Footprinting Urban Form and Behaviour in New Zealand

2009 ◽  
Vol 52 (4) ◽  
pp. 254-260 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert ◽  
Brenda Vale
Keyword(s):  
New Zealand ◽  
Urban Form

scholarly journals A Quarter Acre Pavlova Paradise Lost? The Role of Preferences and Planning in Achieving Urban Sustainability in Wellington, New Zealand

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Nadine Dodge
Keyword(s):  
New Zealand ◽  
Carbon Emissions ◽  
Urban Form ◽  
Path Dependency ◽  
Regulatory Regime ◽  
Medium Density ◽  
Stated Choice ◽  
Travel Mode ◽  
Unmet Demand ◽  
Compact Development

<p>This thesis investigates the scope for compact development to accommodate population growth in Wellington, New Zealand. The topic is particularly significant for New Zealand as the great majority of the population lives in urban areas, historical development has been dominated by low density urban form, and transport and urban form are two of the main domains in which the country can reduce its carbon emissions. The influence of urban planning and residents’ preferences on achieving sustainable outcomes is investigated.  Historical and current planning rules and transport policies in the City are analysed to determine their influence on the provision of compact development. Wellington’s transport policy shows a pattern of path dependency: historical decisions to favour car oriented investment have driven subsequent transport investments and influenced the ease of using different transport modes. Planning policies show a similar pattern of path dependency: planning rules enacted in the 1960s endure in present planning despite being packaged with different justifications and regulatory regime. Current planning rules severely restrict infill development in most existing neighbourhoods, which reduces the availability of housing in accessible medium density neighbourhoods and likely increases the cost of this type of housing.  A stated choice survey was conducted of 454 residents of Wellington City to investigate the extent to which there is an unmet demand for compact development and alternatives to car travel. The survey held presentation mode constant across two completion modes (internet and door to door with tablet completion), allowing the impacts of recruitment and completion mode to be examined. Survey recruitment mode appeared to influence both response rates and the representativeness of the survey, while completion mode appeared to have little or no impact on survey responses.  Using the stated choice survey results, a latent class model was developed to examine the preferences of residents and the trade-offs they are willing to make when choosing where to live. This type of model allows for the identification of preference groups as a means of understanding the diversity of preferences across the population. The study found that there is an unmet demand for medium density, accessible housing, but that affordability is a barrier for households to choose this type of housing. There was also an unmet demand for walking and cycling, with more residents currently driving than would prefer to use this mode, and more residents preferring to walk and cycle to work than currently use these modes. The ability to use a desired travel mode appears to be related to the neighbourhood in which a person lives, with residents of medium and high density neighbourhoods being more likely to use their preferred travel mode.  This study also modelled future development trajectories for Wellington based on demand for housing, neighbourhood and transport attributes. This preference based growth model was contrasted with the City’s plan for development over the next 30 years. Comparing the two scenarios, the planning based trajectory performed better than the demand based scenario in terms of both carbon emissions and achieving compact development.</p>

scholarly journals Do denser urban areas save on infrastructure? Evidence from New Zealand territorial authorities

2016 ◽  
Vol 12 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Matt Adams ◽  
Ralph Chapman
Keyword(s):  
New Zealand ◽  
Urban Form ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
Climate Risk ◽  
Traditional Model ◽  
The World

How urban planners shape urban form and longlived infrastructure in these coming few years will largely determine whether the world gets locked into a traditional model … or moves onto a better path, with more compact, connected and liveable cities, greater productivity and reduced climate risk. 

scholarly journals Footprinting New Zealand urban forms and lifestyles

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Ella Susanne Lawton
Keyword(s):  
New Zealand ◽  
Urban Form ◽  
Ecological Footprint ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Environmental Data ◽  
Communication Tool ◽  
Household Energy ◽  
Urban Forms ◽  
Lifestyle Choices ◽  
Diverse Groups

