World-Class Auckland: The way forward

Auckland consistently ranks highly in lists of the world's best cities but is never number one. So what would it take to turn Auckland into a first-class city? This week the Herald continues its 10-day series examining some of the biggest hurdles Auckland faces, from housing and transport to entertainment and education. We look at what we are doing, what we need to do, and why Auckland's success matters to the rest of the country. In part 10 we look at the lessons learned and present readers with a blueprint of what it would take to elevate the Super City to the top.

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• WORLD CLASS AUCKLAND - SERIES OVERVIEW

Throughout the series our reporters have looked for solutions to the challenges Auckland face. Here are some of the best ideas.

HOUSING

• Auckland's main problem is a severe housing shortage. We need to build more homes. But should we go up or out?

• Auckland Council could relax urban boundaries to allow more urban sprawl as seen in Houston. This would free up city fringe land for developments and prevent the value of scarce land inside the boundary being artificially driven up.

• Investigate the Texan model of infrastructure financing. Texan cities issue municipal bonds to investors to cover the upfront cost of vital infrastructure for new subdivisions. Residents are then charged nominal taxes over the lifetime of the network.

• Replicate intensive urban housing developments as seen in Vancouver, Melbourne and New York by building more medium and high-density terraced housing and apartments close to public transport links, amenities and workplaces.

• Introduce controls on foreign buyers to counter demand. Australia forces foreigners to purchase new houses, adding to overall supply.

• As house prices rise and more people are shut out of home ownership, the growing tenant population needs better rights. Sweden and Germany allow indefinite tenancy terms which are often inherited by children. Strict rent control laws keep increases low and tenants are permitted to carry out minor alterations.

ENVIRONMENT

• Shift city planning to embrace a compact urban form, while creating new green spaces and protecting existing areas. Auckland could introduce a "treebate", like in Portland, US, which incentivises residents to plant and protect trees.

• Reduce the amount of sediment flowing into the marine environment through more careful practice during vegetation removal and earthworks, and using green infrastructure such as planted riparian areas and rehabilitated floodplains to let sediment settle before it reaches the sea.

• Improve outdoor air quality with more green spaces, electrified public transport and greener home heating, and boost indoor air quality with more natural products such as timber in workplace design, and more plants that act as natural air filters.

• Increase the number of green or carbon-friendly homes and buildings. Auckland has a goal of having 95 per cent of all buildings meeting sustainable design standards equivalent to a 6 Green Star rating by 2040, and 95 per cent of housing meeting sustainable design standards equivalent to an 8 Homestar rating.

• Cut the amount of waste going to landfill. Auckland will soon roll out a new organic waste collection programme that will help it achieve a "zero waste" goal by 2040.

EDUCATION

• Go back to basics, as they have in Ontario where schools focus heavily on teaching, learning, and shared practice. Ontario resourced reforms well, creating specialist roles to work alongside schools and mentoring roles for potential dropouts. The focus saw a 20 per cent increase in graduation rates.

• Work hard to create a sense of community for students. In Melbourne, many students live on-site where they have access to activities, form relationships with peers and save on transport by living close to campus.

• Help young people into work. Education in the Netherlands creates multiple pathways for its students that are straight-forward from a young age. Students have clear goals and structured ways to get to the career they want - but also the flexibility to change streams at certain points. Consequently, they have a low rate of youth out of work or study.

EVENTS

• New Zealand's isolation and smaller population has meant the cost of a cheap eat is often a couple of dollars less than in Sydney, but continual investment in eating precincts will encourage greater diversity of food at more wide-ranging prices.

• To establish itself as a more creative city, Auckland needs to find itself an artistic niche and market it globally, in the same vein that Paris is often referred to as the fashion capital, or London's reputation for musical theatre.

• Local and central government need to continue to support local artists to help them reach the big stage.

