Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
away from road building. This will involve much cultural change, and this is an area that is
difficult to tackle.
Closely tied to this will be the future role of urban planning. This, in itself, is a controversial
area for Auckland, with the bounds of the discussion largely limited to reducing the BAU
sprawl, debating what proportion of new development should be in or outside of the current
urban boundary, rather than attempting to radically increase densification and mixed uses in
the parts of the urban and surburban area, shaped around a more extensive public transport
system. New Zealand is well known as the 'quarter-acre pavlova paradise' (Mitchell, 1972),
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and the strength of feeling for a large plot of land in the suburbs largely remains. Perhaps
attitudes are changing a little, as apartment-based inner city living or smaller lot housing is
becoming a little more popular, certainly for the younger age cohorts (typically the 20-30 age
bracket) but perhaps also wider groups such as 'empty-nesters'. Most people would like to
live within walking or cycling distance of local shops, parks, schools and employment, so the
'urban living' aspiration is perhaps not too uncommon. There may well be a significant latent
demand for high quality denser urban living, in the attractive older suburbs and also new
developments, but the supply of this type of housing is currently limited at affordable prices
(Preval et al., 2010).
Figure 7.25
Playtime
, 1967, directed by Jacques Tati. Monsieur Hulot attempts to navigate a futuristic Paris,
or 'Tativille', constructed of modernist straight lines, glass and steel high-rise buildings, and
multi-lane elevated roads; the architecture is viewed as obstructive to daily life and problematic
to natural human interaction.
Source
: British Film Institute Stills Collection.