<p>More than 90% of New Zealand’s ecological footprint results from the lifestyle choices of individuals, although the size and impact of their lifestyle footprint depends on the type of urban form in which they live.  The aim of this research is to highlight the degree to which New Zealanders are living beyond their fair earth share and how this appears through lifestyles. As the population continues to increase and resources become scarce, it is vital that both governments and communities have effective resource accounting tools to inform further urban development, given its influence on resource use. The thesis highlights how urban form could reduce barriers to people’s future wellbeing and it identifies the types of lifestyles that support a shift towards lower footprint living.  To understand how the ecological footprint of New Zealand’s communities is generated by a combination of the community members’ lifestyle choices and interaction with their urban form, the research comprised five steps.  1. Designing a footprint method and calculating local footprint yields for the New Zealand context.  2. Calculating the New Zealand footprint in nine categories: food and beverages, travel, consumer goods, holidays, household energy, housing, infrastructure, government and services.  3. Creating a calculator and survey, and collecting household footprint data from five New Zealand communities.  4. Processing data and analysing community results highlighting differences and similarities between them.  5. Using the community output creating fair earth share scenarios which highlight those footprint categories within each urban form that provide the best opportunity for reducing a community’s footprint.  Throughout this project the ecological footprint has been an effective indicator which has provided the means to communicate complex environmental data in a simplified form to diverse groups. The project used the ecological footprint to measure and communicate the trends that are putting pressure on the planet’s finite availability of land; a growing demand and the decreasing supply. It was found to be an effective communication tool for both communities and local government organisations that formed a way of discussing how to reduce their footprint in the future.  Although many New Zealand lifestyles exist in a variety of types of urban form, some lifestyle types are more typical in certain urban forms. Food was found to be the predominant driver of a household’s footprint. Use of commercial land for growing, on-farm inputs and food processing made up the largest portion of the food footprint. Holidays and pets were also large contributors to an individual’s footprint. Due to the high amount of renewable energy that goes into producing New Zealand’s electricity, household energy was proportionally much less than found in similar international footprint case studies.  The final scenarios show that fair earth share living in New Zealand is possible; some individuals are already doing it. However bringing about large-scale change will require collective community strategic planning, planning tools to develop resource efficient urban design, and immediate action.</p>

The Results of Making a City More Compact: Neighbours' Interpretation of Urban Infill

2005 ◽  
Vol 32 (5) ◽  
pp. 715-733 ◽  
Author(s):  
Suzanne Vallance ◽  
Harvey C Perkins ◽  
Kevin Moore
Keyword(s):  
New Zealand ◽  
Urban Planning ◽  
Urban Form ◽  
Growth Management ◽  
Local Authorities ◽  
Urban Forms ◽  
Contentious Issue ◽  
Local Residents

The quest for more sustainable urban forms has added renewed vigour to urban planning, with various types of urban infill and intensification becoming increasingly popular with local authorities. These approaches seek to achieve environmental and social objectives but, despite the supposed advantages of a more consolidated urban form, infill housing as a strategy for growth management is not always well received by local residents and it remains a contentious issue. In this paper the authors report on an enquiry into neighbours' interpretations of, and responses to, infill housing in Christchurch, New Zealand.

scholarly journals Commuting without Polluting: The Economic  Geography  of  Active  Transport  in Aotearoa  New  Zealand

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Laura McKim
Keyword(s):  
New Zealand ◽  
Active Transport ◽  
Urban Form ◽  
Global Climate ◽  
Active Commuting ◽  
Wage Rates ◽  
Aotearoa New Zealand ◽  
The Impact ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Motorised Transport

<p>New Zealand has one of the highest rates of car ownership in the world and as such contributes disproportionately to global climate change, cardiovascular disease and obesity. This need not be the case for, among other things, New Zealand cities have the potential to increase the use of walking and cycling. There is substantial evidence that modifying the urban form and design of neighbourhoods can influence the use of active transport. However factors such as those related to employment and income have so far received far less attention as possible influences. This thesis explores the impact of income on the use of active modes of transport for commuting. Modal choice is sensitive to both income and relative costs. While historically the car has replaced walking and cycling as wage rates have risen, in cross section the relationship between income and active commuting takes quite a different form. While higher incomes do allow people to purchase motorised transport, they also allow workers to purchase shorter commutes and to integrate active modes into more complex trip chains. As a result, the probability of active commuting rises with income. As such, raising urban density can help stem some of the negative environmental and health effects of rising affluence.</p>

Close enough: housing price effects of urban parks, reserves and volcanic parks in Auckland, New Zealand

2020 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Lydia Cheung ◽  
Mario Andres Fernandez
Keyword(s):  
New Zealand ◽  
Urban Form ◽  
Green Space ◽  
Housing Price ◽  
Urban Parks ◽  
Residential Property ◽  
Hedonic Price ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Positive Effects ◽  
Property Prices

Purpose This study aims to test whether the size of and distance to the nearest green space has any effects on residential property transaction prices in Auckland, New Zealand. Design/methodology/approach This paper divides all green spaces in Auckland into three categories, namely, urban parks, regional reserves and volcanic parks (a unique feature in Auckland, New Zealand). This study uses six years of residential property transaction data to estimate hedonic price regressions. For each property, this paper calculates the size of and distance to the nearest park in each category. Findings The logged sizes of the nearest regional reserve and volcanic park have positive effects on property prices. The logged distances to the nearest urban park and volcanic park are insignificant, while the logged distance to the nearest regional reserve is positively significant. In other words, homebuyers prefer larger regional reserves and volcanic parks and prefer to be further away. Originality/value Auckland is ranked as a top-five city in the world in terms of the proportion of public green space, trailing four European cities. However, because of Auckland’s much younger age, it presents a very different urban form. The study shows that the distribution of green space (not only its total amount) can bring negative capitalization on property prices.

