have survived was drawn by Tukitahua of Ōruru in 1791. Tukitahua and Ngahuruhuru were taken from their home in Northland to Norfolk Island, where it was hoped that they would be able to teach the convicts about flax weaving. But as both were men, their knowledge of flax preparation was minimal. While trying to explain where they would like to be returned to, Tukitahua drew a map of New Zealand on the floor in chalk, which was then transferred to paper. His map gives most prominence to those areas he knew well and that were important to him. Tukitahua also included spiritual information. The path that the spirits of the dead follow to Te Rerenga Wairua (Cape Rēinga) before departing to the spiritual homeland of Hawaiki runs through the North Island.”

(Source: Te Ara Encyclopaedia of New Zealand, www.teara.govt.nz/ en/early-mapping/6/1/1, from Permission of the Alexander Turnbull Library, National Library of New Zealand)

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URBAN ROOMS - Thematic Densification: A Character Perspective for Managing Growth and Transportation in “Super Auckland” EMU, Fall Semester 2009/10, Thesis Project, January 2010, Tiffiny Hodgson

As mentioned earlier, the spatial planning tradition follows the British Land-use Management system, but has been adapted and changed due to the influenced from Māori concepts of ‘land’, ‘spirit’ and ‘place’, by New Zealand’s founding document, the 1840 Treaty of Waitangi.

A Multicultural View of Space, Place and Land

Māori call themselves the Tāngata Whenua, ‘people of the land’, and conversely the land is the mother of the people. Each group has its own Turangawaewae, or ‘place to stand’, which is vital to the identity and strength of the people. Natural features such as mountains and rivers were traditionally regarded as ancestors – an integral part of who you are and where you come from – and the sacred function of land is as important as the physical one.

With this in mind, it is understandable that the idea of having an unconditional right of tenure or the use of one’s ancestors was unthinkable to Māori. “Traditional Māori society did not have a concept of absolute ownership of land. Whānau (extended families) and hapū (sub-tribes) could have different rights to the same piece of land. One group may have the right to catch birds in a clump of trees, another to fish in the water nearby, and yet another to grow crops on the surrounding land. Exclusive boundaries were rare, and rights were constantly being renegotiated.”32

spatial regulation, is as much about ‘place’ as it is about ‘space’.

The use and protection of land, materials, and the protection of the environment is a major theme of New Zealand planning in all areas, and is governed by the Resource Management Act 1991 – the ‘RMA’ – (environmental and spatial regulation) which also lays down in law the objective of honouring and upholding the intent of the Treaty of Waitangi.

These differences to the Anglo-American context highlight the inherent difficultly in transposing one land management system on to another in a different location with vastly differing cultural and social mores. It also however, enables spatial planning in New Zealand to utilise this inherited awareness of the value of ‘sense of place’ to create not just efficient places, but also ones that feed both local communities and visitors in a more fundamental way.

Given Māoris’ more spiritual approach to their country, the absence of a concept of land ownership, and the idea that land rights are based on use through Whanau (family) and Iwi (tribes), the way land in New Zealand is dealt with today, even in the relatively dry field of 43

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URBAN ROOMS - Thematic Densification: A Character Perspective for Managing Growth and Transportation in “Super Auckland” EMU, Fall Semester 2009/10, Thesis Project, January 2010, Tiffiny Hodgson

Main Issues for Auckland Regional Planning

Image - ‘Development Hoarding, Wynyard Quarter’ taken by the author. Around an old industrial site in the Auckland Harbour (locally known as the “Tank Farm” for its use as the main site for petrol and gas storage), there is a chance happening. A “transformation of a major part of Auckland’s downtown waterfront is about to take a major step forward, connecting people to the sea and the city in a way that celebrates Auckland’s harbour-edge location”, from “Welcome” on the City+Sea website to promote the development, www. www.seacity.co.nz

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URBAN ROOMS - Thematic Densification: A Character Perspective for Managing Growth and Transportation in “Super Auckland” EMU, Fall Semester 2009/10, Thesis Project, January 2010, Tiffiny Hodgson

The following information has been sourced from numerous sources including the visions and plans referred to previously, newspaper articles, Government statistics and reports, etc. The issues again fall into the three main categories highlighted earlier - grow (‘Growth’), move (‘Transportation’) and protect (‘Identity’ and ‘Open Space’ as the spatial collector for much of the activity that defines character and ‘sense of place’).

The Issues of Growth, Transport, Space, and Retaining Identity

Left, Cover to the Governmental report on the merging of all Auckland City and District Councils to one “Super Auckland” region (Source: New Zealand Government website for Auckland, www. auckland.govt.nz/web/cms_rcauckland.nsf) Right top image, ‘Traffic lining up Auckland’ (Source: www. virtualtourist.com) Right bottom image: ‘Central Auckland East from Sky Tower’, by the author)

The section is premised on the fact that Auckland, while in an international context is a seemingly idyllic place to work and live, has like all cities, problems related to its form and function. As has been highlighted these are related largely to its geographical condition (the site on a ‘Volcanic Field’, in an isthmus, and its ability to ‘spread’ without barrier), and the steady increase in growth. While dispersed city regions provide definite benefits including in the amount of individual space per inhabitant, they do provide challenges in the provision of adequate, efficient facilities and services to a widely spread population, and in the resources (particularly natural resources) this expansion consumes.

In the case of Auckland, growth has been in one direction only – outwards. Whether this is a result of the urban form following the capital infrastructure connecting Auckland to the rest of the country, or whether it happened in reverse with infrastructure following inhabitants hunger for more space and an urban/rural lifestyle, is still unclear. Whatever the reason, this insidious proliferation will need to be checked, not only for reasons of sustainability, but to continue to provide the level of lifestyle and services that Aucklanders have come to expect.

47

“Population Density - Auckland Region, 1991-2006 Censuses, 201131 population projections”, people per square km (Source: Mapping Trends in the Auckland Region, Statistics New Zealand, www. statsnz.govt.nz)

48

“Population Growth Rates - Auckland Region, 1991-2006 Censuses, 2011-31 population projections”, percentage (Source: Mapping Trends in the Auckland Region, Statistics New Zealand, www. statsnz.govt.nz)

URBAN ROOMS - Thematic Densification: A Character Perspective for Managing Growth and Transportation in “Super Auckland” EMU, Fall Semester 2009/10, Thesis Project, January 2010, Tiffiny Hodgson

Growth The Auckland Region is one of the fastest growing in the country with an estimated population growth by 2031 of 1.9-2million plus inhabitants33. This corresponds to a forecast increased in demand for housing in metropolitan Auckland of 56% over 25 years34.

It is a reality that the Region will need more housing in less space as the legal borders of the territory shrink.

“The Growth Concept is intended to accommodate the regional housing demand arising from population growth projections. Around 700,000 dwellings will be required to house a potential population of two million people which points to the need for an additional 200,000 dwellings over and above the existing housing stock and capacity under current policy.”35

“This anticipated growth to 2031 alone is larger than the current population of any other New Zealand city and will be largely accommodated within Auckland’s metropolitan urban limits. This growth will increase the number of person trips made in Auckland each day from around 3.2 million currently to 5.2 million by 2050 – an increase of two million trips daily or 65 per cent from current travel demand.”

(Source: Draft 2009/10-2011/12 Auckland Regional Land Transport Programme, www.arta.co.nz)

To avoid the sprawl already endemic in the region, it is preferable for this to take place within exiting boundaries, where ever these may eventually lie – “A compact settlement plan is part of the goals of both Auckland’s Regional Growth Strategy and the Long Term Sustainability Framework”36. However, this would involve a significant change in settlement patterns along with encroachment on either the large areas of public open space (ie parks and gardens) or spaces associated with roading, car parking and other areas associated with the high level of private vehicle use.

It appears that such a change may be unachievable.

This ‘inward focused growth’, and the associated increase in density, was put forward 10 years ago, “Most future growth is within the existing metropolitan area,

with development outside the current urban area only where environmental, accessibility and community principles can be met.”37 Looking at developments in periphery in the intervening time, this recommendation has, to date, been largely ignored.

The 1999 direction stated that “Most urban growth is focused around centres of varying sizes and major passenger transport routes, such as town centres along the western, eastern and southern passenger transport corridors. The Growth Concept places much less emphasis on general suburban infill as a way of accommodating growth and focuses more on redevelopment and intensification in specific areas… Some growth would be accommodated in future urban areas (known as greenfield areas) in the north, south and west of the region. Greenfield areas include: Takanini, East Tamaki, Hingaia, Westgate/Redhills, Albany, Greenhithe, Long Bay and Orewa/Silverdale.”38 Growth and sprawl and the dramatic differences between the two, and the condition of infrastructure led growth, was clearly already seen.

Sprawl (as opposed to other types of growth patterns) sets up issues of what is rural and what is urban, which, in many places – New Zealand being no exception – is deeply linked to our sense of cultural identity. This is hotly contested around Europe, and is being grappled with in specific terms by places such as the Randstad, and Ireland. “While continuing to celebrate the quality of rugged individualism that makes us what we are, Irish society must come to grips—now—with the fact that all our futures are bound up with one another. A new disposition towards the land is urgently called 49

Geographical Auckland 1859

Urban Auckland 1841

Developing Auckland 1886

Geographical Map of the Auckland Region and its volcanic comes by Austrian Ferdinand von Hoschstetter (Source: Auckland City Libraries, through Auckland City Council, www.aucklandcity.govt.nz)

The designer of the first plan of Auckland, Felton Matthew, and his first ‘approved’ plan of 1841 (Source: Te Ara Encyclopaedia of New Zealand, www.teara.govt.nz)

Birds eye view of the burgeoning capital of Auckland from 1886 (Source: Te Ara Encyclopaedia of New Zealand, www. teara.govt.nz)

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URBAN ROOMS - Thematic Densification: A Character Perspective for Managing Growth and Transportation in “Super Auckland” EMU, Fall Semester 2009/10, Thesis Project, January 2010, Tiffiny Hodgson

for, one that ditches the old urban-rural divide in favour of a vision that treats our small island, town and countryside, as an integrated entity. How is that to be agreed, let alone achieved?”39

areas, to the Waiwera, Okura, eastern Waiheke Island, Whitford/ Mangemangeroa and Puhoi areas which also have significant environmental values worthy of protection from urbanisation.”42

Without the physical constraints present in her denser European counterparts, Auckland has continued to gobble up the countryside, expanding in previously unoccupied country areas. This is so entrenched that it is now seen as an acceptable solution. “Rural Auckland (including rural and coastal towns) will roughly double in size as a result of continued natural growth.

This equates to an approximate population increase of 130,000 people.”40 But if these ‘rural’ areas are suddenly flooded with people, both the physical and perceptual characteristics of ‘rural’ cease to be pastoral and become simply a greener version of the urban from which it sprung. “The second way the Growth Concept accommodates urban growth is in the new greenfield areas that could accommodate up to 30% of regional growth.”41 This issue of almost absentmindedly inhabiting peripheral green space is similar in nature to the debate on the (realistically) non-existent ‘Groene Hart’ – the green centre of Holland’s Randstad ring cities.

It seems Aucklanders are cognisant of the need to increase density, but not at the expense of their ‘quarter acre block’ – a typology that has been rapidly disappearing from the urban fabric already as changes in planning regulations in the last three decades made it economically advantageous to ‘subdivide’ larger sections and build additional housing43 – or easily accessible green space.

Even if the vision of the next 40 years requires an intensified version of this kind of ‘urban infill’ there is likely to be considerable opposition if this is not coupled with significant increases in other areas such as provision of increased public transport options. “The Growth Concept is based on compact urban environments. This means where urban growth occurs, whether as part of the existing metropolitan urban area, a satellite town, or rural or coastal town, it should result in a compact urban form to avoid spreading the effects of urbanisation over a greater area.”44

Paradoxically, at the same time there is awareness that this kind of excessive spread is undesirable, and (even if not explicitly stated) ultimately unsustainable. “Development of the most highly valued and sensitive natural areas is avoided. The unsuitability of such areas for future urban development is emphasised. Such areas range from the Waitakere and Hunua ranges which are significant park lands and water supply 51

Car Ownership

(Cars per 1,000 people on the y-axis; size of bubble represents population) Ownership in 2000

800 Canada New Zealand

Portugal

Ethiopia

4

Bulgaria Russia Ukraine China India

600

United States

Spain Malaysia

Luxembourg

400

Japan United Kingdom

Poland

Israel Korea Singapore Mexico Chile Hong Kong SAR

6 8 10 Log GDP per capita (constant 2000 U.S. dollars) Projected Ownership in 2050

12

200 0

800 New Zealand Spain Luxembourg Canada 600 United States

Poland United Kingdom Bulgaria Portugal Malaysia Indonesia Russia

Bangladesh

Ukraine China India

Nigeria Ethiopia

4

Japan

400

Above: Car Ownership Trends and Forecast graph (Source: ‘Trends and Issues - Transport Challenges’ Report, ARC [Auckland Regional Council] Transport Model, 2008)

0

Left: Car Ownership per 1000 people showing New Zealand moving from a current 3rd position worldwide to a projected 1st by 2050 (Source: International Road Federation, World Road Statistics, World Bank, World Development Indicators 2007; and projections from Chamom, Mauro and Okawa 2008)

Korea Mexico Chile Israel Singapore 200 Hong Kong SAR

Pakistan

6 8 10 Log GDP per capita (constant 2000 U.S. dollars)

12

52 Sources: International Road Federation, World Road Statistics; World Bank, World Development Indicators (2007); and

URBAN ROOMS - Thematic Densification: A Character Perspective for Managing Growth and Transportation in “Super Auckland” EMU, Fall Semester 2009/10, Thesis Project, January 2010, Tiffiny Hodgson

Transportation Auckland (along with the rest of New Zealand) is extremely dependent on private motor vehicles with one car for every 1.5 people, and 17% of all households having three or more vehicles. This is integrally linked with the fact that the Region has a substandard and geographically restrained public transportation system.

Flying in the face of oil prices and the cry for more sustainable travel patterns around the world, far from lessening, car use is projected to continue to increase, and “Car use is growing by around 4% pa.”45 With 68% of all trips to work in the region by car, congestion is becoming an ever larger issue and a major barrier to efficient growth. It is unfortunate that nuisance and the environmental aspects alone are not large enough problems to tackle this growing issue.

However, as congestion begins to have major negative impacts on business and the economy, more and more people are calling for change. This has been a topic of popular irritable conversation by residents for years, and was seen as crucial to the growth of the region over a decade ago by the Regional Growth Forum, who included the following as reasons to ease congestion: In the 1950s Auckland decided to solve its growing traffic problem by building motorways at the expense of public transport. The policy encouraged greater car use, leading to more congestion and more new motorways. Cartoonist Malcolm Evans satirised the policy in this 2003 cartoon. Since the early 2000s transport authorities have encouraged the use of public transport by introducing bus lanes on crowded roads, and running a more reliable suburban rail service. (Source: Te Ara Encyclopaedia of New Zealand, from the Alexander Turnbull Library, http://www.teara.govt.nz/en/aucklandregion/11/5)

> Congestion is perceived by the public to be one of the region’s most significant problems > Vehicle use, especially under congested conditions, is a major source of pollution > Total cost of congestion to the region is estimated in the order of $750 million pa including loss of production and costs of delay in moving goods46

As roads become more clogged and the population increases, car and bus travel is taking longer. With more delays and a declining average speed, the efficiency of the public transport system is greatly affected as 80% of public transport is by road (approx 42 million trips by bus). A vastly smaller 12% (6 million trips) are by train, with only 8% (4 million trips) by ferry47.

It is accepted that these issues will be compounded by the anticipated growth of the regional population, particularly if over 30% of the new regional inhabitants are accommodated in the periphery as suggested. “A doubling of population will have major impacts on the transport system and major transport improvements are needed. In turn, these will have significant environmental and community implications.”48 It is clear that Auckland cannot be internationally competitive (“A national economic imperative is for Auckland to be a world class city, competing on the world stage for international investment, events and tourism.”

“Auckland is lagging behind its competitor cities in developing its public transport system and this is limiting its potential to become more internationally competitive.”49), or even provide local advantage, if a new or dramatically improved system is not implemented. “An efficient transport system is vital to the prosperity of the Auckland region and to the well-being of Aucklanders. It is integral to meeting many of the other desired outcomes, including safe and healthy communities, urban amenity, employment and business opportunity, and good air and water quality. A transport system is needed which is more sustainable and can cope with the demands of a much larger population.”50 53

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URBAN ROOMS - Thematic Densification: A Character Perspective for Managing Growth and Transportation in “Super Auckland” EMU, Fall Semester 2009/10, Thesis Project, January 2010, Tiffiny Hodgson

As discussed, the Auckland region is spread out over a large but geographically challenging area, with relatively few inhabitants. The metropolitan density is low, although this does use the lower urban population of 1,023,000 rather than anticipated estimate of 1.4 million inhabitants assumed for “Super Auckland”. This is reasonably comparable to Randstad Holland where both density and urban area are approximately 40% more, and where both are clearly much more sparsely populated than for example Tehran at 25,359 inhabitants per square kilometre or the incredibly dense Hong Kong at 104,135 inhabitants per square kilometre.51 This spread over difficult terrain mixed with low density has given rise to vastly insufficient public transportation system, and is a major contributing factor to the rising levels of congestion and pollution experienced by Aucklanders. This coupled with the countries “Clean Green” marketing and its obligations under the Kyoto protocol raise the issue of a major rethink of transportation systems. For much of the last few decades there has been little attention paid to public transport, with most funding poured into the roading system Getner quote.

