Growth Strategy

In the preparation of a growth strategy for the Rodney district, included looking at a variety of ways that cities have grown in the past and the theories of their spatial development. This included the early urban morphology and settlement patterns put forward by Burgess, Hoyt, Christaller, and then the later theories of Doxiadis.

In this project I found it overwhelming to be considering growth of the city at the regional scale. There were so many issues to consider: transport, employment, residential density, ecological and agricultural. These were confounded by further questions such as where does Rodney begin and end? and where does the Auckland region begin and end?

Then there are the issues at the local scale (while recognising that these decisions will affect all of the above issues). Peter Calthorpe's pedestrian pockets, New Urbanism from everyone's favourite architect–planners Andrés Duany and Elizabeth Plater-Zyberk, Le Corbusier's Radiant City, and Ebenezer Howard's garden cities were all looked at.

I find this area of planning interesting. There was also an interesting article 'Iwitiniopolis' by Rae and Anderson (Planning Quarterly, March 2000, p. 20–22), which related the theory of Ekistics to the upper North Island, and the continuing growth in the Auckland–Waikato–Bay of Plenty region.

Below is the final growth strategy. The executive summary of the report reads: 'The Growth Strategy for Rodney District creates connections at different scales of the urban region. New Garden City settlements in the northern part of Rodney create employment and form the wider connections. More physically directive Transit-Oriented Developments create local connections between the west and east coasts, and also divert growth from areas of coastal erosion. Their high dwelling densities and complementary functions prevent the large, unaffordable detached dwelling being perpetuated across the ecological and social landscape.'