Move made to put urban design on Government’s agenda
Wednesday 13 June – Urbanism New Zealand 2018
Last month’s national Urbanism New Zealand conference – the first event of its type and size since 2005 – has given rise to a statement paper calling for the establishment of a national urban design committee.
Conference spokesperson Gerald Blunt says the purpose of the committee would be to help shape a “national programme of making better places through design”.
Blunt says a post-conference workshop took what was learnt at the Urbanism New Zealand event, attended by more than 200 people, and distilled that into the main problems that have been produced by poor planning and urban management over many years in New Zealand.
“Collectively the workshop delegates believe that New Zealand’s ability to develop resilient towns and cities, to a world-leading standard, is dependent on good urban design to generate positive effects for the natural environment, the economy and public health.”
The delegates are pitching a five-point proposal to the Government, accompanied by a process for urgently engaging with Housing and Urban Development Minister Phil Twyford and government officials on options for taking the proposal forward.
The proposal is seeking to put in place:
An improved and fully
aligned policy framework to address urban matters.
A
national policy statement on Urban Form (Urban Design) to be
incorporated within the RMA.
A national design review
process to include monitoring of critical and sensitive
projects and programmes such as Kiwibuild.
Better
evidence-based decision making backed by measurements of
value.
A coherent, integrated and ambitious design
response to climate change.
“This proposal could not be
more timely given the newly announced Ministry of Housing
and Urban Development and the planning that will be going
into creating a more robust network of supporting mechanisms
around the new Ministry to make it a success,” says
Blunt.
“We believe that having a recognised national urban design committee will provide a badly needed avenue in New Zealand for providing independent advocacy, policy and governance advice to central government and local authorities.
“We believe such a committee would fill the gap of acting as a technical advisory group to relevant ministers and the public. It would not be a development agency, but it could eventually evolve into something similar to the UK’s Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment”.
The problems facing New Zealand’s cities and towns outlined in the Statement On New Zealand Urbanism paper include:
Unaffordability
causing multigenerational impacts on housing, health and
productivity
Insufficient spatial planning to respond to
environmental shocks, growth pressures, economic changes and
energy shortages
Inefficient public transport
systems
Overly complex and legalistic planning
systems
ends