While this balance will need to be re-evaluated, the lion share of money and resource will continue to be spent on roading based transportation for economic, geographic and dispersion reasons.

Schematic map of Auckland including Geographic Map* showing the Auckland isthmus, and the many volcanoes that constrain the transport system and define the urban fabric. As has been shown in earlier maps there are significant transportation barriers, with particular problem in the public transport network transversally (as shown by the red arrows), as well as along the global road system (*Source: Auckland City Libraries, through Auckland City Council, www.aucklandcity.govt.nz)

Issues of quality, quantity and the physical ability to expand the public transportation system in narrow corridors have yet to be adequately dealt with. Strict governmental budgets allocated to individual municipalities, along with the political instability pre “Super Auckland” have compounded the problem.

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Left: ‘Auckland Accessibility Index 2001’, “The patterns of accessibility reflect the presence of the motorway network and also the concentration of public transport routes in the central area. As a result, the figure demonstrates high levels of accessibility in the central area and also along the Southern Motorway corridor to the south.” Clearly then, much of Auckland City (and to a greater extent areas in other adjacent municipalities served by the MAXX Auckland Public Transport system), are not accessible either to the global road system or by existing public transport. Accessibility Index is a measure of how easy it is to access health, education, banking, shopping and employment within a specific geographic area with a given set of transport conditions. (Source: Ministry of Economic Development report “Assessing Agglomeration Impacts in Auckland: Phase 1”, 2008, website: www.med.govt.nz/templates/MultipageDocumentPage____34158.aspx) Scale reads: < 0.30 0.30 - 0.40 0.40 - 0.45 0.45 - 0.50 0.50 - 0.55 > 0.55

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Because of the small population, funding for public transport is also inadequate and can never be enough to provide the kind of ‘equity’ of transport options found in European cities. Any intervention, particularly to non road based systems, require the highest possible reach for the lowest capital expenditure. It is however possible that connecting various systems (including water, road, rail and bicycle) could alleviate some of the cost issues.

The ‘if you build it, they will come’ mentality of recent planning practices, backed up by the imprudent growth in car use will need to be gradually changed. As the 2001 ‘Accessibility’ map (left) shows, despite the dense road network many suburbs are not highly connected to facilities and services.

Such amenities along with public transport nodes need to be placed within more reasonable distances of the population they serve – a measure obliquely referred to in one of New Zealand’s Land Transport Strategy 2040 as “Reduce kilometres travelled by single-occupancy vehicles, in major urban areas on weekdays, by 10 percent per capita. In the Auckland region, this equates to a reduction to 2979km/per capita/per annum.”52 New developments, particularly those in sensitive areas should be required to be close to a significant proportion of the population, ideally connected to efficient public transport lines which are not dependant on the road system, (preferably by more than one means, ie bus and light rail) to enable them to be equitably accessible.

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Above left: ‘Structure of Existing Transport Network, 2008’ (Source: ‘Trends and Issues - Transport Challenges’ Report, ARC [Auckland Regional Council], 2008) Above right: ‘Major Regional Land Transport Plan Projects 20092012’ (Source: Draft 2009/10-2011/12 Auckland: Regional Land Transport Programme, ARTA [Auckland Regional Transport Authority], 2009, www.arta.co.nz)

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The most current document for a three year Regional Land Transport strategy has just been published, and states: “Although this is a three-year RLTP, transport investment is long-term and it is important to identify the long-term drivers shaping the future of Auckland’s transport network. The first is Auckland’s population growth, which is expected to see Auckland reach two million people before 2036 and 2.3 million by 2050.

Most of the growth will take place in the urbanised parts of the region. The growth to 2036 alone will be larger than the current population of any other New Zealand city and is driving a strong increase in the demand for travel. By 2050 the transport system will be expected to enable 5.2 million person trips to be made each day – an increase of 65% from current levels.”53

There is also an imbalance in spending on transportation, despite a common thread with the various visions and strategies for Auckland is that growth must rely on an improved public transport system. From the 2005 Regional Land Transport report, 62% of the budget was spent on roading (benefiting, in the main, private road users), with only 34% on public transport.54

Coming logically from what has been discussed above, it is no surprise that most major transit works are focused on the national/regional road structure – getting people further, faster. While this infrastructure makes an attempt to ease the conditions of congestion and the economic issues of the slowing commercial transport industry, it will make little impact on public road transport, as many bus routes are located not on the national motorway system where there are few opportunities to stop, but in the smaller regional, and particularly main local roads.

Such developments will also encourage further use of cars as more people live further away from their places of work, leisure, family and friends. Conversely if people perceive that there is a motorway system from the periphery to the centre promising speedy travel, it encourages increased urbanisation of the hinterland.

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Identity There is no doubt that we have entered an age of global competition between cities. It is no longer enough to have good natural resources or a certain historic ‘place’ in the world. Increasingly, with today’s technology enabling trade to be done ‘from anywhere, to anywhere’, multinational companies are able to locate offices in a wide range of cities, and these companies are themselves becoming the lifeblood of the places they locate.

“To facilitate economic development, cities are more or less forced to make themselves attractive for investors and enterprises by investing in infrastructure, facilities and the development of attractive sites for new business development.”55 To increase tax benefits, job opportunities, and status these companies bring along with increasing the number of tourist flows also vital to a regions growth, a city must compete on the world stage. Conversely, often the more development that is undertaken by a region, the more likely they are to be attractive to such overseas investments. It is a vicious circle that requires constant reinvention to maintain.

But how can smaller regions, or those that are not as conveniently located worldwide hope to compete?

Auckland is in just such a position – it is neither as close to the major economic markets as cities in Europe or America, nor does it have the capacity to provide an oversupply of world class infrastructure.

The downside to this rampant race to provide everything the ‘next door neighbours’ are providing is what Edward Relph calls a “creeping sense of

placelessness”56. It is here that the other side to the choice of both companies and individuals to choose one city over another is seen. Not only do facilities and other pragmatic considerations play a part, but increasing, a places uniqueness – its identity, or sense of place – is paramount.

Local identity, is an issue that will become more of a driver of urban development over time, this includes the amount and quality of ‘soft’ networks or ‘social infrastructure’ they contain – social and socio-economic systems, arts and culture, history and myth, and the type of ‘lifestyle’ available in a certain place. “… the image and the charisma of the city itself play an important role when companies choose a site for their enterprise.”57 It is here that Auckland can excel.

In addition, there is an increasing need for local inhabitants to feel that they can connect to their environment “...place is a central concept in the analysis of urban and regional areas and how they are constructed and come to have meaning for their residents.”58 This has already been recognised as part of the set of ‘unique selling points’ that the region (and the country) can offer in a world market, and can use to increase the liveability of the city for its residents, as is evidenced by the following statement in Auckland City Councils Draft Plan to 2019.

“Auckland will celebrate its distinctive character and heritage. It will be an easy city to get around in, with a variety of transport options, balancing the needs of a growing population with efficient resource use.

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Image of ‘New Zealands founding document’ the remaining piece of the Treaty of Waitangi (Source: Te Ara Encyclopaedia of New Zealand, www.teara.govt.nz) signed in 1840 by the Crown. It is not just a land agreement but the joining - albeit not always harmoniously - of two distinctly different cultures, planning and habitation traditions, and ways of viewing the land.

“Signed in 1840, the Treaty of Waitangi is an agreement between the British Crown and Maori. It established British law in New Zealand, while at the same time guaranteeing Maori authority over their land and culture.”

“The British Government decided there was a need for some effective rule in New Zealand. In 1840, they sent Captain William Hobson there as Lieutenant-Governor. His mission was to acquire the Sovereignty of New Zealand, by way of a treaty with the native Maori Chiefs. A treaty was drawn up and translated. After a day of debate, the Treaty of Waitangi was signed on February 6, 1840, at Waitangi in the Bay of Islands. Forty-three Northland Chiefs signed the treaty on that day. Over 500 Maori Chiefs signed it as it was taken around the country during the next eight months.”

“While most treaties and contracts signed by Britain and her colonies during these times have been forgotten, the Treaty of Waitangi remains central to New Zealand law and society.”

(Source: Tourism New Zealand, http://www.newzealand.com/ travel/about-nz/history/history-treaty-of-waitangi.cfm)

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Our neighbourhoods will be safe, welcoming places and we will share a sense of pride in our city.” “Our vision is the council’s ultimate goal and provides a framework for all the council’s strategy decisions.”59 It may be in part because of the influence of Maori land concepts, and it most definitely reflects international trends that in the 10 year plan for Auckland City, ‘character’ is of prime importance. This vision is also reflected in the 1999 Auckland Regional Growth Strategy (soon to be superseded) – “Amenity and design - A liveable community will be one of high-quality urban and rural amenity where good design helps to create a sense of place, identity and community within an area.”60 Just how that is achieved within the bounds of regulation is unclear. Identity, or sense of place, is notoriously hard to pin down. Even in theory a single clear definition is hard to find. Christian Norberg-Schulz starts his book Genius Loci – Towards a Phenomenology of Architecture at this very spot “A concrete term for environment is place.”61 But further asks “What, then, do we mean with the word “place”? Obviously we mean something more than abstract location. We mean a totality of concrete things having material substance, shape, texture and colour. Together these things determine an “environmental character”, which is the essence of place.”62

similar philosophy “Sense [the sense of a settlement, or place] depends on spatial form and quality, but also on the culture, temperament, status, experience, and current purpose of the observer.”63 Again we find that place comprises not only our experience of the physical world, but also those things we cannot see or touch, but are as important to us.

In an attempt to provide a more measurable local definition, ICOMOS New Zealand64 states that place means “any land, including land covered by water, and the airspace forming the spatial context to such land, including any landscape, traditional site or sacred place, and anything fixed to the land including any archaeological site, garden, building or structure, and any body of water, whether fresh or seawater, that forms part of the historical and cultural heritage of New Zealand.”

And while character, identity, heritage, sense of place and community, are all excellent and desirable ideals, there seems to be little connection with these issues and the fundamental problems already stated of growth and transportation in the Auckland Region.

So place is not only understandable as the physical ‘concrete’ environment but with two abstract concepts must commonly associated with the idea of sense of place – ‘character’ and ‘essence’. Kevin Lynch has a 63

Schematic maps highlighting key issues for open space in the Auckland region - Ensuring Adequate Supply, Meeting Diverse Demands (Use), Ensuring Accessibility, and Protecting the Resource, from the â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Auckland Regional Open Space Strategy, November 2005â&#x20AC;&#x2122;, Auckland Regional Growth Forum (Source: ARC, www.arc.govt.nz/albany/fms/main/Documents/Plans/Regional%20strategies/ Auckland%20Regional%20Open%20 Space%20Strategy.pdf)

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Open Space “Environment - The Auckland region enjoys an environment of high quality compared with many other urban areas throughout the world. Future development will create further pressures on air quality, water quality, habitats and open space. The desired outcomes and principles in Chapter 2 [of the Regional Growth Strategy] highlight the importance of the region’s natural environment.”65 Auckland has an abundance of managed green, water, and open spaces, with over 40,000ha of land with recreational, historic or ecological importance66. Within a 3km radius of the central business district (CBD) there are numerous municipally managed open spaces, with three of the largest being Albert Park, Victoria Park, and the Auckland Domain (75ha or .75sqkm) . In fact, “Auckland city is unrivalled in the number and quality of its parks and beaches. How many cities offer more than 800 parks and reserves for everyone to enjoy?”67 In addition, there are also large areas that are ‘open space’ by virtue of being ‘left over’ interstitial spaces between buildings, areas that have not yet been developed, or areas where the perceived safety issues prevent usage by the majority of the population. It can therefore be assumed that a large percentage of Auckland open space is currently underutilized.

land. Doing this not only encourages the increased use of the car (becoming a cycle of growth difficult to break as one is used to justify the other), but takes up land that could be better used for other purposes.

This type of thinking has already been addressed in many theories, including Peter Calthorpe’s pivotal work on Transit Orientated Development in America. He states that “... our communities must be redesigned to re-establish and reinforce the public domain …our districts must be human scaled, and …our neighbourhoods must be diverse in use and population. Applied at such a regional scale, a network with such mixed use neighbourhoods could create order in our balkanised metropolis.”68 And it is important to note that here New Zealand is far closer in typology to America (another collection of young ‘new world’ cities), than to Europe. Our public spaces, most having been built within the history of the car, are more often orientated around such things as areas of geographical significance (coastlines, rivers, mountain to plateau divides etc)or to asphalt and steel infrastructure (roads, train corridors, trading streets, carking areas etc). The difference between the radiating mediaeval core of Europeans cities and the linear or grid development patterns in new world cities is the difference between the ‘square’ and the ‘street’.

Another signification contributor to open spaces are privatized areas for parking or vehicle related activities.

As more people live further from their work places, carparking areas are taking over every larger tracts of 65

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Problem Statement and Research Question: From ‘Sprawl’ to ‘Sense’ Image - ‘Mother and Children View the City from the Top of Mt Eden’ (Source: used with permission of GoPix, www.gopix.com and Eyeball NZ, www.eyeballnz.com)

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Building footprints in the outline of the Auckland metropolitan area - a vast see of low density building in a sea of green.

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The problem statement for this project is thus summarised:

Problem Statement: From ‘Sprawl’ to ‘Sense’

>The Greater Auckland Region (“Super Auckland”) is an attractive, fast growing region, with shrinking borders. It is heavily dependent on private vehicle use, with a limited public transport network. The region accepts the need to accommodate a rapid increase in population, and to provide better alternatives for connecting its inhabitants, while not losing sight of what makes it special and desirable.<

“The Greater Auckland Region (“Super Auckland”) is an attractive, fast growing region, with shrinking borders.

It is heavily dependent on private vehicle use, and with a limited public transport network. The region accepts the need to accommodate a rapid increase in population, and to provide better alternatives for connecting its inhabitants, while not losing site of what makes it special and desirable.”

This statement acknowledges the link between pragmatic and prosaic concerns. Population growth, consequential increased density, connectivity and accessibility issues, are interwoven with the ever more important concepts of identity, sense of place, and cultural heritage.

We can no longer use methods that have worked in the past simply because they are easy, or offer a straightforward way of being translated into spatial policy. A city is about its inhabitants, and it is from this perspective that we must start to fashion the new territory. The physical structure of roads, buildings, water management etc must be considered with the myriad other intangible structures that interact with it – social networks, virtual networks, groups of community and belonging, trade and commerce systems, and links to the wider region, the nation, and the world that can now take place from any point in the material city.

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Conceptual map of the character of proposed ‘Urban Rooms’, where transport and growth are prefaced on a spatial planning system that includes character, identity and ‘sense of place’ as key drivers for intervention.

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If we are to act responsibly as a profession, and as inhabitants of each of our ‘special places’ then we must accept that one group of concerns cannot be considered without the other. Moreover, by designing with structure, sprawl, sense and sustainably in concert, we have a greater chance of developing desirable, efficient cities towards the next century.

Research Question: From ‘Sprawl’ to ‘Sense’

>How can Spatial Planning regulations accommodate densification (Grow) and increases in public transport (Move) in the context of retaining local culture (Protect)?<

The research question for this project is therefore: “How can Spatial Planning regulations accommodate densification and increases in public transport in the context of enhancing vibrancy and local character?”

Without retreating to a ‘if you build it they will come’ mentality, it is proposed here that, far from detracting from a cities global positioning, a focus on enhancing the local will strengthen that which makes a place unique, and therefore alluring, on the world stage.

Broad similarities and differences to the European context are discussed in the next chapter.

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Urban Patterns in Auckland

Image - ‘State Housing in Oranga, Auckland, 1947’ - a classic example of the “quarter acre section” pattern of growth that Aucklanders have become used to for more than half a century. In this case even in subsidised state (or social) housing (Source: commons.wikimedia. org/wiki/File:State_Housing_in_Oranga,_Auckland,_1947.jpg)

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Albany

Central Business District

Newmarket

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Sylvia Park

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Testing the Centres

Urban Patterns in Auckland

It is difficult to appreciate the major differences between a new world city, and the historic patterns prevalent in Europe. As has already been discussed there are marked differences in the development of the urban fabric of Auckland from most European cities. This is most notable in the vast areas of single family housing (a typology that, as discussed, makes up 70% of Auckland dwelling units), that has been the dominant way of building residential areas for over half a century.

To address the problem statement it is necessary then to look more closely at the particular patterns of growth and inhabitation that make up the Auckland Region. As a widely dispersed region Auckland is a collection of ‘local centres’, many historic, that are connected by a relatively homogeneous ‘suburban’ fabric, and crossed by a comprehensive network of main/regional and local roads.

Four centres have been chosen to investigate. These are a selection of centres from the main Central Business District – and the approximate location of the original Auckland Township – to the metropolitan periphery, in line with the “Auckland Regional Growth Strategy: 2050”69, that 70% of the forecast growth should be taken up within the existing boundaries of the region.

Regional Auckland showing the Global roads (State Highways) and main Regional roads and indicating the sites of the four test types from top to bottom: Future Urban Area, Main Urban Centre, SubRegional Centre, and Town Centre

Centres” and “Future Urban Areas”. Of these types, most infill is suggested in the “Future Urban Areas” (usually on the periphery) and areas connected through an increased public transport system to each other.

