Malcolm Rands: Housing with emphasis on homeliness

Housing is a major talking point in Auckland and the city is small enough for positive change. Photo / Chris Gorman

Opinion

A planned eco-development in the city would use space more efficiently and bring neighbours together

Auckland: "There are few places on earth one might change so radically and so fast" - Nat Cheshire, architect.

Tamaki Makaurau has the advantages of a beautiful location, a temperate climate and a diverse mix of cultures. Add to this our small size and we already have many of the ingredients we need for positive change. Other major cities in the West are often too large and therefore too cumbersome to have this ability.

For six years I've been working on a project with the Fairground Foundation, the not for profit arm of ecostore, to create a new model for housing development. The model I propose is one with a social as well as environmental and financial bottom line; one where the homes are not only made from healthy, sustainable materials, but where it is possible for the residents to have a sense of community and belonging. In other words, a "real" neighbourhood.

The standard Kiwi model of a section with a single storey house on it surrounded by an area of land that is hardly ever used is not only wasteful of space but increasingly, thanks to handy devices like automatic garage doors, walls us off from our neighbours. Busy and stressful lifestyles may require privacy and time out from other people but I believe there are ways that housing can be designed to give us privacy and the opportunity to be social by making it easier for us to "bump" into our neighbours.

What we call bump spaces are the key; they allow you to simply say gidday to your neighbours or to choose a longer conversation. Unplanned moments like these might seem insignificant yet they are often the basis from which it is possible to form a community.

This neighbourhood will encompass a variety of house types. It can accommodate the nuclear family of three- or four-bedroom units but will also have smaller units suitable for singles, working couples or retired people. While the only profitable developments at present are for big houses.

The land saved by building multiple dwellings up to no more than three storeys high can then be made available to the whole development for use as kids' play space, fruit trees and garden allotment or quiet zones to meditate, read or relax.

You can re-invest money saved on land into making state-of-the-art, healthy and sustainable homes. There is no reason why this neighbourhood couldn't also generate all its electricity requirements. Water could be filtered and reused and the common open space could provide fresh food but also be a green haven. The aim is to make these units available at the same price per number of bedrooms as the average house in the area where our development is situated.

The Fairground Foundation is collaborating with the Ockham Foundation; a charitable trust that is closely associated with developers Ockham Residential, which is producing some of the city's most innovative residential typologies.

Together we are looking for sites in existing urban neighbourhoods with good access to transport, retail and community facilities to develop a prototype community that has the potential to set the course for Auckland's future urban regeneration.

We aim to have a high level of transparency at all stages of planning to let people know how it is progressing and about any of the issues that come up. I believe we will have no problem selling the housing units we design and in fact will have a waiting list for the next one. And importantly we will make a profit doing this. Local developers can study what we are doing and have a go at this process themselves. When this happens we will share all our intellectual property, supply chains and the mistakes we made. We plan to use our business success to change the type of communities we live in.

As I travel around New Zealand and Australia giving my "ecoman" talk I often mention this project. Many in the audience approach me later saying, "I want in". I believe there is a real yearning for a more "human" and inclusive way to live in our vibrant city.

We hope these neighbourhoods will start popping up everywhere and add to the cultural richness of Auckland.

• Malcolm Rands is the CEO and founder of ecostore.