Errol Haarhoff

Does higher density housing enhance liveability? Case studies of housing intensification in Auckland

Abstract Larger cities in Australia and New Zealand have urban consolidation policies promoting higher-density development, justified on the grounds of enhancing urban sustainability. Despite evidence for persistent preferences for lower density, there has been a significant increase in the supply of higher-density housing over recent years. More recent iterations of urban growth management policies, however, are now justified on the grounds that higher-density will result in enhanced “liveability”. Reflecting on research findings from case studies of residents in medium density housing in Auckland, this paper examines the extent to which liveability is being enhanced in intensified suburban contexts. Using resident expressions of housing satisfaction as an indicator of liveability, the findings point to some positive outcomes. However, despite these perceptions, future housing aspirations tend to remain oriented to detached housing and lower densities, which raises policy issues for the promotion and management of urban consolidation and higher densities.

Improving the Quality of the Built Environment using Urban Design Review Panels: An Appraisal of Practices in Australia and New Zealand

This paper presents a critical appraisal of Urban Design Review whereby building development proposal are subject to comment and advice from an expert professional panel, prior to being submitted for formal approval by local authorities. In the context of urban authorities vigorously promoting „best practice‟ design on the basis that this will improve the quality of the built environment, Urban Design Review is contextualised as a form design governance. Recent evaluations of Review in the UK, Australia and New Zealand are presented and integrated with the outcomes to interviews with Urban Design Review Panellists in Auckland, Queenstown, Waneka and Cockburn City (Perth). Consistent with other studies that focussed on the views of developers and city officials, this study confirms that Panellist consider that Review leads to positive outcomes for the built environment, and serves public interest, but there remains a lack of sufficient empirical evidence to support these contentions.

Enhancing liveability through urban intensification: The idea and role of neighbourhood

Abstract This paper considers the contention that higher density neighbourhoods can lead to enhanced liveability, and examines the idea and role of neighbourhood to achieve this aim and policy goal. It reports on the findings from fifty-seven in-depth qualitative interviews. Residents interviewed all currently live in attached dwellings in four Auckland neighbourhoods. As is the case across much of Auckland, these areas are all experiencing considerable density increases. Conclusions drawn indicate that if higher density living is to be embraced in future neighbourhoods, the changing ways that residents are defining their neighbourhoods must be acknowledged and incorporated in to urban planning policy and strategy directives. The changing spatial role that neighbourhood amenities play in meeting the liveability expectations of residents must also be understood and provided for if enhanced liveability is to be achieved at higher densities.

Shaping Places: Urban Planning, Design and Development

unsanctioned aspects of cultural heritage that resounds in each of the 10 essays. The last two essays by Roy Jones (Chapter 9) and Alan Rice (Chapter 10) deal variously with the struggle of people against power and the commemoration of the abolition of the British slave trade. Jones’ essay congeals around a waterfront dispute at the Freemantle docks in Western Australia in 1919. Union workers were locked in mortal battle against state authorities when non-union labourers attempted to circumvent a union barricade against offloading goods at the docks and a bloody riot broke out. Now that the docks have become de-industrialised for cultural and touristic purposes, the essay contemplates appropriate ways to commemorate the event at the quay. Finally, Rice’s essay deplores the amnesia and disinterest of British citizens recently when on 25 March 2007, the centenary of the abolition of the British slave trade passed with barely a murmur. Rice insightfully contemplates how best to commemorate the ‘misery and shame’ associated with the historical legacy of slavery and imperialism and in doing so, gathers intrinsic themes of nationalism, exploitation of human labour, forgiveness in the context of a historical wrong, public art, commemoration and current racism. All 10 essays resoundingly assert Robertson’s primary thesis that the commercial and spectacular aspects of our cultural heritage tell only half the story. Attempts to build counter-hegemonic perspectives drawn from the local, the private and the unsung acts of ordinary people go some way in this insightful volume to offset the imbalance.