RECREATION

• Sydney's innovative use of public space, such as the Opera House steps, is an example of what can be done to open up more venues for big acts and facilities, rather than limiting events to established facilities.

• As the building of the convention centre gets under way, it's vital that developers make it an iconic, all-in-one precinct that attracts a mix of local and international events and conventions.

• Greater questions need to be asked of the merits of a centralised, iconic stadium, versus further investment in our current facilities.

TRANSPORT

• London, Stockholm and Singapore have imposed congestion road charges and, in Singapore's case, swingeing vehicle registration fees and a ballot system to ration the annual allocation of private vehicles on the island state's limited roads.

• Vancouver has developed a network of elevated rail lines carrying small, driverless trains and resisted the creep of motorways into Vancouver City, although it has recently opened one of North America's widest road bridges, across the Fraser River to the east.

• Paris has introduced mega bicycle and electric car-sharing schemes.

• Melbourne has introduced free public transport in the city centre, and single-zone travel fares within a radius of up to 30km.

• Brisbane pedestrianised the western side of its main drag, Queen St, and built a busway station under it.

• New York City has pedestrianised Times Square and allocated more road space to plazas, cycleways and public parks, after the State Government refused to allow congestion charging.

• Seoul has demolished 16 freeways, including a four-lane elevated road through its heart, and "daylighted" an historic stream in its place.

COMMUNITY

• Auckland needs to learn from Denmark's ability to "live locally" and travel less, contributing to a better work-life balance.

• Social connections could improve if, as Montreal has, Auckland continues to develop and promote its natural walking spaces and bike paths to encourage accidental meet-and-greets.

• Aucklanders could become more involved in the community, volunteer time and thus improve their sense of wellbeing.

• Vienna's public art policy has shown how vital it is to have continual support for art on the streetscape to revitalise urban spaces and draw in more foot traffic.

Auckland needs to learn from Denmark on how to live locally and travel less. Photo / Dean Purcell

We say ... it's time to step up the pace

This city is a beautiful work in progress. Blessed with a stunning natural environment, especially its maritime attractions, it has sprawled and stretched its infrastructure in all directions. Our series over the past 10 days has imagined how much better it could be.

It is time for action. Urban planners say we should live in higher-density housing and use public transport if we cannot walk or bike to work. We have been dubious. Aucklanders like their space and they like their cars. But nothing in this city is unchanging, and that includes its people.

One of the most telling figures in our series was that Asian migrants now comprise 20 per cent of Auckland's population. They may be buying houses in low-density suburbs as keenly as any other Aucklanders but they have come from places where most people live in apartments and use public transport.

Auckland today is not only more Asian, it is younger than the national average. Younger people say they are not averse to high-density living and prefer cycling or public transport to commuting by car. If they do what they say, Auckland could be a different place.

It could even be, as the planners hope, a place where neighbourhoods become communities again. Our series has highlighted the social costs of the growing gap between richer and poorer parts of the city, and within each suburb as its better-off or more aspirational residents send their children to a distant, supposedly "better" school.

We found hopeful solutions, notably the Hobsonville Pt development where apartments and townhouses are being integrated with conventional housing and community facilities have not been forgotten. At Mangere, a Tongan methodist parish in partnership with a private property trust also has a promising community development planned.

World-class cities are centres of cultural and intellectual life. Musician Anika Moa wrote of the inner city as it used to be before property values scattered its creative community. Auckland still has New Zealand's highest-ranking university but it has slid from 65 to 92 on the international league table, which means our best students and staff are being enticed overseas.

Most solutions come back to the inner city. Auckland may be a more exciting place if fewer cars came to the centre, more people lived within easy reach of the railways and busways that radiate from the centre, and its waterfront continues to be opened to people and entertainment.

Progress is being made. Auckland's natural attractions and lifestyle will always be enjoyed by means of roading and spacious homes but a world-class city also needs closer communities, less traffic, lively urban centres and a stimulating mix of people. The time has come to step up the pace.