Urban Intensification Richard Harris President NZIA Director Jasmax

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Urban IntensificationRichard HarrisPresident
NZIADirector Jasmax
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Urban Intensification

• The 19C compact city was walking city that had a
  5km radius
• Trams expanded that to 20kms and cars have
  expanded that to 50km
• Today our perception of the city is shaped as
  much by travel time contours as it is by distance
  contours

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Urban Intensification

• 100 years ago 10 of the world population lived
  in urban environments
• Last year 50 of population lived in urban
  environments
• In 50 years 75 of the population will live in
  urban environments
• Globally, the current scale of urban growth
  requires the equivalent a new city of 1million
  people every week for the next 40 years.

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Urban Intensification

• The case for intensification is made in your
  briefing papers
• Structural change in the household type - more
  and smaller todays fastest growing households
  are
• Young professionals
• Empty nesters
• Single parents
• Childless couples
• Senior citizens
• Change in ethnic diversity of population
• Population growth

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Urban Intensification

• Global urbanization trend
• Competition for land use
• Sustainable land use
• Sustainable transport use
• Auckland region needs to accommodate an
  additional 500,000 people in the next 25 years
• Economic benefits for compact cities

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What is a benchmark intensification project?

• Occurring at defined areas for intensification
  especially transit nodes and corridors T.O.D.
• Respects existing heritage and environmentally
  significant sites
• Housing and businesses focused around transit
  centres
• An overlay of environmental, social/cultural and
  economic systems
• A sustainable approach to development
• A balance between built environment and
  recreational open space
• A diverse community
• Density

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How is this achieved?

• A masterplanning process
• These masterplans must have a clear and coherent
  vision for the community
• They are rooted in the principles of strong Urban
  Design
• They ensure good connection to public transport
  and existing communities
• They embody pedestrian and cycle friendly
  planning
• They locate residential close to work, shops and
  recreational space
• They contain open space that is as strongly
  designed as the building elements
• They ensure the development has character and is
  sustainable

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The Obstacles

• NZ has 2nd highest auto ownership in the world
  cultural predisposition to be petrol heads
• Cultural acceptability issues
• Land / ownership fragmentation
• Shortage of Brownfield sites
• Regulatory process
• Nimbyism
• Politicization of issues
• Planning regulations (height, density and
  parking)
• Lack of inter-agency integration
• Urban expansion is easier

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The Obstacles

• The case against intensification
• NZ population growth not significant
• NZ is land rich sprawl works
• The economics dont stack up
• Immature transit infrastructure
• The carbon footprint case of compact cities has
  not been made
• There are no measurable results between
  intensification and affordable housing
• The complexities are too much for market forces
  alone to control
• Developer preconceptions
• Political planning horizons are too short to
  allow effective engagement in the issues we get
  populist politics

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The removal of obstacles

• The recognition and promotion of the benefits of
  intensification to society this is a change
  management exercise on a grand scale needs
  central and local government leadership and
  intervention
• Build public support for higher-density growth by
  creating a community-based vision for growth
• Assure the public of quality
• Business leaders need to support good projects
  and locate their businesses near public transport
  and existing infrastructure

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The removal of obstacles

• Special legislation that allows worthy
  intensification projects a smoother ride a
  simpler process
• Updated city plans need to allow for
  intensification
• TLAs need to support plan changes for worthy
  projects
• Land acquisition through development agencies
• Developer incentives (FAR bonuses, fee waivers,
  reducing the land cost)
• Greater Inter-agency co-operation
• Public Private partnerships

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