The test areas are illustrated to the left and are: > Albany – a new development area (Periphery Housing/’Mega Stores’) designated a “Future Urban Area” > Central Business District – the historical centre (Centre/Edge Commercial and Harbour, Large scale entertainment), designated the “Main Urban Centre” > Newmarket – an established and lively hub, (Centre Mixed Housing and Medium Retail/Entertainment), designated a “Sub-Regional Centre” > Sylvia Park – a mix of an older suburban area with a new shopping hub (Old Housing, Industry and Large scale Retail), designated a “Town Centre” As can be seen on the following pages, the four areas show clear differences in the density of the built environment (although in New Zealand there is no true high density, and little medium density development outside of the CBD), the pattern of roading, the quality and size of open space, and the provision of cultural elements.

This document designates centres into different typologies in the urban fabric based on their existing characteristics and their potential for future growth. They include the “CBD”, “Sub Regional Centres”, “Town 75

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New Development - Albany: (Periphery Housing/’Mega Stores’) Designated “Future Urban Area”

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Top row, left to right: Global Roads (State highway), Regional Roads (main roads, usually also bus routes), Local Roads Middle row, left to right: Built, Green/Open Space (no non road based transport) Bottom row: Global Integration - in the light blue range meaning low global integration as would be expected in the periphery, Local integration - in the dark blue to light blue range showing very low local integration indicating low levels of neighbourhood vibrancy especially in the residential areas (Depth Map Space Syntax)

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Industrial/Business/Equipments

Mixed Use Commercial

Large Scale Retail

Housing

National (State Highway) Roads

Regional (Main) Roads

Local Roads

National (State Highway) Roads

Regional (Main) Roads

Local Roads

Non-Road Transit

Designated “Future Urban Area” Typical example of subdivisions in the periphery of Auckland. Much of these areas are still under development, and as such it is hard to guess at the future quality of the area. However, there seems to be little mixite in these areas, and they are often typified by large scale equipment (in this case the large ‘North Harbour Stadium”), or ‘mega’ shopping areas both with large tracts of single level carparking.

These areas are well connected to the centre by the state highway system, but the time required to get to the centre is often prohibitive due to congestion, particuarly in peak hours. These roads create enclave situations, and are generally badly or infrequently connected to the local system. The local system is, itself, more open weave with increased deadend roads and cul-de-sacs.

As is expected in a former greenfield site, there are large, unused areas of green space, many of which are not places to stay, but areas to drive around.

There is very little in the way of neighbourhood vitality or small business.

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Historical Centre - Central Business District (CBD) (Centre/Edge Commercial and Harbour, Large scale entertainment) “Main Urban Centre”

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Top row, left to right: Global Roads (State highway), Regional Roads (main roads, usually also bus routes), Local Roads Middle row, left to right: Built, Green/Open Space, Non road based transport Bottom row, left to right: Global Integration - in the orange to red range showing high global integration as is to be expected in the old centre and where the main National Roads circle, Local Integration - in the light blue to yellow range showing average local integration and neighbourhood vibrancy (Depth Map Space Syntax)

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Industrial/Business/Equipments

Mixed Use Commercial

Large Scale Retail

Housing

National (State Highway) Roads

Regional (Main) Roads

Local Roads

National (State Highway) Roads

Regional (Main) Roads

Local Roads

Non-Road Transit

“Main Urban Centre” This is the densest of the types, with the CBD being unique in the amount and type of buildings (ie highrise commercial) in Auckland, however other city centres in the region do have a similar floor density and footprint.

It is interesting that many of the original roads in the English orientated 1841 plan of Felton Matthew (left) still exist, however they are now considerably further from the foreshore.Current roads in this area are dense with many examples from each type typified by multiple connections on each road, and roads acting on more than one level (ie active as both part of the local and regional level simultaneously).

Like many city centres, green and open space is limited and highly managed. Much of the non green space is centred on major public buildings, transport hubs or the waterfront (although there is much greater potential for utilising the waterfront for pedestrians). This type has a 24 hour life, with food outlets particularly open through the night. This layered use throughout the day has increased as many buildings are now mixed use with more and more residential units.

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Established Neighbourhood Newmarket: (Existing Centre, Mixed Housing, Medium/Strip Retail, Entertainment, Parks, and Schools/Hospital) “Sub-Regional Centre”

page852

Top row, left to right: Global Roads (State highway), Regional Roads (main roads, usually also bus routes), Local Roads Middle row, left to right: Built, Green/Open Space, Non road based transport Bottom row, left to right: Global Integration - in the yellow to red range showing high levels of globabl integration, Local Integration in the blue to yellow range indicating low to medium local integration and showing some roads to have good potential for neighbourhood vibrancy (Depth Map Space Syntax)

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Industrial/Business/Equipments

Mixed Use Commercial

Large Scale Retail

Housing

National (State Highway) Roads

Regional (Main) Roads

Local Roads

National (State Highway) Roads

Regional (Main) Roads

Local Roads

Non-Road Transit

“Sub-Regional Centre” This is the area of the oldest ‘Borough’ in Auckland, and the last one to be amalgamated into the Auckland City Council.

As with the CBD example, there are multiple examples of regional and local roads, but only one global road traversing the area. This is a raised viaduct over the main shopping strip and has only two offramps (traffic entrances/exits) and no possibility of commercial or pedestrian accessibility. Elsewhere there is a reasonably high level of interconnectivity with streets again often acting both regionally and locally.

The area is layered outwards from the main shopping street, becoming more fine grained and residential the further from this ‘line’ you get. Green space is still highly managed, but there are also many areas of ‘privatised’ green associated with the large detached housing areas, and more ‘interstitial’ areas that are green by default.

This area has an active life at most times of the day, with late night entertainment blocks and restaurants alongside the retail spaces.

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Old and New Development Sylvia Park: (Old Housing, Industry and Large scale Retail) “Town Centre”

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Top row, left to right: Global Roads (State highway), Regional Roads (main roads, usually also bus routes), Local Roads Middle row, left to right: Built, Green/Open Space, Non road based transport Bottom row, left to right: Global Integration - in the yellow to organce range showing medium levels of global integration accounted for by the presence of the main National road to the southeast, Local Integration - in the blue to yellow range indicating a low local integration and level of neighbourhood vibrance except along the main regional road in the centre (Depth Map Space Syntax)

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Industrial/Business/Equipments

Mixed Use Commercial

Large Scale Retail

Housing

National (State Highway) Roads

Regional (Main) Roads

Local Roads

National (State Highway) Roads

Regional (Main) Roads

Local Roads

Non-Road Transit

“Town Centre” An example of new development next to established residential and industrial areas. There has been an existing suburb here for many decades, along with industry, but the recently land values have risen due to the opening of a new large scale shopping mall. This mall, while remarkably inviting on the exterior, and with many public areas, is trapped within a multi infrastructure pocket - bordered on two sides by major regional roads, to the south by State Highway 1 (the largest national/global road), and to the east by the rail line.

Connections to the existing fabric are minimal, and the out of scale development is an island between residential and industry. Green spaces in the area include one large scale park, filter/barrier growth along infrastructure, and private green in the detached housing area.

Much of the time green is used to divide, not include.

The area has a limited life over time, with the shopping centre closed after business hours, however there are small neighbourhood shopping spaces within the residential areas.

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HIGH

92

LOW

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The four areas clearly show differences in the density of the built environment (although in New Zealand there is no true high density, and little medium density development outside of the CBD), the pattern of roading, the quality and size of open space, and the provision of cultural elements.

Given the historic centres that had swelled and merged into one metropolitan area, the initial space syntax results were somewhat surprising. In the Global Integration (radius=n, far left) most of ‘Auckland City’ is highlighted (the more red colours) as having a highly integrated street network. There is little evidence of a collection of smaller centres here, however as Auckland is located in a narrow isthmus, with all major highways leading through it, this is more understandable. This also provides an argument for seeing much of Auckland City as a ‘territorial centre’ for the Region.

It could then be surmised that the, still existing, neighbournood centres would be found in the Local Integration (radius=3, middle) which is generally a better indicator of vibrancy at the street level, and often corresponds to places such as small scale shopping areas.

This also proved to be mostly incorrect, as there only one strongly highlighted area along Dominion Road with most of the rest of theterritory in blues and greens indicating medium to low integration.

The neighbourhood centres are only easily visible when using Integration of radius=7 (right), or more clearly by using the metric properties added with the angular analysis at differing scales as shown in the ‘Strategy’ chapter. This could be that, as a dispersed region (and maybe this is true of new world cities vs European cities), a wider view, and therefore radius, is needed to find ‘centres’ in a sea of ‘suburbs’.

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OR

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LINEAR

CENTRAL

SEGREGATED

URBAN ROOMS - Thematic Densification: A Character Perspective for Managing Growth and Transportation in “Super Auckland” EMU, Fall Semester 2009/10, Thesis Project, January 2010, Tiffiny Hodgson

Typologies and Development in Time The four test areas illustrate three types of centre development prevalent in the Auckland Region – Central, Linear, and Segregated. These correspond roughly to the spread of Auckland over time and illustrate the way the suburban form has connected historic centres that were previously distinct separate entities. They also map a move in time from a British/European influenced growth to a more new world approach.

As the City grew over time, (from the Central pattern to a more Linear growth, and then to Segregated) the global importance of the centre – the ‘all roads lead to Rome’ approach – has been replaced by the increasing importance of the denser network of the local and regional, and the rise of people living and conducting their daily activities not in one point, but in “multilocal” environments.

The most contemporary of these three – the Segregated – is perhaps the most problematic. It is a contemporary solution to rapid growth, and the massive increase in demand for leisure retail opportunities. Most have strict zones (although this is not the specific intent of the District Plans), and little programmatic mix. There is major division between old and new fabrics, and between changes in the scale of buildings, streets, and speeds (most pronounced in the Sylvia Park example).

In the Segregated area, Residential areas are single function and severed from other functions, seriously impacting the potential liveliness of the area.

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OPEN SPACE - From high built density (with managed large open areas) to buildings in the void

TYPOLOGY - From Anglo-American to a hybrid ‘New Zealand’ new world/Euro mix

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URBAN ROOMS - Thematic Densification: A Character Perspective for Managing Growth and Transportation in “Super Auckland” EMU, Fall Semester 2009/10, Thesis Project, January 2010, Tiffiny Hodgson

These areas tend to be very well connected at a national or regional level, but lack local connections and any sense of a continuation between one place and the next. They are often divided by major infrastructure (usually state highways, or large main/regional roads), and play little part in neighbourhood vibrancy. They are also, with the notable exception of Sylvia Park, divorced from a multi choice public transport network.

Worryingly, it is this new pattern of development that is likely to continue should current spatial planning strategies continue. It is a return to ‘all roads lead to Rome’ but on a massive, and ultimately unsustainable, level.

Not only does it drastically increase the need for private car use (and it’s associated negative environmental, social, spatial and economic impacts), but the large, developer lead shopping centres, appear to somehow financially justify the rampant use of greenfields sites.

The image to the left represents the way small historic centres in the Auckland region have spread over time to make one large metropolitan area using three main types of development. As time has progressed this growth has shown a tendancy to go from a strictly British (Anglo-American) system to a unique hybrid one from both the British and Maori cultures. At the same time open space is less structured and managed (as ‘park’) as one moves closer to the periphery.

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Current urban periphery - third circle

Spread over time - second circle

First historic circle

Segregated developments

Linear developments

OPEN SPACE - From high built density (with managed large open areas) to buildings in the void

TYPOLOGY - From Anglo-American to a hybrid â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;New Zealandâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; new world/Euro mix

Central developments

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URBAN ROOMS - Thematic Densification: A Character Perspective for Managing Growth and Transportation in “Super Auckland” EMU, Fall Semester 2009/10, Thesis Project, January 2010, Tiffiny Hodgson

If we use these typologies across the territory, it is clear that as New Zealand has grown, both in population, and as a nation, we have moved away from the AngloAmerican planning type inherited from the British, and have changed into a more hybrid system.

There is a danger (some would say that we have long passed this danger time) that we have simply swapped the ‘Anglo’ part of this inherited system, for the ‘American’ with sprawling suburbs with island mega malls surrounded by a lake of car parking spaces.

This would seem to negate the ideas in some strategies and vision’s that development in the periphery is happening well enough to continue unabated.

As well as changing in time, the predominant typologies also move from original Central developments (the historic centres), through Linear built structures, to the contemporary Segregated development.

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Urban Rooms: Using Character as City Narrative and Driver of Growth

Image - People gather for one of the several annual concerts in the Auckland Domain (Source: www.aucklanddailyphoto.com)

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The Auckland Domain - an example of an ‘Urban Room’ with distinct characters, and surrounded by walls of Regional Roads.

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URBAN ROOMS - Thematic Densification: A Character Perspective for Managing Growth and Transportation in “Super Auckland” EMU, Fall Semester 2009/10, Thesis Project, January 2010, Tiffiny Hodgson

The concept of Urban Rooms In an article on “communicative spaces” Pablo Juárez Latimer-Knowles discusses the idea of making not more functional public spaces, but spaces that communicate to their audience in a more meaningful way in order to counter the spread of homogeneity and the insidious loss of a sense of identity.

Urban Rooms: Using Character as City Narrative and Driver of Growth

It is important here to understand that the terms ‘open space’ and ‘public space’ are not the same as voids, interstitial spaces or greenfields areas. These are deliberately constructed areas with specific functions and purposes, and have different, often subconscious levels of meaning and social storytelling, outside that of formal cultural groupings. “For example, re-created environments—those that provide a setting for living history—are places that have both high form and high narrative content. By contrast, traditional museums have low form and low narrative content, because they house collections of artefacts (or even buildings) that are removed from their environment and explained with labels.”70

“Stories, on the other hand, can be far more adventurous and unconstrained, and more provocative too, and so can explore possible futures and possible paths to them. Telling stories is hard for politically driven organizations, governmental and public authorities because they are conditioned to be cautious, prescriptive and reactive. Stories facilitate many things that we are unaccustomed to – making statements that are indefinite, confronting, provoking, and seductive. And while that does involve risks, it also sets real interaction in motion.”71 If we look at the possibility of such places as ‘metropolitan, or Urban, rooms’ – particular spaces that have form, function and meaning – it may be easier to imagine how such an esoteric notion, or story, could be the driver for growth based not on Council boundaries, but on the type and design of rooms and the connection of different types of rooms to one another.

These spaces can become so integral not only to the pragmatic functioning of an area, but in supporting meaningful social networks that they become crucial in the search for vital neighbourhoods. Is it possible then that we can use such places – physical stories of our collective lives – to create required new growth areas that already contain both function and meaning, rather than endless swathes of bland greenfields developments? And how can this be done from the level of municipal governance?

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Open Development Sites Open Green Space Open Municipal Parks Euipments Industiral Mixed Use Commercial Small Scale Retail Large Scale Retail Residential Housing Transformation National (State Highway) Roads Regional (Main) Roads Local Roads Non-Road Transit Bus Lines

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Multi-scale Roads Park Perimeter

500m

The edge condition of the Domain is typified by high mixite - in plot size, use, and function. It is also very accessible to all of the local, regional and global networks and is ringed by public transport (multiple bus lines run around long different park roads).

URBAN ROOMS - Thematic Densification: A Character Perspective for Managing Growth and Transportation in “Super Auckland” EMU, Fall Semester 2009/10, Thesis Project, January 2010, Tiffiny Hodgson

The Auckland Domain When public space in Auckland works, it works incredibly well. There are places in the territory that already overcome ethnicity, age, educational and income barriers, and house a wide but incredibly powerful sense of their ‘place’ – they tell the daily story of who we are, who we have been, and who we want to be. More than that, they are often defining centres of a wider region, and become central to both seemingly banal daily movements, and significant major occasions.

The Auckland Domain is one such place. It is a microcosm of the territory and its inhabitants, and a well functioning ‘Urban Room’. Located just to the east of the central business district this large, publically administered park (ie owned by the State/Municipality and run by the Auckland City Council) spreads over 75 hectares of land72 and manages to contain the contradictions of New Zealand culture in its grounds, as well as being an area of huge ecological, historical and spiritual value.

“Time has smoothed the once-stark ash collar and central scoria cone of the Domain’s 50,000 year old crater, but both Maori and Pakeha always recognised its natural power. Te Wherowhero, Waikato’s great fighting chief, came to the hill called Pukekaroa to make peace with the feared Nga Puhi in the 1820’s. And when Lieutenant Governor Hobson founded the city of Auckland with the Ngati Whatua in 1840, he reserved 200 acres around this same cone, it became the Auckland Domain, New Zealand’s oldest park.”73

Physically it is situated on a hill and reaches the eastern most (and lowest) edge of the Auckland CBD. The geology is such that there are both relatively flat spaces for games and picnicking, and small hills and valleys. The Domain has both informal bush and forest areas – buffering major infrastructure like the eastern motorway, and the main train line south – and very formal sites such as the paved court area of the War Memorial Museum at the top of the hill. Large sports areas (without fencing, but using the cut of the grass to define edges), coexist next to intimate historic glass houses which are a popular destination for locals and tourists alike, and a major part of the successful maintenance of the huge biodiversity of plant species in the park.

This is a green ‘Urban Room’ in the city in the best sense – it has clearly defined borders (walls) of built fabric and infrastructure, and the ‘furniture’ of trees, roads, hills, built structures, grass, paved spaces, and water, which provide connected but distinctly different areas in which to construct daily life. In conjunction with this, many of the annual major events of Auckland are hosted in its grounds, along with numerous special events both public and private.

But, as with roads, to make a vibrant space, the edge condition is often even more crucial that the space itself. The spaces and building adjacent to the park maintain a position of mutual gain, and, while there are no fences around the area, clear changes in identity and functions make up this edge. It is possible then to see this as a typology – a genre of urban story if you will – that could be designed at different scales to create identity areas for increased growth.

