Urban sustainability - your thoughts?
By URBAN editor GRAHAM HAWKES
The deadline has passed for submissions on Government’s plans to encourage sustainable development in New Zealand.
A discussion document ‘Building sustainable urban communities – Designing a place-based approach to sustainable urban development in New Zealand’ was been published late last year by the Department of Internal Affairs (DIA).
Its aim was to generate comment, ideas and options from a range of New Zealanders, including those with a direct interest or stake in urban development. The document focuses on one possible approach and the range of tools and powers it contains.
Department chief executive Brendan Boyle said Government wants to encourage the development of sustainable urban areas that contain a range of housing choices, including affordable housing. A dedicated Sustainable Urban Development Unit (SUDU), hosted by the Department of Internal Affairs has been set up to drive policy development.
While international practice has been to create a tier of special-purpose urban development authorities, he said New Zealand is looking at an approach that supports its existing urban development organisations by providing them with the powers and tools they need for specific projects.
“We want to promote and co-ordinate place-based, sustainable urban development and help stakeholders to work together more effectively.”
The document examines barriers and difficulties to sustainable urban development in New Zealand. It also looks at strengthening how planning currently works and the tools we use, and outlines key issues and options.
SUDU is reviewing responses to the document that will help in designing a sustainable urban development approach for New Zealand. “This feedback will help to shape future policy and possibly legislation,” said Boyle.
When the submissions have been analysed, some submitters will be invited to provide further information on specific aspects of sustainable urban development.
The Sustainable Urban Development Unit will then make recommendations to the government on policy options to support sustainable urban development in New Zealand.
Economic performance
The discussion document itself starts with the premise that since most New Zealanders live in urban areas, the way those areas operate has a huge influence on the economic performance of our cities, how our society works, the health of our environment and our quality of life.
Equipping New Zealand’s cities to face challenges such as housing affordability, changing demographics, and climate change will become more and more important as our population grows. Planning and building our cities to meet these challenges is defined as ‘sustainable urban development’.
New developments and the redevelopment of suburbs and town centres must focus on using land, infrastructure and assets more effectively. Intensifying land use in strategic areas, in particular, could provide New Zealanders with more housing choices, viable public transport and thriving town centres.
Urban development is needed in these strategic locations, at a sufficient scale and rate of change to ensure that the growth of our cities is managed sustainably.
Local authorities and developers have identified a number of barriers and implementation difficulties that can prevent the delivery of large-scale sustainable urban development projects. These barriers include:
- capacity and capability issues in all levels of government and the development industry
- limited co-ordination of national, regional and local planning and implementation for large-scale urban development
- ineffective integration between land use and transport planning, and transport, utility and other service providers to implement sustainable urban development
- difficulties in funding urban development projects
- difficulties assembling useful parcels of land from fragmented groups of properties (particularly for redeveloping existing neighbourhoods and town centres), or in acquiring and/or ensuring appropriate development of strategic sites
- the length and nature of planning and development control processes
- limits to achieving social outcomes and public benefits (such as affordable housing) through market mechanisms.
Special factors
The document explores a number of sustainable urban development issues, saying most of them are relevant all over the world, but some factors relate only to New Zealand. Possible new tools or powers to deal with each of these issues are suggested. The document discusses:
- what central and local government could do to support sustainable urban development, as policy makers, developers, investors or capability builders
- possible improvements to co-ordination between national, regional and local government, and mechanisms to better integrate land use and transport planning with the provision of utilities, transport and other services
- potential ways to fund sustainable urban development
- how to assemble parcels of land in strategic locations to support sustainable urban development
- whether planning processes and development control can be streamlined to encourage sustainable urban development
- ways to improve housing supply, choice and affordability in sustainable urban development.
To bring together these elements, a new enabling ‘place-based’ approach to sustainable urban development is proposed. A ‘place-based’ approach would focus on using new and existing tools and powers to create unique solutions for our unique urban places, rather than creating a standard formula to apply to urban areas throughout the country.
The proposed approach would create legislation to allow ministers to declare that special tools or powers could be applied in identified strategic or complex areas. These tools or powers could be used by an urban development organisation, such as a council-controlled organisation, a crown entity, or a joint venture company with public sector involvement, to implement sustainable development in accordance with a community-developed master development plan. These organisations would have carefully prescribed objectives, boundaries and lifetimes. This enabling legislation could be supported by improvements in the use of existing urban development processes, as well as a range of non-regulatory or legislative tools.
Vibrant and successful
This new approach to sustainable urban development aims to improve the delivery of the right kind of development, in the right areas, at the right time.
Overseas examples of this type of approach to comprehensive, future-focused urban developments aim to deliver more vibrant and successful places. The results are often a more intensive form of mixed residential and commercial development, with:
- better quality public spaces and amenities
- stronger local economic activity
- an emphasis on social success — strong communities, community safety and a wider range of housing choices, including more affordable housing options
- less reliance on car travel.
By world standards, New Zealand is a highly urbanised nation, the document says, with 72 per cent of the population living in the 16 main urban areas – around 33 per cent of the population live in the Auckland urban region alone.
We are overwhelmingly ‘townies’ – nearly 87 per cent of us live in urban areas with populations ranging from around 1000 to more than one million.
The way New Zealand’s towns and cities have developed is the result of both deliberate planning and the choices and decisions made by investors, property developers and home buyers.
The resulting shape of our town centres and suburbs and the location and type of housing available has a huge influence on economic performance, social cohesion, and the ability of a large number of New Zealanders to lead sustainable, productive and enjoyable lives, it says.
“We are increasingly witnessing significant economic, social, environmental and cultural changes in New Zealand’s urban areas. We are also dealing with issues such as affordable housing, increased fuel prices, congestion, pollution, social disadvantage, climate change, population growth, rapid technological change and changing demographics.
Because of these issues, governments around the world are reassessing what is needed to enhance cities and meet major social, environmental, economic and cultural challenges.
“Many different parties contribute to the development of urban areas in New Zealand. A number of them have said barriers and implementation difficulties can slow down, affect the quality of, or prevent the kind of sustainable urban development that will make a difference in New Zealand.
Land development
To improve the sustainability of our cities, both new urban developments and redevelopments of existing suburbs and town centres need to focus on using land, infrastructure and public assets more effectively to create sustainable communities.
Existing legislative frameworks have been able to deal with most land use and development scenarios in New Zealand. However, population growth and wider social, economic, environmental and cultural changes are increasing the need to develop, redevelop and intensify land use in our cities.
New Zealanders need access to a diverse range of housing choices. Future population growth will increase the demand for housing, while the projected long-term decline in the size of households means the housing needs of many households are changing. Future needs are likely to include a mix of housing styles in areas with easy access to work, services and community facilities, to minimise environmental impacts. Developments do not seem to be delivering the required density or quality in strategic locations to achieve this. Nor is the current level of development providing a range of housing choices in the required quantities and locations. More intensive and affordable development may be needed, particularly in strategic locations.
Local and central government organisations trying to undertake sustainable urban development projects face a number of problems and are looking for ways to solve them. These problems may also be why private development of this kind is not occurring to the extent needed. A new approach could give private developers a chance to get involved with these organisations and benefit from efforts to redevelop existing urban areas.”
(Further information: www.dia.govt.nz (link at lower right of home page: Building sustainable urban communities).