There are useful models to follow, particularly from many European cities where outdoor space is prioritised and urban character is considered in planning decisions
Opinion: Many aspiring Kiwi homeowners long ago abandoned the quarter acre dream. But should they have to face the prospect of living in inhospitable urban centres instead?
To achieve sustainable urban environments, we urgently need to increase housing density in existing urban and suburban areas. Not surprisingly, this change is being met with some resistance. It’s easy to see why when you look at many of our city centres, which have been designed largely for cars and commerce, not people.
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Since colonial times, urban centres have prioritised building flexibility over outdoor space and focused on single developments over neighbourhood visions. This has left us with city centres dominated by incohesive buildings and carparks, with little public space and a lack of vegetation, biodiversity, or remnants of the original landscape.
The dismal result is particularly obvious in inner-city blocks where there’s usually no vegetation and the few outdoor private spaces are occupied by vehicles. Unfortunately, the way we’re approaching urban densification means this type of cityscape is likely to remain with us unless we change what we’re doing.
Re-imagining Te Aro
Wellington’s inner-city suburb of Te Aro is a classic example of a New Zealand cityscape. It is designed mainly for cars, lacks green spaces within inner city blocks, and the urban landscape is dominated by incohesive buildings.
But it also provides the opportunity to investigate new approaches to urban densification.
Landscape architecture students at Victoria University of Wellington have been exploring ways to make Te Aro more liveable. The aim of this work, which is being done in a joint project with the urban design team at Wellington City Council, is to make outdoor space the structural element of Te Aro’s future development.
Planning regulations need to place public interests at the forefront of urban development, or at least at the same level as private interests
Ideas include creating a network of better-connected streets and laneways where pedestrian space is maximised, biodiversity is enhanced, and stormwater management is improved.
Other options improve the current network of Te Aro’s public spaces by, for example, creating new laneways, ‘daylighting’ old streams (the Waimapihi Stream once flowed through Te Aro to the sea), and creating new parks.
Changes to building rules have also been investigated. This has involved examining how buildings can work better with public space and how private outdoor green space can be created. Connections between private and public outdoor space have been considered too.
Creating real neighbourhoods
It’s not just city centres where these things matter. Moves to increase housing density are also affecting city suburbs. Though increasing the number of dwellings in these areas is a necessary strategy – and follows what cities such as Barcelona and Vienna have done to become more sustainable – it has its own problems.
Without clear rules that help control the built form and outdoor space, suburbs will lose their character and replicate what we can already see in city centres. We cannot solely rely on the good faith of developers and the good practice of architects. They need clear parameters to work within.
There are useful models to follow, particularly from many European cities where outdoor space is prioritised and urban character is considered in planning decisions. We need to do the same here if we want to transform existing urban areas into real neighbourhoods.
Changing how we approach urban development will only be possible if there is a shared diagnosis of the causes of our current urban issues and a shared understanding of effective solutions to them.
Planning regulations also need to place public interests at the forefront of urban development, or at least at the same level as private interests. Unless this happens, New Zealanders will keep rejecting the idea of voluntarily moving into denser urban centres.
Effective planning rules would define the boundaries between buildings, public space, and private outdoor space, as well as the shape and depth of buildings, factors which affect the habitability of dwellings.
These rules need to work alongside neighbourhood plans to guarantee sufficient and interconnected networks of outdoor space.
Planners, designers, and policymakers are the ones responsible to lead this change. But many other disciplines, together with civil society, have a lot to say as well. The integration of mātauranga Māori is also essential, together with knowledge about climate change adaptation, biodiversity restoration, and health and human wellbeing in cities.
Within this complex debate, the young discipline of landscape architecture is starting to become a key actor, as it specialises in the design of outdoor space and how this can provide a structure for urban design and planning.
If you want to see what VUW landscape architecture students have come up for Te Aro, an exhibition of their designs is being held June 13-17 at Te Pokapū Hapori community centre, 105 Manners Street, Wellington.