The surrounding area offers some interesting characteristics that may be applied to development and densification in other areas. Unlike those new areas using the Mixed Point type of growth, the Domain has characteristics seen in both the Central and Linear typologies.

The surrounding plots are of various size and act across various scales. This is important to maintain liveliness in the room ‘catchment’.

The park itself is connected to the wider region by a direct exit from the global (State Highway/Motorway) road system, and is ringed by regional scale roads with many local road links. In fact much of this local/regional structure acts across both scales. This dual purpose – both as a neighbourhood area with ‘stay’ qualities, and as a regional connector – mean the area is used for much of a 24 hour period in a variety of ways. This not only adds character and vibrancy, but is a known deterrent against crime. In addition, the regional roads carry public bus services that service the park at multiple points.

The built component of the surroundings is typified by a high level of mixité. There are detached ‘family’ housing units, multiunit residential blocks, industrial commercial, retail and public equipments (a major regional hospital, government research facility, and both educational and medical facilities) all within 200m of the park edge. The plot size of for these buildings also shows huge variety from the typical New Zealand “quarter acre section” or smaller (0.02ha from the workers cottage history), to the large 11.8ha plot that makes part of the hospital site.

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Bus Lines

Roads working at multiple scales

Local, Regional, Global Roads

Industrial

Business/Commerical

Equipment - Hospitals, Schools, Public Buildings

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500m 500m 500m

500m 500m 500m

Redevelopment Site

Open Space - Park, Development, Undefined use

500m

500m

Retail - Large Scale, Small Scale

Residential

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URBAN ROOMS - Thematic Densification: A Character Perspective for Managing Growth and Transportation in “Super Auckland” EMU, Fall Semester 2009/10, Thesis Project, January 2010, Tiffiny Hodgson

These characteristics could enable the profession to generate better guidelines for increased growth, particularly in new development areas. It is possible therefore to ‘design’ areas that have the highest probability to quickly become desirable areas to work and live – exactly the kinds of “safe, welcoming places” that the Auckland District Plan is striving for. With a change to “Super Auckland” as impetus, we can write a compelling story for change. After all, “Designers are storytellers.”74 This narrative for Auckland then – the concept of ‘Urban Rooms’ – takes as its start the historic way of circling places of significance and uses the framework of existing useful typologies (Central and Linear), and the socio-spatial characteristics of spaces such as the Auckland Domain. It merges these with writings on sense of place, identity, and globalisation and weaves it into a story of growth through densification around the design and position of public transport loops.

Instead of placing new developments in outlying areas (such as the “Future Urban Area” of Albany), which have little relation to the region as a whole, are badly connected to other parts of the territory by public transport, encourage private car use, and require huge amounts of new development in the provision of facilities and services, growth will be centred in the existing fabric – in a wider territorial core – along Room/Loop developments.

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URBAN ROOMS - Thematic Densification: A Character Perspective for Managing Growth and Transportation in “Super Auckland” EMU, Fall Semester 2009/10, Thesis Project, January 2010, Tiffiny Hodgson

Strategy: Inward Growth, Increased Density, and Restructuring the Local

Image - ‘Auckland CBD taken from the Harbour Bridge (Source: authors own)

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Top left: The County of London showing Parliamentary Boroughs Bottom left: The County of London exhibiting its Geology Above: Railway London, 1905 (Source: plates from the Handy Volume Atlas of London)

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URBAN ROOMS - Thematic Densification: A Character Perspective for Managing Growth and Transportation in “Super Auckland” EMU, Fall Semester 2009/10, Thesis Project, January 2010, Tiffiny Hodgson

Strategic Direction

Strategy: Inward Growth, Increased Density, and Restructuring the Local

We can increase the density of the wider core and configure a more efficient public transport system by: > restructuring the urban fabric locally using public transport ‘Urban Loops’ around areas of character and; > using the identity of the ‘Urban Rooms’ formed by the Loops, as the driver of new connected centralities.

It is clear that if we are to find ‘new’, unique, and competitive cities that grow from our existing ones, we must look at urban planning in a new way. It is vital to encompass all the possibilities and challenges of ‘Grow’, ‘Move’ and ‘Protect’ to reinvigorate our cities and to adapt to increasing urbanisation.

The last 150 years has indoctrinated us into viewing the city from a single perspective – layers of material elements that intertwine. It is time however, that we rethink these elements, and bring them more in line with the provision of desirable places that engage inhabitants and the wider global community alike. We are adept at seeing infrastructural needs and planning to fill them, but spatial planning practice, as yet, has no clear language for describing emotional and cultural needs let alone being able to address them.

In the maps of London (left) from 1905 the basis of this thinking is clear – these cities are about terrain (geology, geography, and water and land as physical spatial elements), power (governance, borders, and who is ‘in control’) and the physical framework (rail infrastructure, roads, service systems such as waste, and built fabric). Despite being a hub of arts, culture and history,

very little of this is evident in this more pragmatic and physical mapping of the city.

We cannot simply erase the past nor should we, as in fact this is often the fundamental origin of our sense of collective identity. Neither can we discard previous ways of managing the city, but it is no longer sufficient to ignore the story of ourselves as inhabitants, and with this a more comprehensive reading of the territory.

“Where we came from, who we are, what forces have developed, and how they came about, is an awareness of long lines that include the future – or rather, the possible futures. In the process of change between now and tomorrow we have to react and adapt intelligently to current concerns and issues, and must understand the meaning of the past.”75 Might it be possible to manage population change and infrastructural issues within this new ‘sense’ paradigm?

For Auckland, if we accept that the city will need to contract (limit sprawl and densify within reduced borders), then adding even more road infrastructure is redundant. The existing network is already dense, particularly connections at a national and regional level.

If we densify, adding more dwellings and programme into the existing fabric around a widened ‘territorial core’ not just the existing city centre, then local level networks will need to be adjusted. As the local is usually associated with the area where we can best influence the sense of ‘neighbourhood community’ and ‘vibrancy’, then it follows that it would be reasonable to start from a position of strengthening local centres and increase the areas that provide a collective ‘place’.

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Activities and zones map of Auckland Central (Source: Perceptions of Public Safety in the Auckland CBD: A discussion of some of the results of the Auckland City District Police customer satisfaction survey, Jointly published by the Institute of Public Policy, New Zealand Police, and AUT University)

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URBAN ROOMS - Thematic Densification: A Character Perspective for Managing Growth and Transportation in “Super Auckland” EMU, Fall Semester 2009/10, Thesis Project, January 2010, Tiffiny Hodgson

Densification is not a new concept, and has been happening piecemeal in the region for some time. A recent study on this type of development (based on existing spatial planning policy and regulations in effect as at 2006) looks at two types of infill development.

“The Infill Land study includes two measures of capacity; infill-general (an additional house to the front or rear of an existing site) and infill-redevelopment (the removal of the existing dwelling and redevelopment to the maximum permitted density). The infill-general measure identified a metropolitan capacity for a further 20,300 dwelling units. This is 41% lower than the 2001 figure.”76 It is also far from the estimated 200,000 dwelling units required by 2050.

Worse, the problem is not one for the next generation of policy makers and city dwellers, but is just around the corner. “Based on past development patterns (i.e.

32% of residential development occurred on infill land) and future household projections this land resource is projected to provide capacity for this type of residential demand for only a further six to 10 years. Rodney District, North Shore City and Auckland City all have less than five years of infill capacity remaining.”77 From here we move from a merely infrastructure based model to a more actant based model, or perhaps, to be more encompassing, to “actor-networks”78. In this model the actors have agency through being part of a particular network. In this way Auckland inhabitants could simultaneously be the reason, and the driver of the growth of both identity and ‘place’, along with changes in the physical form.

There are of course other current models that attempt to tie together infrastructure, land and character such as the “Adaptive Design Process” way of Urban Planning as is explored in research such as Paul Lukez’s “Suburban Transformations”79. In this example however, the emphasis is on rectifying the existing issues with suburban sprawl and ‘edge cities’80. Lukez’s book offers useful strategies for achieving this, some of which will be explored in the following chapter. The main focus of this project however is not to make more sprawling edge cities that will require ‘fixing’, but to move away from a periphery view altogether and to use the techniques to manage another layer of growth from the centre – to densify a larger ‘metropolitan core’.

To achieve this it is clear that planning policy will require major changes, along with a significant shift in the way people live within the Auckland Region. To push through changes in regulation will be demanding, but whether this is more or less difficult that the corresponding change required from the city’s actorinhabitants is debatable.

But what is it that people who live in Auckland, desire? In an urban sense these desires could be found by reconfiguring the previous desires of the city region (Grow, Move, Protect) into inhabitant driven goals – Grow spaces for people to live; Move people in an efficient and ecologically mindful way, with the opportunity for multiple alternatives; and Protect those spaces that people find significant and that add to the vibrancy and character of their neighbourhoods.

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URBAN ROOMS - Thematic Densification: A Character Perspective for Managing Growth and Transportation in “Super Auckland” EMU, Fall Semester 2009/10, Thesis Project, January 2010, Tiffiny Hodgson

Building Footprint

Municipal Park

“Significant Area”

>To change spatial policy >To densify the core >To connect neighbourhood areas with light rail - “Urban Loops” >To restructure the local “Urban Rooms”

GIS image within ‘Auckland City’ (the wider territorial core, and the area suggested for most densification), showing building footprints in black, municipal parks in green and ‘significant areas’ in red.

These are not particularly startling or new goals, and have been backed up not only by theoretical writing on space and place, but by more pragmatic sources such as City Plans and Visions (like the Auckland City Council’s Draft 10-year Plan 2009-2019) and reports such as the Perceptions of Public Safety in the Auckland CBD81.

Strategic Goals

However to effect change, actors need to have both a voice and a forum for it to be heard. Christopher Alexander stated that “individuals have no collective voice in a community of more than 5,000 to 10,000 persons”82. This would seem to support the idea of changing the structure from both a regional spatial planning level (top down) and from the local level, or neighbourhood and community action (bottom up).

This would allow for actors to start delineating spaces and networks, and policy makers to provide a new framework for this intervention. Changes in policy are certainly required, but they must also be supplemented by intervention at the small local scale, with input from those who live and work there.

>Change spatial policy to allow for increased density within the Metropolitan Urban Limit and the new ‘metropolitan core’;

There are also issues of choice and equality. To enable actors to participate fully in the changes, there must be adequate opportunities. While the dense road system would seem to fulfil these criteria, it does not allow for adequate connection by those without access to a private car, or for those who need to move transversally in the region with some guarantee of speed. Given the urgent need to update and extend the existing public transport network, it would seem appropriate to use this as the main element to connect these character areas, provide viable alternatives to the car, and provide a more egalitarian way of accessing the territory.

Given the above the strategy for Auckland (addressing the three main challenges for Auckland plus Governance) the concept of Urban Rooms and Urban Loops will be used to:

>Densify the core, without use of greenfields development; >Connect small vibrant neighbourhood areas – this is derived in part from the local inhabitants, and in part from the spatial conditions – with ‘Urban Loops’ connecting each other via the wider regional network on a new light rail system; >Restructure the local neighbourhoods, and consequential new centralities as ‘Urban Rooms’, using the criteria of proven existing development areas.

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Neighbourhood of High Intensity

Lines of High Intensity

HIGH

LOW

Top left: Auckland Regional space syntax map with radial metric unit analysis 500 highlighting lines (in the red and orange colour range) which have greater numbers of connections within a more regional scale and are likely to be busy, lively streets.

Top right: Urban Loops derived from these lively lines and not on the global road network (with the exception of the Harbour Bridge which is the only route avaliable), and considering issues from field work of appropriate ares.

Bottom left: Auckland Regional space syntax map with radial metric unit amalysis 50 highlighting areas (in the red and orange colour range)which have greater numbers of connections within a local radius and are likely to be busy, lively areas.

Bottom right: Grey areas are formed by connecting the areas with high values (the red and organge colour range) to denote â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;neighbourhoodsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; of likely vibrance.

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URBAN ROOMS - Thematic Densification: A Character Perspective for Managing Growth and Transportation in “Super Auckland” EMU, Fall Semester 2009/10, Thesis Project, January 2010, Tiffiny Hodgson

Using Space Syntax to define the Urban Rooms and Urban Loops “Super Auckland” offers the opportunity to learn lessons from the dense ‘maximum city’ but with the perfect foil of an exceptional and influential landscape in an existing low density urban fabric to offset negative aspect of intensification (highly attractive in a European sense). Auckland could, in a very real way, use its already unique character to its advantage in its future development.

To provide some quantifiable or spatial picture of where areas of ‘vibrancy’, ‘character’, ‘desirability’ or ‘uniqueness’ may be (and it is must be remembered that this is by no means an exact science), the Depth Map programme of space syntax analysis is used again.

to help find appropriate places for intervention in ‘Loops’ and ‘Rooms’. This has not been the only criteria for their generation, but has provided a pragmatic base for the discussion on character and identity. Other criteria of an Urban Loop include: > the avoidance, where possible, of the global road network as this is a high speed network with minimal entry and exit points > the accommodation of the Auckland Maxx Transport statement that “Buses usually stop every 400 metres at posted signs” so as not to be less accessible to pedestrians than the existing bus system > the location on streets that are wide enough to accommodate a light rail system with the minimal destruction of existing buildings.

Earlier, the Global Integration analysis indicated that most of Auckland City is in fact a connected ‘territorial core’. Just as the CBD is considered the ‘centre’ for Auckland City, much of Auckland City itself can be considered as the ‘centre’ for the region. This is not to detract from the special qualities of the existing Municipalities (as they are now), but simply a representation of the spatial conditions at a regional level.

Using the Metric Analysis at varying scales helps to find spatially where areas and/or lines occur that show characteristics associated with areas of ‘character’ such as high levels of connection at local, regional and global scales, multiple connections to other streets etc.

The areas and lines highlighted at left have been used page 1172

Proposed High Restraint Area

Proposed Medium Restraint Area

Proposed Low Restraint Area

Proposed New Growth Areas

Proposed New Regional Road

Proposed Rapid Transit Station

Lines and Points of Intentisty

Roading Infrastructure ‘Shadow’

Light Rail ‘Urban Loops’

Shopping Centre

Shopping Centre/Mall - Large

Market - Large

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Top left: Map showing the “Auckland Regional Growth Strategy 2050” ‘New Urban Growth Area’ and the proposed new ‘Urban Loops’ light rail and a ‘development buffer zone’ - while the Loops do intersect the new growth areas, it is in a minimal way and with emphasis on development in the ‘metropolitan core’ Bottom left: Map showing the “Auckland Regional Growth Strategy 2050” ‘Rapid Transit Stations’ and the proposed new ‘Urban Loops’ light rail. Those in red are where the Loops intersect a Rapid Transit Station, and in grey where they are close enough to service the proposed neighbour hood. Only four of the proposed stations are not included which would seem to indicate that the Loops have enough of a link to existing proposals to be considered reasonable.

Top right: Map showing the “Auckland Regional Growth Strategy 2050” ‘Areas and Corridors of Intensity’ and the proposed new ‘Urban Loops’ light rail - the shows clearly the link between these lines and areas that are already considered desirable, vibrant and unique (and have medium to high levels of services and facilities) Bottom right: Map showing the proposed ‘Urban Loops’ connecting the existing network of shopping centres (this map will be expanded upon in the ‘Principles’ section)

URBAN ROOMS - Thematic Densification: A Character Perspective for Managing Growth and Transportation in “Super Auckland” EMU, Fall Semester 2009/10, Thesis Project, January 2010, Tiffiny Hodgson

Neighbourhood of High Intensity (Space Syntax)

City Centre Loop (Primary)

Dominion Loop (Phase One)

Upper Harbour Loop (Phase One)

Airport Connector (Phase One)

Airport Loop (Phase Two)

Western Connector (Phase Three)

Eastern Bays Loop (Phase Three)

Southern Loop (Phase Three)

When viewing the new Loops some connections to current proposals exist. The intervention points for the Loops are cognisant that the “Auckland Regional Growth Strategy 2050” has included points for Rapid Transit Stations, which have no doubt been considered in some depth, and with maximum feasibility in mind.

Therefore the Loops maintain over 80% (16 of the 20) of these stations either directly on the lines, or within a reasonable distance.

The Loops are also placed amongst many of the ‘Areas and Corridors of Intensity’. This capitalises on being close to areas that are already considered vibrant, desirable, and which have a high level of intensity. When new development occurs in areas with low intensity and therefore with low accessibility to public transport, facilities and services (for example the 30% of new growth in the periphery ‘New Urban Centres’), significantly more time and investment is required to grow these areas into the kinds of places that most visions and plans say are preferable. The most effective results could therefore be achieved when Loops are near to existing intensity, rather than in greenfields and periphery space.

As there is little advantage in improving something that is already good or in expending excess energy in creating intensity ‘from scratch’, intervention will be in the intermediate areas, neither lacking in intensity, nor already highly intense.

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Principles: Selecting Tools for Spatial Development

Image - Construction of the Auckland Harbour Bridge Crossing, 1958 (Source: Auckland Motorways website, www.aucklandmotorways. co.nz/northern/ahc.html)

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Intervention at Multiple Scales

Principles: Selecting Tools for Spatial Development

Images left to right: > Local and Regional combined - building footprints on the Dominion Road Loop (top) and the concept image for the Urban Loops/ Urban Rooms concept (bottom) > GIS figure ground image of the area of the ‘metropolitan core’ > GIS figure ground housing typology comparisons of (from top to bottom) pavillonnaire housing in Balmoral in Auckland, Grand Ensemble housing blocks in Gonesse, in the Parisian Banlieue, and mixed use blocks (including residential) in central Paris > Development buffer around the Urban Loops > Mixed scale roads from the analysis of the Auckland Domain

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To take the project from the concept of Urban Rooms and Urban Loops, though the strategic direction, and into physical interventions in the territory, more specific rules need to be created. These provide key criteria both for design and for evaluation. Eleven principles are proposed and are drawn from the three main themes plus Governance. Pictorially the themes involved in each principle are represented by its respective icon.

