Urban design framework

Designing great places for our people

Table of contents | Foreword | Introduction | The issues for Auckland | Urban design goals for Auckland | Implementation | Appendix

Introduction

"What is a city but its people?" - Shakespeare, Coriolanus

1.1 Purpose of this document

The role of this document is to clearly state Auckland City Council's urban design aspirations and commitment to promoting and delivering on high-quality urban design.

The council has six outwardly focused strategic themes - transport choices, quality natural environment, lifestyle choices, quality built environment, strong communities and economic opportunities. A seventh theme - an efficient and capable council - focuses on how the council acts as an organisation to respond to people's needs, provide strong leadership and be a responsible steward of resources.

Best practice urban design stretches across all of these themes. By its collaborative and integrative nature, it inherently delivers on the seventh strategic theme of an efficient and capable council. In relation to the six other themes, the framework sets out which of these is most strongly aligned with each of the urban design objectives identified in the urban design goals section of the document. In many cases, an objective is strongly applicable to more than one theme.

It is anticipated that the framework will:

• guide council staff and elected representatives to influence their future projects, plans and policies
• provide clarity to investors, developers and design professionals as to where the council is heading in urban design practice
• inform the public on how urban design can contribute to improving the city's urban structure, form and the experience of living and working in Auckland.

This document is seen as the link between:

• the New Zealand Urban Design Protocol
• the Auckland Regional Growth Strategy
• the vision for the city contained within the council's long-term community plan (LTCCP)
• the Auckland City Growth Management Strategy
• the Mayoral Task Force on Urban Design
• the Mayoral Task Force on Sustainable Development
• the council's seven strategic themes
• the council's sustainability framework.

1.2 What is urban design?

Urban design is the multi-disciplinary skill of designing and arranging all the physical elements that make up cities to create harmonious, vibrant and successful places for people.

It is not simply about making places look good. Equally as important is ensuring that places work and function better for the people who use and inhabit them.

Cities are highly complex and consist of many different components - streets, open spaces, parks, reserves and buildings, with various uses from housing through to shops and businesses - as well as many diverse groups of people who use or interact with these.

Urban design practice is a conscious act of will, which considers the form, function and feel of places. It is primarily focused on understanding:

• the spaces and connections between neighbourhoods and buildings
• the relationship between buildings and spaces in terms of size, appearance and uses
• how the various elements of cities work together with a focus on the public realm
• how people interact and move through an area or place.

Most importantly, urban design is based on time-honoured objective principles of "place making" found in successful spaces around the world - not on subjective decisions around taste or style alone.

High-quality urban design is a key to creating sustainable cities and is proven to lead to economic, social, cultural and environmental wellbeing. Fundamentally, it is the glue that can hold the city together.

Wynyard Quarter now

Wynyard Quarter The Future: An example of the transformational role of urban design

1.3 The national perspective

Urban design is of national importance to New Zealand, as demonstrated by the production of the New Zealand Urban Design Protocol [1]. Auckland City Council is a signatory to the New Zealand Urban Design Protocol and is therefore committed to raising the standard of urban design across Auckland. This document identifies seven essential qualities that create quality urban places, known as the "seven Cs", and these are used as an assessment tool when reviewing the council's significant capital works projects.

• Context - development that responds sensitively to the local social, cultural and environmental context in which it sits is likely to create a place that is valued and pleasing to the eye.
• Character - the best places are memorable, with a character that is distinctive and easily appreciated.
• Choice - places with a variety and diversity of uses will help to determine how frequented and successful a place is, as well as providing opportunities for all the community regardless of culture, age, income or physical ability.
• Connections - good connections enhance choice, support social cohesion, make places lively and safe and facilitate contact amongst people.
• Creativity - innovative and creative approaches add richness and diversity. They also turn a functional place in to a memorable place and help to support a dynamic urban cultural life.
• Custodianship - recognising the lifetime costs of buildings and infrastructure helps to create long-lasting and durable places that we can hand-on to future generations in as good or better condition than we inherited them.
• Collaboration - towns and cities are designed incrementally as we make decisions on individual projects. Good communications and collaboration are likely to improve the quality of those decisions.

1.4 The value of urban design

Urban design is a significant tool for improving the quality of our city, but it is not just about creating places that are more attractive.

Ministry for the Environment research [2] shows that good urban design creates many economic, social, environmental and cultural benefits that can be defined and measured. It concluded that:

• good urban design can offer significant benefits to the community. Conversely, poor design can have significant adverse effects on the urban environment, society and economy
• while good urban design sometimes costs more upfront, this is not always the case. Moreover, long-term costs can be avoided
• communities value the better quality of life that good urban design can deliver. For example, well-designed schools assist in the educational achievements of pupils
• urban design can affect people's ability and willingness to undertake physical exercise. Good design can offer health benefits. For example, well-designed hospitals assist in patient recovery times and well-designed homes reduce the risks of ill health
• urban design can help make towns and cities safer and more secure
• urban design elements are interconnected and urban design is most effective when a number of elements come together (such as mixed-use, density and connectivity).

The above statements are further supported by the following international studies.

