Auckland City Council has won the New Zealand Planning Institute’s top award for an innovative approach generating wide public participation in long-term city planning.

The Future Planning Framework (FPF) project received the institute’s Excellence In Planning award at its annual awards presentation.

The FPF was a multi-disciplinary approach and a first-of-its-kind spatial planning model applied at citywide, area and neighbourhood levels, to represent what the Auckland isthmus could look like, area by area, in 2050.

The concept included a number of firsts for Auckland, making planning for the future more accessible by using a range of contemporary channels including the internet and state of the art interactive digital displays to support traditional methods of consulting with residents.

Penny Pirrit, now general manager of transport, designed the FPF concept as group manager of city planning.  “The FPF presented a logistical challenge to incorporate input from a range of internal and external stakeholders to accurately reflect the aspirations of different disciplines and communities,” she said.  

"We wanted to make spatial planning easily understood by all facets of the community through clear and simple messaging.

“The project was successful because of significant support, not just from across the whole of council, but from design, planning and development professionals and the community,” she said.  “In particular, the support from Beca in area planning, was essential.”

The FPF concept is being recommended to the new Auckland Council as a potential approach in the development of the spatial plan for Auckland.

The FPF’s stand-alone website, www.itsmybackyard.co.nz is still available and is being regularly updated.

Pictured: Members of the Future Planning Framework's project team: Karyn Hill, David Clelland, Penny Pirrit (project sponsor), and Michelle Hewitt.