Intervention will be participatory and made at both the regional scale (Urban Loops) and the local scale (changes to realize Urban Rooms) given their interdependency. This will involve stakeholders at many levels with National and Local Government likely to be responsible for the proposed light rail lines, and both private and Private Public Partnerships (PPP’s) involved with development of specific sites and buildings.

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Densification of the Existing Fabric

New Building Typologies

Public Transport Infrastructure as Driver

Densification of the centre (in this case a regional ‘metropolitan centre’) is selected over new development in the periphery. This can be achieved primarily by a mix of general residential infill (a new house on an existing single house plot), and new residential infill development (new multi-unit housing developments on larger or combined plots).

In conjunction with the densification principle, new building types – particularly for housing – will be considered. The level of 70% for detached family houses is not possible for the future without increasing sprawl, decreasing vibrant places over the region, and reducing access to facilities and infrastructure. New definitions of desirable living in medium density typologies and the activities they are mixed with will be introduced and change over time.

The Urban Loops (public light rail lines) have been sited alone routes with existing vibrancy. In a conscience repetition of the historic method of providing transport infrastructure before development, lines will be used as the catalyst for a ‘second layer’ of development to densify the ‘metropolitan core’. Interventions such as residential infill, retail development sites, and main transport hubs will be based on or in close vicinity to these lines.

500m x 500m

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Create Connection

Diversity of Plot Size

Mixité and Diversity of Building Type

The presence of a complex street network that acts both locally and regionally is crucial to vibrancy. Urban Loops and the developments around them will integrate the new regional network with the city’s existing block structure (neighbourhoods) to create vibrant streets that act on more than one scale. Streets will have the potential to be active at various times of the day and night, and carry varied programme to allow for more intensified levels of activity.

A mix of plot sizes is a useful spatial tool to provide the best opportunity for variety and liveliness. A mix in sizes yields small single unit dwelling sites, and larger areas for multi-unit housing or public facilities such as sports centres and public buildings. A mix of sizes for retail is encouraged to ensure different levels of strategic concentration in the urban fabric. A mix of plots and functions is favoured over areas with plots of a similar size and a specified land use which foster singular or very limited programme.

The predominant ‘pavillonnaire in field’ way of building construction – or Lukez’s ‘object-like structures’84 – has in Auckland produced a spread city full of individual buildings with little reference or connection. In conjunction with a mix of plot sizes, a mix of programme, function and specific building types are to be utilised, particularly along the street frontage of the Urban Loops. Small areas of uniform building however (for example Dutch row houses) are also useful to create urban harmony provided they can accommodate adaptation and multiple functions.

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Intensification of Green Space

Protection of Significant Areas

Auckland has abundant green space, and it may not be necessary to retain every open park. While not advocating the wholesale use of suburban recreational areas and main public parks for increased built programme (especially in culturally significant areas such as volcanic cones), open green space should be evaluated for its accessibility, desirability and range of uses. Intensification of built fabric, particularly on the on the edges of green space should be encouraged.

‘Sense of place’ is often connected to a society’s or community’s interaction with the public realm. Public areas (often green spaces) are synonymous with both the connection to the ‘land’ in a spiritual sense and our interaction with it at various levels. Identifiable urban cultural and social areas such as volcanic cones, playgrounds, public artworks, and event places in parks and on the existing street network will be protected. These areas will be used as criteria to find concentrations able to be grown into new centralities in the ‘metropolitan core’.

Images left to right: > Mixed scale roads from the analysis of the Auckland Domain > Plot size and function comparison from the analysis of the Auckland Domain edge. The diagram shows clearly the range of plot sizes irrespective of funtion, dispelling the idea that certain sizes are specific to certain uses. > GIS mapping of areas and points of significance including open areas > GIS figure ground map of Auckland City ‘metropolitan core’ with municipal parks, open green and protected areas of significance

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National Road (State Highway)

Shopping Centre

Shopping Centre/Mall - Large

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Market - Large

Encouraging people to move inward rather than head to the periphery (and allowing this to happen easily) is crucial to providing a ‘critical mass’ for densification of the ‘metropolitan core’. Shopping is a necessary part of everyday life and a ring of larger regional shopping malls can be created within the existing network. This will be located at strategic points along the outer edge of the ‘metropolitan core’ to provide a network of retail intensity. Small neighbourhood strip shopping should be used to enliven neighbourhood areas and make ‘stay’ places around transport hubs.

Proposed Shopping Ring

Shopping as Pull and Hub

Left: Concept map showing shopping centres in the region. The ones with red dots are large shopping malls with a more regional reach (people are willing to commute from further away to get to them). As is expected, most of the large malls are within close proximity to the national road system (in this case State Highway One - the main road spanning the length of New Zealand) as can be seen in the dashed box.

It is proposed that a secondary ring network of larger malls which includes the three already in the proposed area, be instituted around the ‘metropolitan core’ in conjuntion with the linear network already existing.

Far left: The proposed network of Urban Loops, connects many of the smaller shopping centres, especially in the west, and directly connects six of the major malls, with a further three close by.

Condensed Parking

“Car Swap”

The proliferation of parking buildings is ubiquitous and space hungry. Management of parking remains a major problem for Auckland. As space becomes more valuable in the intensified city, on-street parking, and vertical parking areas combined with other uses should be explored with attention paid to their integration in the community. Parking in general however, should be reduced, incorporated into other buildings, or converted to ‘park and ride’ to encourage public transport use.

> The CBD is approximately 300 hectares > There are 59 car parking building in the CBD or one for every 5 hectares

Right: Diagram of the position of carparking buildings in the Auckland CBD alongside a quick theoretical equation showing the extent of their grip on the centre of Auckland City.

Information for the “Car Swap” equation is as follows: > CSB size estimated from GIS as 3,050,000m2 > Car parking spaces are conservatively estimated from Wilsons Parking who manage 34 of the 59 car parks in the CBD, and have parks from 25 to 6500 spaces in size with many of the Auckland CBD ones at the larger end of the scale, (Source: Wilsons Parking website, www.wilsonparking.co.nz/go/about-us) > Each space is 15m2 (Source: Metric Handbook Planning and Design Data) plus one third area for support spaces and circulation (Source: “Suburban Transformations”, Paul Lukez, page 103) > Average house size from Infometrics NZ plus 10% for ancillary space (Source: “Us and them - a Trans-Tasman comparison of residential building statistics”, 2003 figures, Informetrics website, www. infometrics.co.nz/top10/art1719.htm)

If each parking garage has 500 spaces, plus the ancillary space required, this equals approximately 66 hectares > The average house size in New Zealand is 176m2, plus 10% for ancillary space If all garages were converted into ‘average sized’ dwellings and only street parking were left, there would be space for more than 3400 additional housing units in the Auckland CBD (and many unhappy parkers looking for public transportation) 127

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Scenario Testing: Looking for Manageable Strategies from Extreme Alternatives Image - Google Earth view of the intersection of Balmoral Road and Dominion Road, Auckland, showing the predominant typology of the region - the detached family house (Source: Google Earth)

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Light Rail Urban Loops

Growth Proposal New Road

Growth Proposal Intensity Point

Growth Proposal Rapid Transit Station

Neighbourhood of High Intensity (Space Syntax)

Auckland City Council “Significant” Places

(including Maori Heritage, historic buildings, artworks, playgrounds, ecological point etc)

Volcanic Cone (with 200m buffer)

Volcanic Municipal Park

New Centrality

Crossmapping: Character/significance and intensity points + physical structures of parks and infrastrcutre: This map overlays spatial positions of ‘significance’ (these are GIS points for: ‘Significant Site Boundary’, ‘Significant Buildings Trees Location’, ‘Playground Equipment’, ‘Barbeque Location’, ‘Artwork Location’, ‘Civic Archaeological Site’, Civic Conservation Site’, ‘Civic Maori Heritage Site’, ‘Civic Protected Tree’ and ‘Civic Protected Feature’, and are only avaliable for the Auckland City Council area), areas of intensity, space syntax ‘vibrant’ neighbourhoods’, and of course volcanic cones (with a 200m buffer) and their associated green spaces. It is an attempt to identify a pragmatic spatial quality of the illusive qualities of ‘character’, ‘identity’ and ‘sense of place’.

While, as with most spatial indicators, such points are widely dispersed in Auckland, there are some areas with show higher concentrations of those qualities that can be indicators of desirable, unique and ‘characterful’ neighbourhoods.

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Guidelines from the Strategy

Scenario Testing: Looking for Manageable Strategies from Extreme Alternatives

As has been discussed in previous chapters the design scenarios to test the character development of Auckland uses the historic circling of places of significance, existing Central and Linear typologies, and the sociospatial characteristics of exemplary spaces. The Urban Loops intervene at the regional scale and essentially represent the ‘top down’, State orientated part of this development. Scenarios designs will take this framework with the principles and test possible outcomes at the local level with the input from inhabitants and the private sector. These tests give image to the more bottom up portion of the strategy.

“Currently many complaints can be heard in the Netherlands about how plans always become bogged down, and are implemented, if at all, only after an uphill battle. In my opinion, this has to do with people having a too narrow view of Think-Do-Act. We tend to stop after ‘think’ and ‘do’, which produces a surplus of activities without really framing projects effectively. The cause, in my view, is the omission of the ‘act’ element, in promulgating a clear political will and the associated perspective.”86 The point is to DO SOMETHING! In this case test the strategy.

What would Auckland look like based on character derived Urban Rooms, and new light rail Loops? Where would the new centralities be? How do they look?

What new patterns can be created? What is special?

Design scenarios give an opportunity to visualise 131

National Roads

Main Regional Roads

Light Rail Urban Loops

Growth Proposal Centre of Intensity

Significance Crossmapping New Centrality

Possible New Centre

Crossmapping: Left: Urban Loops with the existing centres of intensity showing areas that are existing centres. The larger of these - equating to â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Sub Regional Centresâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; - are labelled.

Right: Urban Loops with centralities located by overlaying significance, culture, parks, volcanoes etc as before.

Far right: Urban Loops with possible new centres based on the overlay of significance, the increased level of accessibility provided by the light rail, shopping centres, and the potential for increased density in the existing fabric.

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133

National Roads

Main Regional Roads

Light Rail Urban Loops

Growth Proposal Centre of Intensity

Significance Crossmapping New Centrality

Possible New Centre

New Centralities: Existing areas of intensity and new urban centres based on character and accessibility on the Urban Loops. Development radiating and driven from the light rail lines.

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possible answers to these questions – in this case from a spread monocentric city, to a networked centre based on attractive and efficient transport and ‘places to stay’.

“Designs are also part of these stories – a very important part indeed... They – designs and the designers – belong to the core of spatial planning. They not only make tactile what cannot be seen by “imagining”, but their research by design, the possible futures that emerge, and the performance of both product and actor, make design a core tool, process, actor and outcome of planning.”87 The scenario designs can give concrete shape to concepts of ‘character and identity’. These issues are assumed but vague in the “Auckland City Council’s Draft 10-year Plan 2009-2019”. A more robust set of criteria are used in this project based on: criteria used previously (the “Auckland Regional Growth Strategy 2050” areas of intensity, proposed new roads, proposed rapid transit stations, along with the volcanic cones and the green spaces that surround them); additional data from the analysis such as the ‘neighbourhoods of vibrancy’ (identified through space syntax analysis); and Auckland District Plan information on places of significance and intensity88. From this, new centralities are proposed in conjunction with the Urban Loops.

Working at a closer community scale and using the basic typology of Urban Rooms circled by public transport loops it is possible to test various ways of increasing density, connecting the fabric with multiple alternatives, whilst enhancing what is already unique and vibrant about Auckland.

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‘Dominion Loop’ Light Rail Line

Volcanic Cone

Density Test Area

Testing Framework Under the three themes and undertaken in line with the principles, the goals to be achieved are: > GROW ‘Auckland + 50%’ – increase the residential housing stock by 50% (while not a difficult task in such a dispersed, low density region, it will require a change in expectations and behaviours of Aucklanders who are used to private gardens in detached dwellings) using different building typologies > MOVE ‘Light rail loops’ – new light rail infrastructure along main regional roads to delineate each room in the medium scale, and which connect to local roads contributing to vibrancy at the local scale along with decreasing or condensing existing car parking > PROTECT ‘Stay and Play’ – in conjunction with the rail loops, create hubs that connect with existing areas of vibrancy, and which link residential and retail areas (this can be done in various ways as per the principles)

Density Test for Dominion Loop. Increasing density in an area with such a low number of dwellings per hectare would not be usually be considered a challenge, however in Auckland, such living conditions are considered normal, with this test encompassing five suburbs of varying wealth and socio-economic make-up.

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Auckland City Council “Significant”

(including Maori Heritage, historic buildings, artworks, playgrounds, ecological point etc)

Existing Development Area Existing Train Line

Existing Train Station

Bus Stop (on Dominion Loop)

Bus Stop (near Dominion Loop)

Volcanic Cone

Development Limit

Neighbourhood of High Intensity ‘Dominion Loop’ Light Rail Line Potential New ‘Infill Development’ Growth Proposal New Road New Centrality Proposed Rapid Transit Station

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Left: Existing proposal from Auckland City Council for Dominion Road 2016 - the $32million project misses the prime opportunity to used the road upgrade to institute a project such as a light rail line like the ‘Dominion Loop’.

Above: Detail of the plan with changes to the width of the street and street furniture with plans for the “Provision of efficient, alternative transport choices will lead to a cleaner and healthier environment to live in” (Source for overview maps and quote, Auckland City Council website, ‘Dominion Road 2016’, www.aucklandcity. govt.nz/auckland/transport/dominion/default.asp

URBAN ROOMS - Thematic Densification: A Character Perspective for Managing Growth and Transportation in “Super Auckland” EMU, Fall Semester 2009/10, Thesis Project, January 2010, Tiffiny Hodgson

Dominion Road Loop The Auckland City Council offers this vision for Dominion Road – the most connected road in the region and a main link across the isthmus from north to south:

Dominion Road Loop: Focus on Density (Local Scale)

“Imagine Dominion Road as a great place to live on and travel on. The Dominion Road 2016 project will protect the road as a high quality passenger transport route where catching a bus will be a good travel choice.

At the same time, the road will be upgraded and its distinctive villages revitalised so they again become the vibrant focus of their communities.

Improved passenger transport and an upgraded street will: > establish Dominion Road as a place to stop and linger, rather than pass through > make the street and properties on and around it more attractive > ensure Dominion Road’s neighbourhoods are safe places for people and businesses.”89 The vision however, makes spatial intervention only on the street and footpaths, missing opportunities not only in the buildings adjacent to the street, but in the wider community surrounding this major artery.

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Auckland City Council “Significant”

(including Maori Heritage, historic buildings, artworks, playgrounds, ecological point etc)

Existing Development Area Existing Train Line

Existing Train Station

Bus Stop (on Dominion Loop)

Bus Stop (near Dominion Loop)

Volcanic Cone

Development Limit

Shopping Centre

Shopping Centre/Mall - Large

Market - Large

Proposed Shopping Ring

Neighbourhood of High Intensity ‘Dominion Loop’ Light Rail Line Potential New ‘Infill Development’ Growth Proposal New Road New Centrality Proposed Rapid Transit Station

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Left: Concept map for exsiting public transport (train stations, trainlines and bus stops), shopping centres, projects currently undertaken (or have had planning confirmed) by the Auckland City Council, green space, points of significance (Maori heritage, public artworks, historic buildings, ecological point etc), and areas of significance (volcanic cones, parks, ecological sites etc).

Right: Concept map of areas of interest, character, vibrance or potential in the ‘Dominion Loop’ and ‘Dominion Room’. This map includes the Prinicple of the ‘shopping ring’, areas with high likelyhood of vibrance, proposed rapid transit lines and stations, possible new residential neighbourhoods (based on the intervention of the Loop line), and centralities where a collection of these elements overlap to form a possible new area of intensity.

URBAN ROOMS - Thematic Densification: A Character Perspective for Managing Growth and Transportation in “Super Auckland” EMU, Fall Semester 2009/10, Thesis Project, January 2010, Tiffiny Hodgson

A general analysis of the area surrounding the Dominion Loop exposes many areas that have potential for key interventions. The existing situation concentrates activity on Dominion Road itself and largely ignores the surrounding urban/suburban fabric, particularly to the south. This southern area is already connected to the historic core (and the predominance of facilitates), by several bus routes, but they are slow and mono directional. The area also contains patches of both potentially vibrant neighbourhoods and significance, which could be strengthened and better utilised.

This test looks at different typologies of residential building and their new density per hectare, and at how they connect to significant places and areas of culture and leisure, particularly shopping areas both local (as in neighbourhood shopping streets), and regional (as part of the ‘shopping ring’).

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Left: The area circled has been chosed as the scenario test area Above: Overview - Google Earth image of the area

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From the concept maps of the existing condition and the proposals and potentials map, a test area has been chosen. It has a high level of overlap of desirable elements such as a volcanic cone, area of significance, potential area for Rapid Transit line, a neighbourhood of likely vibrancy, and is in the current area for the Auckland City Council “Dominion Road 2016” project.

