Auckland CBD Greenspace Deficit

This picture is of Takutai Square. It's in the heart of Auckland CBD - part of the Britomart development.

I've cut the picture (above) from the front cover of Auckland Council's Urban Design Panel publication which contains the Panel's terms of reference.

Takutai Square - a small piece of green space and an interesting fountain feature - is a well used and successful part of Auckland CBD's parks network. Perhaps Auckland Council considers it an exemplar of good inner city urban design.

The arrow points at the green space area of Takutai Square in this aerial of Auckland's downtown CBD. You can just see the footpath that bisects the green space. It's a small park area. Much smaller than Queen Elizabeth Square - which - in my view - needs to be the subject of a rethink and design competition to turn it into another successful piece of Auckland CBD's parks network.

This aerial shows Auckland's old CBD area - just east of the area above - and which was developed when English Town and Country style planning influenced Auckland urban planning and design outcomes rather more than it does today. (You can see that streets follow topographical contours and other morphological differences.) You can also see part of Albert Park and Constitution Hill, Emily Place, and other green spaces. The two aerials are to the same scale and show how impoverished for green space Auckland's new downtown CBD is. This lack of provision has been noted in various studies carried out recently by Auckland Council. The BuzzChannel report that is here describes its findings in particular:

Submitters on the “quality parks, open spaces and community facilities created for people to use and enjoy” priority in the Waitematā Local Board Plan felt that more attention needed to be given to improving and increasing outdoor areas and facilities, given the projected increase in population and in particular the number of young people predicted to live in the city centre.

 This feedback is particularly wise because it draws attention to the needs of the 20,000 or more citizens who will be inner city dwellers - without backyards, without greenspaces, without outdoor places to play - and that this infrastructure needs to be planned for and provided.

Waterfront spaces and places will be great, but they will not meet the needs of what is required within CBD's increasingly populated confines. Spaces and places that are sheltered from the wind, with good shade from the sun, and that are well contained and activated by the built environment are a critical component of Auckland CBD infrastructure.

Auckland needs more public squares and green spaces of all sorts and shapes and sizes. I understand a number of Auckland Council's parks staff attended an international conference recently where delegates were given the message: more people living in built up urban environments means more open space and green space is needed to meet recreational and social needs that cannot be met in confined private living settings. The message is: don't sell public space. If you do you'll never get it back. It seems this lesson is being taken on board in the regeneration of Wynyard Quarter - it is a lesson that needs to be prioritised now in regeneration planning for Downtown Auckland.