scholarly journals A Quarter Acre Pavlova Paradise Lost? The Role of Preferences and Planning in Achieving Urban Sustainability in Wellington, New Zealand

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Nadine Dodge
Keyword(s):  
New Zealand ◽  
Carbon Emissions ◽  
Urban Form ◽  
Path Dependency ◽  
Regulatory Regime ◽  
Medium Density ◽  
Stated Choice ◽  
Travel Mode ◽  
Unmet Demand ◽  
Compact Development

<p>This thesis investigates the scope for compact development to accommodate population growth in Wellington, New Zealand. The topic is particularly significant for New Zealand as the great majority of the population lives in urban areas, historical development has been dominated by low density urban form, and transport and urban form are two of the main domains in which the country can reduce its carbon emissions. The influence of urban planning and residents’ preferences on achieving sustainable outcomes is investigated.  Historical and current planning rules and transport policies in the City are analysed to determine their influence on the provision of compact development. Wellington’s transport policy shows a pattern of path dependency: historical decisions to favour car oriented investment have driven subsequent transport investments and influenced the ease of using different transport modes. Planning policies show a similar pattern of path dependency: planning rules enacted in the 1960s endure in present planning despite being packaged with different justifications and regulatory regime. Current planning rules severely restrict infill development in most existing neighbourhoods, which reduces the availability of housing in accessible medium density neighbourhoods and likely increases the cost of this type of housing.  A stated choice survey was conducted of 454 residents of Wellington City to investigate the extent to which there is an unmet demand for compact development and alternatives to car travel. The survey held presentation mode constant across two completion modes (internet and door to door with tablet completion), allowing the impacts of recruitment and completion mode to be examined. Survey recruitment mode appeared to influence both response rates and the representativeness of the survey, while completion mode appeared to have little or no impact on survey responses.  Using the stated choice survey results, a latent class model was developed to examine the preferences of residents and the trade-offs they are willing to make when choosing where to live. This type of model allows for the identification of preference groups as a means of understanding the diversity of preferences across the population. The study found that there is an unmet demand for medium density, accessible housing, but that affordability is a barrier for households to choose this type of housing. There was also an unmet demand for walking and cycling, with more residents currently driving than would prefer to use this mode, and more residents preferring to walk and cycle to work than currently use these modes. The ability to use a desired travel mode appears to be related to the neighbourhood in which a person lives, with residents of medium and high density neighbourhoods being more likely to use their preferred travel mode.  This study also modelled future development trajectories for Wellington based on demand for housing, neighbourhood and transport attributes. This preference based growth model was contrasted with the City’s plan for development over the next 30 years. Comparing the two scenarios, the planning based trajectory performed better than the demand based scenario in terms of both carbon emissions and achieving compact development.</p>

scholarly journals Living in the 'liveable' city: Housing, Neighbourhood, and Transport Preferences in New Zealand cities

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Frederick Holmes
Keyword(s):  
New Zealand ◽  
Urban Form ◽  
Latent Class ◽  
Latent Class Model ◽  
Low Density ◽  
City Development ◽  
Transport Mode ◽  
Trade Offs ◽  
Unmet Demand ◽  
Car Travel

<p>This thesis investigates preferences for housing, neighbourhoods, and transport in Auckland, New Zealand, supplemented by a comparison with similar research in Wellington and Hamilton. The topic is significant for New Zealand as there is an increasingly urban population, and the interconnected areas of urban form and transport can help the country reduce carbon emissions and provide a healthier, more enjoyable lifestyle for its people. The influence of residents’ preferences and their relationship with urban form on achieving compact city development is investigated.  Historical and current planning rules and policies provide context for an analysis of how urban planning, preferences, and location and travel choices interact. Auckland’s housing and transport policies show a pattern of path dependency: decisions favouring greenfield development, sprawling low-density suburbs, and car-centred transport have driven subsequent investments and influenced the ease of using alternative transport modes. Such rules have also reduced the availability of housing in accessible, medium- to high-density neighbourhoods and may have contributed to the rising costs of this type of housing.  A stated choice survey of 3,285 Auckland households was conducted to investigate the extent to which there is an unmet demand for compact development and alternatives to car travel.  Using the survey results, a multinomial latent class model was developed to examine the preferences of households and the trade-offs they may be willing to make when choosing where to live. This type of model allows for identification of preference groups as a means of understanding the heterogeneity of preferences across the population. There was an unmet demand for accessible, medium-density housing, with some households willing to trade off dwelling size and neighbourhood type for higher accessibility or lower prices. The study also found that more people currently drive than would prefer to, with long journey times, safety concerns, unreliable services, and a lack of infrastructure acting as barriers to active and public transport. Households preferring low density are more likely to occupy their preferred dwelling type and be able to use their preferred transport mode. In contrast, those preferring high accessibility or driven by price are more likely to experience a mismatch between their preferred and current dwelling type, and are less likely to be able to use their preferred transport mode.</p>

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