A further advantage of the site is that it has neither a high nor very limited significance on the regional scale.

If the area was highly intense, intervention would be unwelcome in an area that is already very desirable. Conversely accessibility and potential are not so restricted that it would require excessive amounts of capital and time to transform.

Grow - Building footprints with the overwhelming predominance of detached family housing

Move & Protect - Plot boundaries, parks, areas of significance, points of significance (artworks, protected trees, street protection areas, playgrounds etc), street edges, bus stops

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1km x 1km

1km x 1km

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Left: Contextual view of the test area along the Dominion Loop with volcanic cones marked with stars and the State Highway (global road network) the dashed grey line to the south.

Right: Schematic map of the 17 residential test areas (and one small local school) for density comparison. These are divided into two groups - those that are appropriate for the accepted infill housing style of densification outlined in burgundy and those that can absorb more intense development outlined in brown. These areas are described in more detail in the diagram on the following page. The small local school is also enlarged by 50% to provide capacity for the increase in resident numbers in the catchement area.

GROW - Auckland +50% In his book “cities full of space, qualities of density”, Rudy Uytenhaak cites the example of a recent building in The Hague, Holland, called ‘La Fenêtre’. This building takes the issues of density seriously with a maximum floor space density – “115 dwellings, and 150 cars, as well as a new pedestrian area on a site where 20 cars used to be parked: three hectares less urban expansion! creating space in the exiting city”90 With nine single level open car parking areas suitable for more than 20 cars adjacent to the Dominion Loop test area alone, the densification potential is enormous. This typology however, could not be more different from the New Zealand housing ‘ideal’ and is too extreme to be a useful comparison.

Less pronounced examples are therefore used for specific block comparisons to illustrate a very real possibility for Auckland development. The test takes 17 ‘blocks’ (although in a European sense these could not be considered as such), and tests them using both the accepted typology of subdividing an existing section to include one additional dwelling, as well as a ‘Dutch’ row house typology and a higher density, multi storey apartment typology. Densities are compared before and after intervention.

The ‘Dutch’ row typology uses an ‘averaged view’ of the building type with a minimum individual plot size of 8m x 12m for a single row of houses with small courtyards, to a block size with 8m facades and depth of 40m accommodating housing on both edges with backyard gardens joining end to end.

The apartment typology uses an English/Scandinavian model of 3-4 storey blocks of 40m x 14m per block with 8 two floor apartments of approximately 250m2 including internal parking for most apartments. The blocks are arranged around collective green spaces with a private road going through the corner.

The chart on the following page gives an overview of the changes in footprint and type. Where two options are given (for example the row houses adjacent to the proposed shopping centre), they indicate both a high and low level of densification, and some awareness of the surrounding condition. The footprints are of course indicative and in accordance with the criteria mentioned above.

The infill typology uses building footprints from the surrounding fabric with an area of between 140 m2 and 160m2. This is an average size for the area and is not too large to hinder the addition of ‘right of way’ driveway access etc. A minimum of 50% more dwellings are added.

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146

Overview of typology and footprint changes in the 17 blocks identified and the enlarged local school.

Notes on the overview: The standard sizes used for the ‘Dutch’ row housing typology are based loosely on the “Waterhoeve I” Venix Development, Ypenburg, The Hague and Pijnacker-Nootdorp, from the “Vinex Atlas” by Jelte Boeijenga and Jeroen Mensink. The Multi unit comparison is based loosely on the Kingsland Close scheme by Riches Hawley Mikhail Architects, United Kingdom, from “Density Projects” by the a+t density series.

The full density comparison figures are overleaf with, in order: area, existing dwellings, density in dwellings per hectare, proposed number of dwellings, and new density in dwellings per hectare.

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+ +

+ 148

2,915m2

4,073m2

4,134m2

9,997m2

3

5

5

13

10.3 d/ha

12.5 d/ha

12.2 d/ha

13.0 d/ha

6 20.6 d/ha

+ +

8 20.0 d/ha

+ +

8 19.5 d/ha

+ +

10 19.0 d/ha

8,792m2

5,100m2

9,115m2

5,403m2

19

10

13

9

21.8 d/ha

19.6 d/ha

14.4 d/ha

16.6 d/ha

22/36

+ 26.2 d/ha ++ 41.4 d/ha

+

15/25

+ 29.4 d/ha ++ 49.0 d/ha

+ +

35 38.9 d/ha

+ +

20 37.0 d/ha

+ +

+ +

11,190m2

3,486m2

12,878m2

15,980m2

7,370m2

16

4

16

24

10

14.3 d/ha

11.4 d/ha

12.3 d/ha

15.0 d/ha

13.6 d/ha

25 22.3 d/ha

+ +

+

8 22.8 d/ha

+

+

26

+

20.0 d/ha

+

32

+

20.0 d/ha

16 21.9 d/ha

8,850m2

11,111m2

11,210m2

8,894m2

10

17

17

43

11.3 d/ha

15.5 d/ha

15.2 d/ha

47.8 d/ha

45 51.1 d/ha

+ +

50 45.5 d/ha

+ +

46 41.1 d/ha

+ +

60 66.7 d/ha 149

1km x 1km

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Left: Schematic transport hub area in conjunction with a splitting of the line (where alternate directions separate from the usual 2m), and associated green space providing a ‘place to stay’ rather than to commute through.

Right: Existing open air car parking. These will be assimilated into retail development and for ‘park and ride’ purposes.

MOVE – Light Rail Loops Urban Loop: A basic premise of the strategy and of any intervention on the local fabric is the addition of light rail lines.

These lines (and their network, and placement) have been described in detail earlier in this project and will not be repeated here. In a neighbourhood sense, the placement of stops and the creation of hubs is critical.

It has previously been stated that stops would not be less than exiting stops in the bus network. As there is an overlap in bus lines (and therefore stops) in the test area, and it corresponds to both a potential new shopping mall and public space, the new line has a hub in this location.

The line itself crosses the global network one kilometre from this point (ideal for park and ride situations for example) and is within 600m of the nearest volcanic cone (a point of major significant value). (See ‘Protect’ section for a larger map of how the transport/shopping hub connects other elements.)

Car parking: In the test area there are nine open air parking locations taking up valuable space for little financial, environmental, or emotive return. It is envisaged that parking for these cars (to access the transport hub and for local and regional shopping) would be incorporated into the shopping areas within the buildings themselves, or as underground car parking basements.

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1km x 1km

1km x 1km

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Left: Larger context map of the test area and how the shopping mall and transport hub connects with the network of volcanoes (significant areas) and the global road network. The dark grey band indicates the area from the strategy that is proposed for the ‘metropolitan core’ shopping ring.

Right: Schematic view giving an understanding of the retail and open space connection and (inconjucntion with the Dominion Loop) creates a new ‘linear square’ where the hub occurs.

PROTECT – Stay and Play ‘Protect’ at the local level has many meanings. In this test, the need to create places that people find desirable – that engender a ‘sense of place’ – is a driver for development. It is generally agreed however, that there is no ‘silver bullet’ for what can be done spatially to create this effect. Given previous discussions on this topic, three elements are identified that may increase the potential for these places to thrive.

Significant Places: The District Plan has hundreds of points and areas of significance. The hub proposed here is within 600m of the nearest volcanic cone, and in an area that, while not abundant with ‘significance’ has the potential to create such areas given the right circumstances.

Open/Green Space: The area is already liberally scattered with green areas, although most of these are in the form of private front and back gardens. There are little, if any, specific areas of public space designed for people to stay – to play in a playground, walk the dog, have a coffee, or just enjoy the surroundings. For such spaces to be vibrant parts of the community, it is vital that they are surrounded by, and easily accessible from, areas of high activity therefore urban green areas have been added in conjunction with transport and shopping facilities to achieve this.

shopping areas have become a major point of social interaction in the public realm. Shopping areas are therefore used as a spatial tool to increase activity and intensity, and perceived as a good place to gather.

Shopping has been divided into two groups – large scale (enclosed) shopping malls which have regional attraction, and small individual retail along the ‘main street’ and in side streets as neighbourhood shopping areas. Both types add to the vibrancy of the area, and the streets they are located on become active on multiple scales.

The area is in the middle of the ‘metropolitan core’ shopping ring as described in the strategy and principles, and as such a larger regional scale facility would seem appropriate. It is proposed that the existing smaller shopping centre be increased to over double the current size and incorporate a new transport hub and extended parking facilities (seen in light blue).

In darker blue are the small scale retail areas and neighbourhood shops. Having increased facilities will decrease the need for car use as locals can walk to them, and they will also be serviced by the larger car parking incorporated in the mall.

Shopping: Avoiding the philosophical issues of the consumer society and the proliferation of materialistic values, 153

‘Dominion Loop’ Light Rail Line Small Scale Retail (Strip Shops) Large Scale Retail (Mall) New Public Green Space Main Transport Space Potential Infill Area Potential New Typology Area Increased School

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Main Transport Hub Connection to Significance

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URBAN ROOMS - Thematic Densification: A Character Perspective for Managing Growth and Transportation in “Super Auckland” EMU, Fall Semester 2009/10, Thesis Project, January 2010, Tiffiny Hodgson

Final schematic map of the proposed interventions in the test area.

This includes all the changes mentioned previously - increased housing density (shown here in the existing fabric of building footprints), a transport hub, increased commercial and public areas, and expansion of support areas and equipment such as schools and significant parks.

Collectively the area has shown its potential for absorbing greatly increased housing capacity (and in this it is no different from large areas throughout the Auckland Region), along with changes in public use intensity.

Rules on plot size and built percentage would need to be reconfigured and incentives could be offered by local or central governments (in the form of rebates or rates holidays for example) to encourage densification. Changes in typology, from general infill to semi detached row housing or medium density apartments, are certainly required in the medium to long term, however they need to be suited to specific sites, and to be cognisant of the existing character of the suburb and region.

Such activities would need to be phased, and it is suggested for the project as a whole that the light rail network is the first intervention in any area. In the test area laying the line (in place of the existing “Dominion Road 2016” plan) would be completed in conjunction with hubs such as that suggested. The proposed hub here is characteristic of several that could be placed on the light rail loop, and would be the phase.

As the area changes in governance and accessibility (the two suburbs in this area currently fall in the lower half of accessibility), the impetus for change will grow, thus encouraging and promoting investment, increased vibrancy, and growing desire to live in the area. In this “virtuous circle” ‘places’ will be created not just ‘spaces’.

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Left: Montage of Dominion Road with lightrail, general infill (virtually unseen, and row housing and intensified retail along the main road. Still Auckland, but a more dense, vibrant one. (Source image of Almere ‘Droom3’ house left hand side of street: www.de-alliantie.nl/Alliantie Ontwikkeling/Rekkelijke Huis/Het_rekkelijke_huis_Rijwoning.jpg; Source image of newbuild housing in Amersfort: www. nieuwbouwwijzer.nl/.../4003/De-Laakse-Kaap/)

Right above: Existing street situation along Dominion Road looking northward towards the CBD. Right below: The extreme ‘La Fenetre’ option where every open air car parking area is turned into a maximised living/working tower.

This, while easily accomodating the ‘Grow’ challenge for Auckland, and biy virtue of its position in the ‘metropolitan core’ also the ‘Move’, it clearly misses entirely the feel and lifestyle of most of Auckland.

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Standard Bus Routs (via Mangere Town Centre)

10 kilometres

AirBus Express Bus Route

10 kilometres

Airport Connector with 250m Development Buffer Test Zone

Airport Connector (Phase One)

10 kilometres

Airport Loop (Phase Two)

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Airport Connector Loop:

Airport Connector Loop: Focus on Public Transport (Regional Scale)

Left: The Airport Connector Loop making a badly needed direct transport line between the Auckland International Airport (the largest in New Zealand, and gateway to the majority of New Zealands tourist visitors), and the Auckland Central transport depot at Britomart Middle: Airport Connector Loop with 250m buffer zone used as a potential ‘development corridor’ for intervention and the two test rings - green space and significance to the North and development plots to the South Right: The two existing lines of public transport - the more expensive but faster “AirBus”, and the route taken by cheaper standard scheduled bus services with a change point in the Mangere Town Centre

The proposed Airport Connector light rail loop forms a badly needed direct transport link between the Auckland International Airport (the largest in New Zealand, and gateway to the majority of New Zealand’s 2 million plus tourist visitors per year), and the Auckland Central transport depot at Britomart (the main central hub of train and bus services, and next to the main ferry terminal).

In Auckland the facilities are in much closer proximity that many European airports to their city centres, “The airport is 21 kilometres (14 miles) from Auckland’s central business district”. . However, the time it takes to get from one to the other is approximately the same as from Amsterdam Schipol to Den Haag – a distance two and a half times further at approximately 50km.

The area between the two points is also a fantastic insight into the flavour of the region. The loop in its entirety connects not only key facilities in the region – the city centre, the Airport, and the largest shopping mall in the region at Sylvia Park – but also some of the most significant open green spaces. The two largest Municipal parks, the Auckland Domain and Cornwall Park, are sites of huge historical significance both to Māori and Pakeha, and made up of the cones and lava fields of two of the regions volcanoes. In addition the Loop connects both the Waitamata and Manuaku Harbours, two very different waterfront areas, and their respective urban and ecological advantages.

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Airport Connector Loop

Currently Empty Plot

Left: Map showing the currently empty plots that intersect the 250m Buffer Zone around the Airport Connector. As many lie directly adjacent to the main regional road, green could be used as barrier, filter and to enhance the road edge.

Right above: Mangere Mountain looking towards the Manukau Harbour (Image source: www.nztramping.co.nz) Right below: Real Estate photograph of a typical development plot for sale adjacent to George Bolt Memorial Drive (upon which the Airport Connector runs), showing not only the large plots avaliable, but the large expanses of â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;empty greenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; (Image source: www. realestate.co.nz)

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URBAN ROOMS - Thematic Densification: A Character Perspective for Managing Growth and Transportation in â&#x20AC;&#x153;Super Aucklandâ&#x20AC;?

EMU, Fall Semester 2009/10, Thesis Project, January 2010, Tiffiny Hodgson

GROW â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Development in the Buffer Zone There are numerous empty plots that intersect the 250m buffer zone along the Airport Connector Loop.

These are particularly prevalent in the south in the proximity to the airport. Many similar areas have been extensively redeveloped in the last decade with industrial and distribution plants taking advantage of the ease of access between the airport and the traditional industrial area around Onehunga.

The map at right shows the amount of plots still empty in the area close to the Airport that could be developed for both residential and commercial purposes without excessive destruction of the ecology of the nearby coastline. In fact as many of these plots are simply grassed, sensitive redevelopment could greatly enhance the area and provide a more vibrant street edge.

There are opportunities in these empty plots to use new typologies as have been discussed in the previous scenario test. It is important to remember that smaller plots could be used together or larger ones divided to maintain diversity in size, use, and type. Green space, but virtue of becoming incorporated into a more densely built fabric will become intensified by virtue of finding specific uses, and to add value to residential areas, particularly along the coastline in the longer term.

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10 kilometres

Standard Bus Routs (via Mangere Town Centre)

AirBus Express Bus Route

Urban Light Rail Loops

Right above: Existing street situation along Dominion Road looking northward towards the CBD. Right below: The extreme ‘La Fenetre’ option where every open air car parking area is turned into a maximised living/working tower.

This, while easily accomodating the ‘Grow’ challenge for Auckland, and biy virtue of its position in the ‘metropolitan core’ also the ‘Move’, it clearly misses entirely the feel and lifestyle of most of Auckland.

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MOVE – Speed + Efficiency

> Private Car:

greater than $10 45 minutes

> Private Taxi:

$60 - $80 45 minutes

> “Airbus Express”: $16

59 minutes > Standard Bus:

$7 72 - 82 minutes

> Light Rail:

$?

31 minutes

While, as has been shown, there are bus services radiating into most areas of the Auckland Region, one of the main problems of this service is speed and reliability. As buses use the road system, they are bound by the same traffic and congestion problems as private car traffic. Unlike the metro, tram and light rail systems in other cities of this size in Europe, there is no alternative public transport option that allows travel unaffected by traffic.

To illustrate the difference this ‘off-road’ effect has a test has been done comparing car, bus and the proposed light rail loop between Britomart (Auckland central bus and rail hub) to the Auckland International Airport. (Some assumptions and averages have been made in this test and are stated within the text.)

The distance from the Airport to the Central City is approximately 21km. The Airports Worldwide website optimistically states that “The airport is 21 kilometres (14 miles) from Auckland’s central business district - approximately 35 minutes by vehicle.”92 In the middle of the night this may be possible, but would be extremely unlikely during the day. Auckland International Airport itself states that “the drive between the airport and the city centre is about 45 minutes.”93 With an unsubstantiated average traffic speed for Auckland traffic of 33km/h to 37km/h94 the trip would take approximately 36 minutes (which, as has been mentioned, is not the reality).

If access to a private car is not possible the alternatives are to travel privately by taxi or using the public transport system and travel by bus (there are no train services to and from the Airport). A taxi can take you the distance in the same time as a private car for an “Indicative fares from the airport into the city is between NZ$60 – NZ$80 one-way for a taxi”95.

There are two options on the bus, either the regularly timed “Airbus Express” which can be taken one way for $16 (around €8) and takes 59 minutes from Britomart to Auckland International Airport, Alternatively there is the slightly longer but cheaper option of standard scheduled services which stop more often and require a change of bus in the local Town Centre, costing only $7 (around €3.50) and taking between 1hour 12 minutes to 1 hour 22 minutes96.

