The criticism of the strategy has been the absence of implementation planning.
The main thrust has been pretty much this:
- stop greenfield sprawl (North and South)
- intensify around public transport corridors (Dominion Road etc)
- develop transit oriented nodes (like New Lynn)
In the not too distant past there was also a strategy of "Infill Development". And North Shore City for a while experimented with "Minor Dwelling Units". With varying degrees of success.
Those preparing the Unitary Plan seem to be adopting a Zone Control approach as the main implementation tool. Thou shalt conform with the Zone. This is causing a variety of reactions across the region:
- how will heritage be protected;
- what say will local communities have to neighbourhood change;
- which communities will be protected;
- how will development community respond;
- is it just one size fits all?
It hadn't occurred to me that since the USA invented the problem, they might also be the first to start thinking constructively about how to solve it.
The key difference in their approach - and something that we need to engage with - is the need to repair existing sprawling suburbs. The need to make them better. Here in Auckland we criticise them and go on about how we don't want anymore. But then we ignore the ones that already exist - apart from where they run along a growth corridor, or sit round a growth node.
The repair approach is to look closely at our different sprawling suburbs - the ones with all the problem of single zoning - and identify strategies that fit local sprawling communities. More importantly - the challenge is to come up with ways that motivate the community to make the change - rather than them feeling the change is being imposed on them by a draconian Council zone.
Here's a few extracts from the US thinking....
For sixty years, Americans have been living in the Age of the Burbs. The zoning ordinances that created the strictly residential neighborhoods of the Burbs also zoned residential uses out of downtown areas. Now that the Baby Boomers -- whose arrival prompted the suburban residential expansion -- are aging, their preferences and needs argue for more diverse housing options that are closer to shops and services....
Demographic shifts are noticeable on Long Island, where the proportion of young adults (aged 25 to 34) in the population declined by 15% between 2000 and 2009 at the same time that the proportion of people 55 and older increased by 22%....
The loss of young people should be a major concern because it indicates their needs are not being met locally. Yet theirs is a demographic that is critical to maintaining a healthy economy, in large part because their presence attracts employers but also because their earning power and spending patterns are crucial to supporting local businesses.....
These younger generations want and require different types of housing than their parents did. If their needs and preferences are not met locally, they migrate to other areas....
Older residents prefer smaller spaces that require less maintenance and are within walking distance of shops, services and transit connections, according to a 2004 survey by the National Association of Realtors and Smart Growth America. The survey also revealed that a majority (65%) also prefer neighborhoods that offer a mix of housing that accommodates people across all stages of life....
The national transition from a manufacturing economy to primarily a service economy has all but eliminated the conditions that caused communities to strictly segregate work areas from residential areas. Allowing a mix of commercial and residential uses has many advantages....
Cities and towns across the nation are staggering under the weight of the rising cost of providing municipal services to sprawling communities. In an effort to contain these costs, they are increasingly directing new growth to vacant spaces within their communities and places in need of redevelopment.....
Smaller lots mean that more households within an area of a given size can be served by fewer and shorter municipal water and sewage lines. Shorter lines cost less to build and maintain.... Adapting existing buildings to new uses reduces environmental impacts by requiring fewer building materials and by contributing to more compact development patterns....
One response - accessory dwelling units - is rather like minor units. Goes like this:
Many communities are increasing housing options in existing neighborhoods that are zoned for single family residences by allowing property owners to build what are commonly called granny flats. Planners refer to granny flats as accessory dwelling units. How and where these can be added varies between and within communities depending on lot sizes and configurations. In some places they are only permitted if they are interior to or attached to the main dwelling, while in others they can be constructed over a detached garage or as a separate unit or guest house, as long as minimum distances are maintained from lot lines and other structures on the property.
Accessory dwelling units can serve several functions. For aging homeowners who need assistance, they can provide caregiver or caretaker quarters. Some communities attempt to limit accessory dwelling units to these uses by requiring residents to be members of the homeowner’s family. Where no tenancy restrictions are imposed, accessory dwelling units can accommodate guests or produce rental income for the property owner.
South Pasadena, like all California cities and counties, is required by the State to allow accessory dwelling units in order to help ease a severe statewide affordable housing shortage. South Pasadena’s ordinance is designed to comply with state law while protecting the existing character and integrity of residential neighborhoods.
They will need to be implemented with permitting strategies and financial incentives.
It is thinking that builds on existing built infrastructure, and service infrastructure.
You will be aware of the current Government Grant scheme, run out of EECA (Energy Efficiency and Conservation Authority), where about $1000 of government money is available if you insulate your house. A whole heap of contractors are out there to do the work.
Take that scheme and change it like this. It's a scheme for doubling (say) the residential housing capacity of a suburban street/community/neighbourhood in Auckland.
Imagine the objective is that the children that grow up in that area could buy a low cost unit there (alongside and amongst the stock of 3 bedroom detached houses). The idea also is that as you get old and want to retire to a smaller home, you can find one in the neighbourhood - whereas before you had to pack your bags and head for the nearest retirement village 20 kms away, and away from your friends and family. That idea, that vision, would be the social incentive to participate in the scheme, and to support it, embrace it - rather than fighting an ill-thought out unitary plan imposed from above.
Imagine the financial incentive is a government grant - a contribution to the redevelopment of a single section, or more likely a few adjacent properties. Auckland suburbs - many of them - contain good well built wooden homes that can be re-located or moved sideways. Space made for a medium density cluster perhaps. Or a corner shop. You get the idea. Just a few thoughts to get the grey cells working.
It's one thing to have a plan to build 100,000 houses - it's another plan figuring out how to fit a lot of those into repaired suburbs by engaging communities, getting them to buy into the plan, and doing it from the bottom up.
1 comment:
Joel
I think you'll find that much of this thinking is reflected in the comments that came forward on the draft Auckland Plan which lead to a significant change away from a narrow focus on "transit corridors" and narrowly defined town centres to one that encourages and enables a much wider use of the existing suburban infrastructure and land that can comfortably accommodate a wider range of housing typology and intensity.
lets hope all the potential is not frittered away through the process of the Unitary Plan as more and more of these areas get defined as "off limits" for such development to occur.
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