Good urban design is about the look and feel of our cities and town centres. It’s about developing well-configured cities and towns that look good, feel safe and are easy to get around. There are three urban design actions identified in the Wellington Regional Strategy document namely:
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All councils in the Wellington region are signed up to the New Zealand Urban Design Protocol (NZUDP);
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The development and implementation of a regional action plan for urban design; &
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Review of subdivision design guides across the region.
WHO’S INVOLVED?
The Urban Design Working Group is made up of representatives from the region’s councils across the region, the Ministry for the Environment and Victoria University. Members of this group have a particular interest in urban design within their own organisations. The project is being led by the WRS Office.
WHAT’S HAPPENED?
All councils in the Wellington region are now signed up to the NZUDP.
A Wellington Regional Urban Design Action Plan and Stocktake was written and signed off by the WRS Committee in July 2009 and became operative on this date. The action plan includes a stocktake of urban design initiatives across the region as at March 2009. It also outlines related actions, milestones and responsibilities for action covering the following areas:
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New Zealand Urban Design Protocol
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education / training
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best practice
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register of urban design practitioners
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peer review panel
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annual regional urban design summit
For the last year the major focus for the Urban Design working group has been on the following initiatives:
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Information-sharing: An Urban Design Information Hub has been developed on the WRS website. The hub provides useful links to regional, national and international urban design-related websites, courses and documents.
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Developing training initiatives: Regular ‘walk and talk’ sessions are being hosted by councils around the region, with the first sessions being held in Porirua, Wellington City and the Kapiti Coast. At these sessions council officers discuss key urban design issues experienced at their council and provide examples of best practice. They are open to practitioners, urban design champions and councillors from across the region.
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A register of urban design practitioners is now available to councils throughout the region. This register provides consultants’ contact details, a brief description of their experience and examples of projects they have worked on for local authorities throughout New Zealand.
FORWARD WORK PLAN
The Regional Urban Design Action Plan will continue to be implemented through voluntary participation of the partner organisations named above. Each action has a lead agency assigned to it. It is anticipated that the action plan will be reviewed annually.
The working group are currently developing an urban design training course which will be offered to all elected members of all the councils in the region. We are hoping to hold this throughout October and November 2011. It is hoped that many of the councillors will take up this worthwhile opportunity.
