The relentless storms beating down on Te Ika a Māui this summer have been, and continue to be, front of mind for UDF members. Writing on behalf of UDF from Tāmaki Makaurau I send our thoughts to all those directly affected by, and those working on responses to, each state of emergency in the upper-mid North Island.
The onslaught of Cyclone Gabrielle on top of record-setting rain and flooding, is both a wake-up call and a very loud warning bell. It should also be a rallying call for taking more action to tackle climate change and climate related events, and to work collaboratively to adapt to the risks, as we know these major weather events are only going to increase in frequency.
Climate adaptation and high quality design of our urban environments are not mutually exclusive, rather they are mutually beneficial and require collaborative action amongst built environment professionals, politicians and the local community.
As urban designers and built environment professionals, our members are attuned to the daily reality of dealing with deficiencies in our urban environments. In the professions we work in we are no strangers to the state of failing infrastructure exacerbated by decades of under-investment. We agree that the presence of too much hard or impermeable surface adds to the vulnerability of neighbourhoods and communities. We know and frequently forewarn against building in places that are unsuitable to intensive development, for example areas that are low-lying and flood-prone, on coastal margins or steep and erosion-prone land.
There shouldn’t be any debate that the time to double down on commitments to build resilience into our cities is now. To pursue the things that work over the things that don’t.
The call for density done well takes on added importance. We want compact urban form, but density requires clever thinking about the locations that can support it and those that can’t. Cities demand good infrastructure – but that doesn’t mean concrete and asphalt everywhere.
Greening our urban streets is good for not only the environment, but for everyone – street trees provide shade and shelter and raingardens can be retrofitted into streets to slow the run-off of stormwater. Parks provide places for recreation and play but they also can be designed to support green stormwater management.
It was interesting to see the recent wave of media attention given to ‘sponge cities’ as being part of future-focused solutions for mitigating flood risks. Stonefields, here in Tāmaki Makaurau featured as an example of a development designed using those principles to create housing around a large wetland and floodable park. We need more of this coverage, heightened awareness and meaningful discussions.
We can look for some silver linings in the locations where there is significant investment in blue-green infrastructure taking place and where the infrastructure worked as intended through solid partnerships.
Mark Fraser, GM of Urban Development and Delivery at Kāinga Ora recently highlighted on LinkedIn how the new Freeland Reserve detention system at their Mt Roskill development successfully held back stormwater that would have previously flooded surrounding areas and homes. Another brightspot was the Greenslade Reserve [Link: https://isthmus.co.nz/thinking/northcotes-landscape-infrastructure-in-action/ ] in Northcote town centre, an active sports park that was redeveloped as an urban wetland to reduce the risk of flooding in the town centre and support the intensification of Northcote.
By the time this year’s Auckland Climate Festival [ Link: https://aucklandclimatefestival.co.nz ] is held in October I am hopeful that more examples like these can be showcased.
Well before then the Urban Design Forum will also be using the timing of the Urbanism NZ Conference in April [Link: https://www.urbanismnz.co.nz ] to do our best to ensure that the message of pursuing better outcomes in the face of climate threats is heard as loud and clear as an incoming cyclone.