By comparison, light rail which is relatively unaffected by congestion, and, after the initial high capital investment, can be run cost effectively per trip could be both faster than the bus and far cheaper than a taxi, or even a private car if the cost of car parking at one or other end is also considered.

Light Rail Now, estimates the average speed of light rail to be between 23-25mph (40.2km per hour)97. Given this the Airport Connector could do the trip in a speedy 31 minutes, for (in estimation) a price somewhere between the standard scheduled bus and the Airport Express.

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Municipal Park Municipal Garden Airport Connector Loop Area of Signicicance Points of Significance Volcanic Cone

Urban Light Rail Loops Shopping Centre

10 kilometres

Shopping Centre/ Mall - Large Market - Large

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Stop/Historic Info Point

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URBAN ROOMS - Thematic Densification: A Character Perspective for Managing Growth and Transportation in “Super Auckland” EMU, Fall Semester 2009/10, Thesis Project, January 2010, Tiffiny Hodgson

PROTECT – Networked Significance The Airport Connector Loop connects the two largest Municipal parks – the Auckland Domain and Cornwall Park – and the two harbours that straddle Auckland City – the Waitamata and Manuaku Harbours. These alone are a compelling argument for making the Airport Connector a ‘character loop’ along one of the most tourist travelled links in the country.

The Loop connects multiple areas of significance and green parks in addition to these major areas, and there is huge potential to make other smaller connections.

One such connection is to use an existing green line from volcano to volcano as a walking or biking track along the water’s edge of Mangere Mountain attached to park and ride stations or small information points about the history of the sites.

Left: The Airport Connector within the existing shopping centre network Right: Map of areas and points of significance, municipal parks and gardens, and volcanic cones. The arrow from cone to cone along the inner Manuakau Harbour connects both sides of the loop in a special walking/biking track of character and history.

In addition to this prime opportunity to make a moving ‘window on the Region’, the line connects the largest shopping mall in the region both to the city and to the Airport. Currently Sylvia Park (as has been shown in the earlier typology analysis), is the largest and newest mall in Greater Auckland. The design of the mall itself was well considered, has many public places and social areas, and has become a place for community connection as well as to shop. While the shopping centre is (unusually) linked by the train system, there are few other stops to connect to it. To have a fast system that connects many residential and strip shopping areas would encourage the ‘shopping ring’ network for people to shop in multiple locations in a single day.

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Evaluation

Image - ‘Spaghetti Junction’ by Chris Gin. The main intersection point of the Northern Southern, and Northwestern motorways (global roads) locally known as spaghetti junction for its rather confusing overlay of roads (Image source: interfacelift.com/wallpaper_ beta/details/1488/spaghetti_junction.html, used with permission)

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Evaluation

There are several methods of evaluating the usefulness of such a project. It would seem reasonable to start with the three main objectives of the project, which were in turn derived from the main issues seen in many of the plans and visions for Auckland – to Grow, to Move, and to Protect. The evaluation can also be made in corresponding categories for inhabitants – to have adequate amounts of housing, to have an efficient transport network with multiple options, particularly in the provision of public transport, and to protect and/or enhance those areas which are significant to communities, and provide vibrant, desirable places to live, work and play.

GROW – Population growth and increase in dwelling units.

As one of the major immediate issues to be tackled by “Super Auckland”, the ability to house the projected additional population of the region is paramount to assessing the success of any project.

As has been clearly shown in the Dominion Loop test, average densities can be dramatically increased (and thus ‘space’ found for new dwellings) by using both ‘infill general’ and ‘infill development’ (new multi unit blocks) along with different typologies of dwelling units. Both yield enough space within the existing ‘metropolitan core’ area to house the projected 200,000 dwelling units without the need to further encroach on the hinterland through greenfields development, or, as current proposals suggest, put 30% of housing in “New Urban Areas” in the periphery.

This is not to say that kind of extreme example offered by “La Fenetre”, The Hague, is either feasible or desirable in Auckland. The wide open weave of the urban fabric is one of its charms, and to undertake this kind of ‘Hong Kong’ development would destroy that, and with near certainty be unacceptable to those living there.

The city can however (and must) absorb many more built elements than it currently does, without damaging the feeling of a green metropolis. In fact simply increasing density in rather bland suburbs could greatly enhance the vibrancy of the neighbourhood.

The project is also not suggesting that this densification will suit all inhabitants. If we use a more actant model of policy planning as has been proposed here, the desirability and unique character of Auckland (and the eagerness of people to live there), could be adversely affected, and prove the project unsuccessful. While in theory densification is reasonable and achievable, it remains to be seen if Aucklanders can embrace a new, more intensified, way of living.

In reality, it is likely that further limited development in the periphery will be needed, however if the main focus of planning policy is on densification of the core rather than meekly accepting greenfields development from the outset, this could be much less than the 30% stated. If a rethink in spatial strategy does start from a densification position rather than an expansion one, then many of the issues of servicing semi-rural areas will be greatly diminished and projects such as this stand a much greater chance of success and acceptance. If nothing else, it is incumbent upon such research to provide a platform for discussion.

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Map of Urban Loops impact on Accessibility. Potentially, with nine of the 13 of the least accessible suburbs now linked to each other and the centre by light rail, these suburbs would experience much increased accessibility. (Source data: Ministry of Economic Development, “Assessing Agglomeration Impacts in Auckland – Phase 1”, March 2008, map from “Auckland Accessibility Index 2001”, www. med.govt.nz)

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MOVE – Accessibility and the provision of public transport options If we are to use accessibility (which is a measure of how easy it is to access health, education, banking, shopping, leisure activities and employment within a specific geographic area), as a measure for the success of the transport loops as independent from the territory more information would be needed than is possible to obtain in the length of this project. However, a generalisation can be made on the likelihood of the Loop intervention having a positive impact on accessibility.

It can be surmised by overlaying the light rail lines with the existing “Auckland Accessibility Index 2001” map, that where the lines touch the areas of lowest accessibility (>0.30) that these areas will experience a heighten level of access to facilities, services and activities used in the index.

Given (as shown) that nine of the 13 least accessible suburbs (almost 70%) would be linked by a faster public transport service independent of vehicle traffic, it would seem reasonable to say that the project has succeeded in increasing speed and efficiency.

This type of discussion is mentioned in relation to accessibility and employment decisions in a report on agglomeration Auckland, and says in this context that “the curve, with relatively high levels of employment density around the accessibility index of 0.25, reflects the position in the major centre of Takapuna, which although it has relatively low accessibility, has a relatively high density of employment. This suggests that in particular cases, factors such as urban amenity, in the case of Takapuna a location close to the sea, may also play a part in determining employment locations, with workers being prepared to trade-off an improved environment around their workplace against more difficult accessibility. While transport accessibility appears to be an important factor influencing employment density, in specific instances other factors may enter into the equation.”98 In this regard then, the effects of accessibility can be both positive and negative, which gives weight to the argument for encouraging light rail lines primarily in the core.

There should also be a corresponding increase in areas outside of the map boundaries, particularly for the issue of transverse travel between points that do not go through the centre. It is not certain however if this would necessarily be the case, as many people choose to live in the periphery for lifestyle reasons, and accept the consequences of being less able to access the global road network or public transport.

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+

Land uses, plot sizes, and mixitĂŠ

172

Significant points, places, transit, volcanoes, and neighbourhoods

+

Shopping centres

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URBAN ROOMS - Thematic Densification: A Character Perspective for Managing Growth and Transportation in “Super Auckland” EMU, Fall Semester 2009/10, Thesis Project, January 2010, Tiffiny Hodgson

PROTECT - Character and Identity This is the hardest facet of the project to evaluate.

As was discussed in the project there are few if any ‘hard’ criteria for assessing character and identity. This project has attempted to use some accepted spatial indicators such as District Plan information on significant sites, areas of historical and cultural value, and ecologically sensitive areas, plot sizes, and mixité, and combine them with other, less commonly used criteria.

Space syntax metric analysis with unit 50 (neighbourhoods)

The use of public artworks and playgrounds as part of the assessment of character and identity is not a huge stretch – these areas are known to have community value, and are often in open spaces where locals collect and enjoy leisure time. As such they have a level of neighbourhood vibrancy. The same rational is used for shopping facilities, both neighbourhood shopping streets and large shopping malls. More and more often we associate the idea of ‘going shopping’ not to fulfil a specific need such as buying food, or a specific item, but as a leisure activity. The term “window shopping” may be a contradiction in terms, but it does allude to the social aspect of shopping, and therefore the way it can help engender a ‘place to stay’, and a level of both neighbourhood and/or regional vibrancy.

analysis at the city or territorial level, but I believe that used in conjunction with other methods as above, it can help to create a ‘set of criteria’ that are likely to provide the best possibilities for positive, vibrant, desirable places. Having such a set may also make discussions with various stakeholders easier, as everyone is able to compare ‘apples with apples’.

It is accepted here though, that a definitive set of truly quantifiable measures for designating sense of place, character or identity has not been found. The human element will always be a surprise, and can make even the most unlikely places special. Maybe this is the true joy of working in the field of Urbanism – that the unforeseen will always happen.

In the end, the only definitive conclusion on character, identity and ‘sense of place’ that can be drawn from the project is that adding the discussion of such concepts will add richness both to the reading of the city, and the interventions we make within it.

Drawing so considerably on the analysis of Depth Map Space Syntax is acknowledged as somewhat controversial. While Space Syntax does not take into account the actual quality of spaces, it can help to show areas of potential based on the spatial configuration, and offers a different, more quantitative analysis of the region.

This is still however, a relatively new tool for spatial 173

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Executive Summary

175

> “Because spatial planning has no laboratory – other than practice – the development of projects, visions, instruments and stories are closely interrelated. Visions give the overall direction, which is firmed up in projects. The lessons from the projects must serve to refine the overall visions and instruments to be employed. This is the core of the multidimensional approach: the ability to use multiple perspectives simultaneously, and to vary the connections between the elements of Think-Do-Act, Past-Present-Future, and Stories-Instruments-Projects. This is how to make politics work in our extraordinarily complex society.”99

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To really understand “Super Auckland” we will need to work in it. There are a number of issues that are highlighted in this project which can provide a framework for those interventions:

Regional View:

Executive Summary

For Auckland to work well, provide distinct characterful places, and increase global competitiveness, it must be viewed as a region. Old parochial ideas must be put aside and the spatial opportunities inherent in “Super Auckland” embraced. The Urban Rooms and Urban Loops proposed here work as part of a broadened network around an equally enlarged ‘metropolitan core’. Seen only in terms of existing Municipal (Council) boundaries would be largely to miss the point, and the possibilities, that the wider territory of Auckland offers.

Public Transport Network as Primary Driver: The public transport system is in need of major reconsideration to provide a usable alternative to the car. It can no longer be thought of as ancillary to habitation in the region, but as the pivotal and critical intervention.

A system that is not bounded by traffic congestion, and has a regional focus, particularly in areas of existing low accessibility and for transverse movement is vital to both the economic success of the region, and its liveability.

city, without increasing the problems associated with the sprawl we currently have. This will involve both a change in planning policy, and a long term commitment to changing perceptions of Aucklanders in regard to the way they live.

Change in Typology: The best chance to increase density – which Auckland can easily absorb – is to change the majority typology, ie detached homes. This is already happening in areas, with for example an increasing number of apartments.

Different building types must be embraced and encouraged by governing bodies to ensure the success of densification.

Preservation of ‘Place’: Auckland is a unique region. To actively protect the character derived from the history, the environment, the people, and the land itself, we need to have a clear set of criteria for its management. As spatial policy is rewritten for “Super Auckland”, the use of a combination of tools such as has been attempted here, can provide quantifiable measures for protection and enhancement. Looking at, and planning for, the city in both a pragmatic and poetic way will add richness to the region which will have effects far beyond its new borders.

Densify the Core: Increasing density in the existing urban fabric must be the focus of our spatial planning in the future. Any suggestion of new greenfields development in the periphery in spatial planning visions must be removed to give the greatest possible chance of increasing the 177

Endnotes

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1 “Place – A Short Introduction”, Creswell, Tim, page 43 2 “The World of Cities - Places in Comparative and Historical Perspective”, Orum, Anthony M and Chen, Xiangming, page 1 3 “A Theory of Good City Form”, Lynch, Kevin, page 132 4 One of the four rules of Placeness – “a sense of being at home, of being comfortable, as it were, in place”, from “The World of Cities - Places in Comparative and Historical Perspective”, Orum, Anthony M and Chen, X, page 11 5 “Super City and the Rest Of Us”, Manning, J, Otago Daily Times, 13 August 2009, http://www.odt.co.nz/opinion/ opinion/69423/super-city-and-rest-us 6 “Auckland Regional Growth Strategy: 2050”, Auckland Regional Growth Forum, 1999, page 37 7 “Draft 2009/10-2011/12 Auckland Regional Land Transport Programme”, February 2009, Auckland Regional Transport Authority, available on the ARTA website: www.arta.co.nz 8 Auckland Regional Land Transport Authority, Website: www.arta.co.nz 9 Compiled in 1999 by the Auckland Regional Growth Forum and currently being updated 10 And by this it is meant most of the area contained in the current “Auckland City” border.

1 “Auckland Regional Growth Strategy: 2050” 12 Ones that travel only from the periphery to the centre, and not periphery-periphery or in radial loops.

13 As opposed to the still low 4% of ‘urban’ travellers who do so, “Auckland Region Rural Transport Issues”, Auckland Regional Transport Authority, Auckland Regional Council Regional Land Transport Strategy Working Report No.10, January 2009, page 5 14 Car Ownership per 1000 people showing New Zealand moving from a current 3rd position worldwide to a projected 1st by 2050, International Road Federation, World Road Statistics, World Bank, World Development Indicators 2007; and projections from Chamom, Mauro and Okawa 2008 15 “Auckland Regional Growth Strategy: 2050”, Auckland Regional Growth Forum, 1999, page 27 16“Auckland Regional Growth Strategy: 2050”, Auckland Regional Growth Forum, 1999, page 39 17 “Dutch spatial planning and hierarchy: making differences, think-do-act, and renewed re-activism”, Henk W.J. Ovink, Director for National Spatial Planning, Ministry of Housing, Spatial Planning and the Environment, Keynote presentation for The 4th International Conference of the International Forum on Urbanism (IFoU), 2009 Amsterdam/Delft, The New Urban Question – Urbanism beyond Neo-Liberalism 18 “Auckland City Council’s Draft 10-year Plan 2009-2019, Volume 1: Our vision and strategic direction”, Auckland City Council, 17 April 2009, Page 36 19 Area figure and population (July estimate), CIA Factbook, https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-worldfactbook/print/nz.html 20 Statistics New Zealand website, www.stats.govt.nz/publications/businessperformanceenergy andagriculture/urban-rural-profile/historical-context.aspx

URBAN ROOMS - Thematic Densification: A Character Perspective for Managing Growth and Transportation in “Super Auckland” EMU, Fall Semester 2009/10, Thesis Project, January 2010, Tiffiny Hodgson

21 Once the new “Super Auckland” change is in effect, these figures may change 22 Information from “Te Ara Encyclopaedia of New Zealand”, www.teara.govt.nz/TheSettledLandscape/ ClaimingTheLand/LandOwnership/2/en 23 “IVA Key Data”, Ministry of Tourism, August 2009, www.tourismresearch.govt.nz/Data--Analysis/Internationaltourism/International-Visitor-Arrivals/IVA-Key-Data/ 24 From “New Zealand plans biggest single city in Australasia”, 3 April 2009, http://www.citymayors.com/news/ metronews_asia.html 25 “Metropolitan World Atlas”, van Susteren, A, Page 34 26 All information from Statistics New Zealand, www.stats.govt.nz/Census/2006CensusHomePage/ QuickStats/ AboutAPlace and area based on the 2006 Census 27 “Quality of Life’07 In Twelve Of New Zealands Big Cities”, Quality of Life Project, Page 16, www.bigcities.govt. nz/built.htm 28 “Auckland Volcanoes” from Te Ara Encylopaedia of New Zealand website, www.teara.govt.nz/en/aucklandplaces/19 29 “Auckland Volcanoes” from Te Ara Encyclopaedia of New Zealand website, www.teara.govt.nz/en/aucklandplaces/19 30 “Vanishing Volcanoes”, from Te Ara Encyclopaedia of New Zealand, www.teara.govt.nz/en/landscapes-overview/3 31 “Dutch spatial planning and hierarchy: making differences, think-do-act, and renewed re-activism”, Henk W.J. Ovink, Director for National Spatial Planning, Ministry of Housing, Spatial Planning and the Environment, Keynote presentation for The 4th International Conference of the International Forum on Urbanism (IFoU), 2009 Amsterdam/Delft, The New Urban Question – Urbanism beyond Neo-Liberalism 32“Te Ara Encyclopaedia of New Zealand”, www.teara.govt.nz/TheSettledLandscape/ ClaimingTheLand/LandOwnership/1/en 33 “Mapping Trends in the Auckland Region”, Statistics New Zealand, June 2009, www.stats.govt.nz/~/media/statistics/publications/mapping-trends-in-auck-reg/mapping-the-trends-in-the-akld-region.aspx 34 “Super City and the Rest Of Us”, Manning, J, Otago Daily Times, 13 August 2009, www.odt.co.nz/opinion/opinion/69423/super-city-and-rest-us 35 “Auckland Regional Growth Strategy: 2050”, Auckland Regional Growth Forum, 1999, page 37 36 “Mapping Trends in the Auckland Region”, Statistics New Zealand, June 2009, page 26 www.stats.govt.nz/~/ media/statistics/publications/mapping-trends-in-auck-reg/mapping-the-trends-in-the-akld-region.aspx 37 “Auckland Regional Growth Strategy: 2050”, Auckland Regional Growth Forum, 1999, page 26 38 “Auckland Regional Growth Strategy: 2050”, Auckland Regional Growth Forum, 1999, page 26 & 27 179