Facts and figures

• According to international architect Norman Foster, when considering the average costs of a building over a 25-year period, the physical envelope of the building comprises only 5.5 per cent of the total cost, whereas the costs of occupying the building represent 86 per cent of the total cost. His experience highlights that a small investment in design quality can quickly make a significant impact on this much larger percentage.
• A study for the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors in the United Kingdom carried out in 1997 estimated that more money (as much as £2 billion per year) is spent on treating illnesses arising from poor housing conditions, than is spent by local authorities on their own housing stock. National annual estimates of the increased costs associated with the 7.6 per cent of public sector homes considered unfit for habitation are £3 billion due to poor health, £1.8 billion due to increased crime and £120 million for the cost of fire services.
• An Urban Land Institute study of over 10,000 housing transactions in four pairs of housing developments in the United States revealed an average sales premium of $20,000 or 11 per cent, on schemes upholding basic urban design principles.
• In 2002, a survey commissioned by the Commission for Architecture and Built Environment asked people various questions on the importance of quality designed buildings and places. An overwhelming response was received. The following figures summarise some of the findings of this survey: 77 per cent agreed people work more productively in well-designed offices and 70 per cent agreed well-designed schools improve children's education. Overall, 85 per cent of people agreed with the statement "better quality buildings and public spaces improve the quality of people's lives" and believe the quality of the built environment made a difference to the way they felt.

1.5 The relationship between urban design and sustainability

In common with many big cities around the world, Auckland is confronting the realisation that our current way of life is unsustainable in the long-term. We need to take positive action now to protect our physical environment and the communities in which we live.

Keeping Auckland's Future Bright is Auckland City Council's long-term plan for a sustainable Auckland city. It is our strategy for tackling the issues and challenges surrounding sustainability. It draws together a number of influences and programmes to provide renewed focus and direction on sustainability.

Sustainability is an over-arching concept incorporating economic prosperity, resilient communities, civic and social leadership, environmental stewardship, social cohesion and cultural diversity, now and into the future.

Urban design cannot attempt to tackle all these issues. It is, however, a major contributor and has a key role to play in achieving sustainable cities.

Urban design's main contribution to sustainability in Auckland will be in creating a more sustainable urban form for the city - more high-quality, compact, mixed-use communities with higher densities, served by better public transport, which will reduce the need to travel long distances.

The size, scale and orientation of buildings is also a key contribution towards maximising the amount of sun received by buildings (passive solar gain), reducing shading of buildings and the reduction of wind tunnels and other harmful micro-climates caused by inappropriately located buildings.

1.6 Auckland's special character

Auckland has a very special sense of place [3]. It inhabits a narrow isthmus between two harbours, its natural landscape is dotted with iconic volcanic cones and features and its climate is temperate and moist.

In this physical environment, Auckland is maturing and consolidating as a city with a rich heritage and a developing, modern built form.

It competes for economic and community prosperity with other Pacific Rim cities, which, like Auckland, are confronting the combined pressures of population growth, increased business and commercial activity, and heightened concern for the environment. Decisions to invest, visit or live in these cities are increasingly based on local conditions, including how they express the elements that make them distinctive.

To succeed in that competition, Auckland must express those unique elements that support its sense of place in the South Pacific.

Our seascape

The water brought people to Aotearoa and sustained them. The Manukau and Waitemata Harbours provided a strategic location for settlement. The Tamaki and Whau rivers, creeks and springs offered drinking water and the opportunity to navigate across land. The location continues to provide for the needs of Auckland's growing population.

Our landscape

The defining image of the city is our maunga, volcanic features, the Hauraki Gulf islands and our connection with the sea. Among these features are a multitude of hidden remnants of Auckland's natural landscape.

Our settlement patterns

The region's geography was used to strategic advantage by its first occupants, tangata whenua, who arrived by waka at the narrowest part of the Auckland isthmus, Otahuhu.

Once the Treaty of Waitangi was signed in 1840, colonial settlers equally responded to the city's topography.

From the "walking city" of the 19th century, early 20th century advances in mechanical transport (particularly trams) enabled Auckland to quickly spread and pay less regard to the constraints of topography. A series of unique urban villages was formed across the isthmus and is still evident today.

From the 1870s, ferry services overcame the physical constraints of the isthmus location and the lack of transport options to give access to the rest of New Zealand. With the advent of the private motor vehicle and investment in road infrastructure, urban development spread further. This technological advance precipitated the construction of motorways to provide for the city's growth.

Our cultural distinctiveness

Since the founding of Auckland about 160 years ago, the city's sense of place has been shaped by the shared experiences of Maori and European people. Now the influence of Auckland's multicultural communities make it distinctive. Auckland boasts one of the largest Polynesian settlements in the world and is home to more Asian people than any other city in the country. This heritage is reflected in our place names, language, architecture, traditions, ceremonies and celebrations.

1. Ministry for the Environment, "New Zealand Urban Design Protocol", 2005.
2. Ministry for the Environment, "Summary of the value of urban design: The economic, environmental and social benefits of urban design", 2005.
3. Auckland City Council, "Sense of Place", 2001.

Published January 2008