Chinese precinct 'too twee' for city

Mike Lee. Photo / Brett Phibbs

Auckland councillors are keen to overhaul the city centre, but wary of including a Chinatown in the mix.

The council's Auckland future vision committee yesterday voted to proceed with a 20-year city masterplan that will be made public next month.

Banishing cars from Queen St and making the city a pedestrian-friendly area are uppermost in the plan. Other ideas include building more open space, playgrounds for children and creating a Chinatown.

Waitemata & Gulf councillor Mike Lee supported the thrust of the plan, but urged the council to focus on building a vibrant, thriving city centre.

He also wanted the council to focus on the heritage and authentic aspects of the city centre, which includes the suburbs of Parnell and Ponsonby.

"Chinatown is a bit twee," Mr Lee said.

Waitemata local board chairman Shale Chamber was also concerned about creating a Chinatown, saying the council should "avoid fakism" and appreciate the character and history of Parnell and Ponsonby.

Kai Luey, the Auckland branch chairman of the New Zealand Chinese Association, said the idea of a Chinatown in downtown Auckland was good but it would take a lot of investment and dedication to make it happen.

Auckland's first and only Chinatown was replaced by multi-storey flats and later the Auckland Council Civic Building in Grey's Ave in the 1960s.

Senior urban design and environmental planner Ludo Campbell-Reid challenged councillors to raise their sights and move away from what a Danish design team described the city centre as - a traffic machine.

"If you build a city for people you attract people. If you build a city for cars you attract cars," he said.

"We want people to talk about Auckland with the same pride as cities like Melbourne. Melbourne took 25 years to transform itself. Auckland is much better than that," he said.

Mr Campbell-Reid said the Queen St upgrade had resulted in a 32 per cent rise in pedestrians and anecdotal evidence of higher retail takings.

Orakei councillor Cameron Brewer said the council had to be careful about digging up Queen St again after a disruptive, three-year upgrade costing $43.5 million and focus on dead zones such as Hobson, Nelson and Albert Sts, as well as links to the Domain.

Manukau councillor Alf Filipaina and Howick councillor Sharon Stewart expressed concerns about money pouring into the city centre at the expense of centres around the region.

"Let's not forget all the other communities out there," Cr Stewart said.

However, Manurewa-Papakura councillor John Walker said it was vital to do downtown Auckland first.

"It's a Super City. We have got to do it right," he said.