Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
7
Urban dispersal and high
The creature walked round the flat today for the first time. Laughed in the corridor after looking at
the electric light. Then, accompanied by Philip Philipovich and myself, he went into the study. Stands
firmly on his hind (deleted) . . . his legs and gives the impression of a short, ill-knit human male.
Laughed in the study. His smile is disagreeable and somehow artificial. Then he scratched the back
of his head, looked round and registered a further, clearly pronounced word: 'Bourgeois'. Swore. His
swearing is methodical, uninterrupted and apparently totally meaningless. There is something
mechanical about it - it is as if this creature had heard all this bad language at an earlier phase,
automatically recorded it in his sub-conscious and now regurgitates it wholesale. However, I am no
psychiatrist.
(Mikhail Bulgakov,
The Heart of a Dog
, 1925, p. 64)
Auckland, known as the 'City of Sails', has a beautiful setting with a central business district
overlooking Waitemata Harbour, and beyond to the South Pacific Ocean. The city is New
Zealand's major commercial centre and home to a third of the country's population; the
metropolitan area includes a residential population of over 1.4 million (Auckland Regional
Council, 2010). Auckland's population is expected to grow to 2.1 million by 2040. The main
urbanised area lies between the Hauraki Gulf of the Pacific Ocean to the east, the low Hunua
Ranges to the southeast, the Manukau Harbour to the southwest, and the Waitakere Ranges
and smaller ranges to the west and northwest. The central part of the urban area occupies a
narrow isthmus between the Manukau Harbour on the Tasman Sea and the Waitemata Harbour
New Zealand itself has a population of over 4 million, growing at around 1 per cent per
annum. GDP per capita, at just under US$30,000, is low relative to Australia (US$42,000) or
the United Kingdom (US$35,000), but there has been high growth in the last 10 years. The
motorisation rate is very high at 720 vehicles per 1,000 population, one of the highest national
figures in the world, less than the US (820), but more than Australia (671) or the UK (517)
(
Table 7.1
). CO2 emissions per capita and energy use are hence high, even for an industrialised
country.
In terms of international climate agreements, New Zealand is a signatory (in 2002) to the
Kyoto Protocol. The international agreement is to reduce the total GHG emissions of developed
countries (and countries with economies in transition) to 5 per cent below 1990 levels. New
Zealand has committed to 'reduce its greenhouse gas emissions to 1990 levels on average
over the 2008-2012 commitment period, or take responsibility for any emissions over these
levels'.
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