39 “SubUrban to SuperRural”, Ed, O’Toole, Shane, Irish Architecture Foundation, 2006, Introduction by Shane O’Toole, page 9 40 “Auckland Regional Growth Strategy: 2050”, Auckland Regional Growth Forum, 1999, page 27 41 “Auckland Regional Growth Strategy: 2050”, Auckland Regional Growth Forum, 1999, page 39 42 “Auckland Regional Growth Strategy: 2050”, Auckland Regional Growth Forum, 1999, page 27 43 “Over the last five years there has been a significant increase in residential intensification and multi-unit dwellings as a proportion of overall residential development. While the Growth Concept promotes intensification of the existing urban area, and in 50 years more than a quarter of the population could be living in multi-unit forms (compared with 125,000 in 1996), 70% of the region’s population in 2050 could still live at lower densities in suburban and rural environments.”, “Auckland Regional Growth Strategy: 2050”, Auckland Regional Growth Forum, 1999, page 38 44 “Auckland Regional Growth Strategy: 2050”, Auckland Regional Growth Forum, 1999, page 27 45 “Auckland Regional Growth Strategy: 2050”, Auckland Regional Growth Forum, 1999, page 45 46 “Auckland Regional Growth Strategy: 2050”, Auckland Regional Growth Forum, 1999, page 45 47 Auckland Regional Transport Authority website, www.arta.co.nz/what-we-do/auckland-transport-facts.html 48 “Auckland Regional Growth Strategy: 2050, Auckland Regional Growth Forum, 1999, page 44 49 “Draft 2009/10-2011/12 Auckland Regional Land Transport Programme”, February 2009, Auckland Regional Transport Authority, page 14, available on the ARTA website: www.arta.co.nz 50 “Auckland Regional Growth Strategy: 2050”, Auckland Regional Growth Forum, 1999, page 44 51 “Metropolitan World Atlas”, van Susteren, A, Pages 90, 178 and 216 52 “Draft 2009/10-2011/12 Auckland Regional Land Transport Programme”, February 2009, Auckland Regional Transport Authority, page 16, available on the ARTA website: www.arta.co.nz 53 “Draft 2009/10-2011/12 Auckland Regional Land Transport Programme”, February 2009, Auckland Regional Transport Authority, available on the ARTA website: www.arta.co.nz 54 “Draft 2009/10-2011/12 Auckland Regional Land Transport Programme”, February 2009, Auckland Regional Transport Authority, page 37, available on the ARTA website: www.arta.co.nz 55 Rosemann, Jürgen, Chairman IFoU, Introduction for The 4th International Conference of the International Forum on Urbanism (IFoU), 2009 Amsterdam/Delft, The New Urban Question – Urbanism beyond Neo-Liberalism 56 Quoted in “Place – A Short Introduction”, Creswell, Tim, page 44 57 Rosemann, Jürgen, Chairman IFoU, Introduction for The 4th International Conference of the International Forum on Urbanism (IFoU), 2009 Amsterdam/Delft, The New Urban Question – Urbanism beyond Neo-Liberalism 58 “The World of Cities - Places in Comparative and Historical Perspective”, Anthony M and Chen, X, page 2 59 “Auckland City Council’s Draft 10-year Plan 2009-2019, Volume 1: Our vision and strategic direction”, Auckland City Council, 17 April 2009, Page 36 180

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60 “Auckland Regional Growth Strategy: 2050”, Auckland Regional Growth Forum, 1999, page 41 61 “Genius Loci – Towards a Phenomenology of Place”, Norberg-Schulz, Christian, page 6 62 “Genius Loci – Towards a Phenomenology of Place”, Norberg-Schulz, Christian, pages 6 & 7 63 “A Theory of Good City Form”, Lynch, Kevin, page 131 64 ICOMOS New Zealand - Te Mana O Nga Pouwhenua O Te Ao is the New Zealand Committee of the International Council on Monuments and Sites, ICOMOS NZ Charter, Definitions 65 “Auckland Regional Growth Strategy: 2050”, Auckland Regional Growth Forum, 1999, page 49 66 Auckland Regional Council website, www.arc.govt.nz/parks/ 67 “Parks, Beaches and Walkways”, Auckland City Council website, www.aucklandcity.govt.nz/whatson/outdoors/ 68 “The Next American Metropolis – Ecology, Community, and the American Dream”, Calthorpe Peter, pages 1516 69 Compiled in 1999 by the Auckland Regional Growth Forum and currently being updated 70 “Communicative Place-Making: Participatory Planning and the Enhancement of Sense”, Pablo Juárez LatimerKnowles, for The 4th International Conference of the International Forum on Urbanism (IFoU), 2009 Amsterdam/ Delft, The New Urban Question – Urbanism beyond Neo-Liberalism 71 “Dutch spatial planning and hierarchy: making differences, think-do-act, and renewed re-activism”, Henk W.J. Ovink, Director for National Spatial Planning, Ministry of Housing, Spatial Planning and the Environment, Keynote presentation for The 4th International Conference of the International Forum on Urbanism (IFoU), 2009 Amsterdam/Delft, The New Urban Question – Urbanism beyond Neo-Liberalism 72 www.aucklandcity.govt.nz/whatson/places/parks/domain.asp 73 www.aucklandcity.govt.nz/whatson/places/parks/domain.asp 74 “Dutch spatial planning and hierarchy: making differences, think-do-act, and renewed re-activism”, Henk W.J. Ovink, Director for National Spatial Planning, Ministry of Housing, Spatial Planning and the Environment, Keynote presentation for The 4th International Conference of the International Forum on Urbanism (IFoU), 2009 Amsterdam/Delft, The New Urban Question – Urbanism beyond Neo-Liberalism 75 “Dutch spatial planning and hierarchy: making differences, think-do-act, and renewed re-activism”, Henk W.J. Ovink, Director for National Spatial Planning, Ministry of Housing, Spatial Planning and the Environment, Keynote presentation for The 4th International Conference of the International Forum on Urbanism (IFoU), 2009 Amsterdam/Delft, The New Urban Question – Urbanism beyond Neo-Liberalism 76 “Capacity for Growth Study 2008 Interim Report May 2008 Technical Publication 369”, Auckland Regional Council, page 10, www.arc.govt.nz/albany/fms/main/Documents/Plans/Technical%20publications/351-400/TP369%20 Capacity%20for%20Growth%20Study%202008.pdf

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77 “Capacity for Growth Study 2008 Interim Report May 2008 Technical Publication 369”, Auckland Regional Council, page 10, www.arc.govt.nz/albany/fms/main/Documents/Plans/Technical%20publications/351-400/TP369%20 Capacity%20for%20Growth%20Study%202008.pdf 78 Taken from Bruno Latours work on the space between ‘structure’ and ‘agency’. In Key Thinkers on Space and Place, ed. Hubbard, Kitchin & Valentine, 2007, page 204 it states “Latour pursues impure entities that have characteristics of structure and agency. They are, in other words, actors and networks or actor-networks.” It follows with “Just as Latour uses the ‘actor-network’ to fill the gap between agency and structure, so he uses ‘hybrids’ to refer to the proliferating entities that are made and remade as mixes of culture and nature.”

79 “Suburban Transformations”, Lukez, Paul, ‘Infill Building Types (Malleable Building Types)’, page 98 80 From Joel Garreau’s “Edge City: Life on the New Frontier” 1991 81 “Perceptions of Public Safety in the Auckland CBD: A discussion of some of the results of the Auckland City District Police customer satisfaction survey”, Casey, Dr C & Crothers, Prof C, October 2005, jointly published by the Institute of Public Policy, New Zealand Police, and AUT University 82 “A Pattern Language, Towns Buildings Construction”, Alexander, Christopher et al, page 71 83 Maxx Auckland website, www.maxx.co.nz/how-to-travel/take-the-bus/bus-stops.html 84 “Suburban Transformations”, Lukez, Paul, ‘Infill Building Types (Malleable Building Types)’, page 98 85 Information for the “Car Swap” equation is as follows: CSB size estimated from GIS as 3,050,000m2; Car parking spaces are conservatively estimated from Wilsons Parking who manage 34 of the 59 car parks in the CBD, and have parks from 25 to 6500 spaces in size with many of the Auckland CBD ones at the larger end of the scale, (Source: Wilsons Parking website, www.wilsonparking.co.nz/go/about-us); Each space is 15m2 (Source: Metric Handbook Planning and Design Data) plus one third area for support spaces and circulation (Source: “Suburban Transformations”, Paul Lukez, page 103); Average house size from Infometrics NZ plus 10% for ancillary space (Source: “Us and them - a Trans-Tasman comparison of residential building statistics”, 2003 figures, Infometrics website, www.infometrics.co.nz/top10/art1719.htm) 86 “Dutch spatial planning and hierarchy: making differences, think-do-act, and renewed re-activism”, Henk W.J. Ovink, Director for National Spatial Planning, Ministry of Housing, Spatial Planning and the Environment, Keynote presentation for The 4th International Conference of the International Forum on Urbanism (IFoU), 2009 Amsterdam/Delft, The New Urban Question – Urbanism beyond Neo-Liberalism 87 “Dutch spatial planning and hierarchy: making differences, think-do-act, and renewed re-activism”, Henk W.J. Ovink, Director for National Spatial Planning, Ministry of Housing, Spatial Planning and the Environment, Keynote presentation for The 4th International Conference of the International Forum on Urbanism (IFoU), 2009 Amsterdam/Delft, The New Urban Question – Urbanism beyond Neo-Liberalism

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88 These are GIS points for: ‘Significant Site Boundary’, ‘Significant Buildings Trees Location’, ‘Playground Equipment’, ‘Barbeque Location’, ‘Artwork Location’, ‘Civic Archaeological Site’, Civic Conservation Site’, ‘Civic Maori Heritage Site’, ‘Civic Protected Tree’ and ‘Civic Protected Feature’ 89 Auckland City Council “Dominion Road 2016” Plan, website www.aucklandcity.govt.nz/auckland/transport/dominion/default.asp 90 “cities full of space, qualities of density”, Rudy Uytenhaak, page 68 91 Airports Worldwide website, ‘Auckland Airport, Airport Facts’, www.airports-worldwide.com/nz/nz_auckland. html 92 Airports Worldwide website, ‘Auckland Airport, Airport Facts’, www.airports-worldwide.com/nz/nz_auckland. html 93 Auckland International Airport Limited website, www.aucklandairport.co.nz/ToAndFromTheAirport/AirportLocation.aspx 94 libertyscott.blogspot.com/2008/03/bus-patronage-down-in-auckland-want-to.html 95 Auckland International Airport Limited website, www.aucklandairport.co.nz/ToAndFromTheAirport/PublicTransport/TaxisAndShuttles.aspx 96 Maxx Auckland Regional Transport website, www2.maxx.co.nz/fullEnquiry.asp 97 Light Rail Now website, www.lightrailnow.org/myths/m_lrt012.htm 98 Assessing Agglomeration Impacts in Auckland: Phase 1”, John Williamson, Richard Paling and David Waite for the Ministry for Economic Development, updated 19 March, 2008, www.med.govt.nz/templates/MultipageDocumentPage____34158.aspx 99 “Dutch spatial planning and hierarchy: making differences, think-do-act, and renewed re-activism”, Henk W.J. Ovink, Director for National Spatial Planning, Ministry of Housing, Spatial Planning and the Environment, Keynote presentation for The 4th International Conference of the International Forum on Urbanism (IFoU), 2009 Amsterdam/Delft, The New Urban Question – Urbanism beyond Neo-Liberalism

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Adler, David (Ed), “Metric Handbook, Planning and Design Data”, 2nd Edtion, Architectural Press, Oxford, 2003 Alexander, Christopher & Ishikawa, Sara & Silverstein, Murray, “A Pattern Language, Towns Buildings Construction”, Oxford University Press, New York, 1977 Anthony M and Chen, X, “The World of Cities - Places in Comparative and Historical Perspective”, Blackwell Publishing, UK, 2007

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Auckland Regional Council, “Capacity for Growth Study Interim Report 2008”, May 2008, www.arc.govt.nz/auckland/built-environment-and-land-use/capacity-for-growth-study-2008.cfm Auckland Regional Council, “Auckland Regional Growth Strategy 2050”, November 1999 Regional Growth Forum, “A Vision for Managing Growth in the Auckland Region”, www.arc.govt.nz/albany/fms/ main/Documents/Auckland/Aucklands%20growth/Auckland%20regional%20growth%20strategy.pdf Auckland Regional Transport Authority, “Draft 2009/10-2011/12 Auckland Regional Land Transport Programme”, February 2009, www.arta.co.nz Auckland Regional Transport Authority, Transport Facts, www.arta.co.nz/what-we-do/auckland-transport-facts. html Auckland Regional Transport Authority, What We Do, www.arta.co.nz/what-we-do/auckland-transport-facts.html Boeijenga, Jelta & Mensink, Jeroen, “Vinex Atlas”, 010 Publishing, Rotterdam, 2008 Calthorpe, Peter, “The Next American Metropolis – Ecology, Community, and the American Dream”, Princeton Architectural Press, Canada, 1993 184

Casey, Dr C & Crothers, Prof C, “Perceptions of Public Safety in the Auckland CBD: A discussion of some of the results of the Auckland City District Police customer satisfaction survey”, Jointly published by the Institute of Public Policy, New Zealand Police and AUT University CIA, “CIA Factbook”, Area figure and population (July estimate), www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/print/nz.html City Mayors, “New Zealand plans biggest single city in Australasia”, 3 April 2009, www.citymayors.com/news/ metronews_asia.html Creswell, Tim, “Place – A Short Introduction”, Blackwell Publishing, UK, 2007 Dearnaley, Matthew, New Zealand Herald, “Congestion Charges Back on agenda”, August 13, 2009, www.nzherald. co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10590438 Fernandez Per, Aurora & Vitoria-Gasteiz, “Density Projects, 36 new concepts on collective housing”, a+t ediciones, Spain, 2007 Garreau, Joel, “Edge City: Life on the New Frontier”, Random House, New York, 1991 Getner, Julie Anne, “Towards a sustainable transport system in NZ (CN 2020)”, www.youtube.com/watch?v=S1FCL4OgX0&feature =PlayList&p=54AB200566766D7A Getner, Julie Anne, “Thinking Outside the Car: how we can Achieve carbon neutral transport”, chapter from “Carbon Neutral by 2020, How New Zealanders can tackle climate change”, Craig Potton Publishing, Nelson, New Zealand, 2007 Harre, Niki & Atkinson (Eds), “Carbon Neutral by 2020, How New Zealanders can tackle climate change”, Craig Potton Publishing, Nelson, New Zealand, 2007 Hubbard, P & Kitchin, R & Valentine, G (Eds), “Key Thinkers on Space and Place”, Sage Publications, London, California, New Dehli and Singapore, 2007

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ICOMOS New Zealand - Te Mana O Nga Pouwhenua O Te Ao, “ICOMOS New Zealand Charter”, ICOMOS, Jnuary 1996, www.icomos.org/docs/nz_92charter.html Infometrics, “Residential: Us and Them – a Trans Tasman comparison of residential building statistics”, www.infometrics.co.nz/top10/art1719.htm Lukez, Paul, “Suburban Transformations”, Princeton Architectural Press, New York, 2007 Lynch, Kevin, “A Theory of Good City Form”, MIT Press, Cambridge MA and London, 1981 Manning, Jolyon, Otago Daily Times, “Super City and the Rest Of us”, 13 August 2009, www.odt.co.nz/opinion/ opinion/69423/super-city-and-rest-us MAXX, Homepage, www.maxx.co.nz Ministry of Tourism, IVA (International Visitor Arrivals) Key Data, August 2009, www.tourismresearch.govt.nz/ Data--Analysis/International-tourism/International-Visitor-Arrivals/IVA-Key-Data/ Ministry of Economic Development, “Assessing Agglomeration Impacts in Auckland – Phase 1”, Updated 19 March 2008, www.med.govt.nz Norberg-Schulz, Christian, “Genius Loci – Towards a Phenomenology of Place”, Academy Editions, USA, 1980 O’Toole, Shane (Ed), “SubUrban to SuperRural”, Irish Architecture Foundation, 2006, http://www.architecturefoundation.ie/vb06/index.html Statistics New Zealand, “Quick Stats – Auckland Region”, www.stats.govt.nz/Census/2006CensusHomePage/QuickStats/AboutAPlace Statistics New Zealand, “Mapping Trends in the Auckland Region”, June 2009, www.stats.govt.nz/~/media/statistics/publications/mapping-trends-in-auck-reg/mapping-the-trends-in-the-akld-region.aspx Te Ara Encyclopaedia of New Zealand, www.teara.govt.nz 186

The Urban Taskforce, “Towards an Urban Renaissance”, Department of the Environment,Transport and Regions, UK, 1999 Uytenhaak, Rudy, “cities full of space, qualities of density”, 010 Publishers, Rotterdam, 2008 van Susteren, Arjen, “Metropolitan World Atlas”, 010 Publishers, Rotterdam, 2007 International Forum on Urbanism, Conference November 2009: Juárez Latimer-Knowles, Communicative Place-Making: Participatory Planning and the Enhancement of Pablo Sense Ovink, Henk W J activism

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