Evaluation
A co-ordinated strategy requires full buy-in
The Urban Development Strategy successfully established a single, co-ordinated vision for development to 2041 with a high degree of consensus and buy-in from stakeholders.
Elements of the strategy are now being considered for regional-level policy and planning documents. Some examples of the policy/legislative changes required include:
- amending the Canterbury Regional Policy Statement (RPS) to outline the settlement pattern agreed in the UDS. The RPS determines the land-use pattern in City and District Plans
- amending District and City Plans to support the settlement pattern
- preparing Outline Development Plans for greenfield and brownfield areas
- amending the Regional Land Transport Strategy
- preparing Integrated Catchment Management Plans (ICMP) for surface water
- management.
The Urban Development Strategy has sparked several structure plan projects within main district centres designated for future growth. These have benefited from working under a clear regional direction of growth allocations and potential urban forms established by the UDS. Many of these local authority funded projects are electing to work within a strong urban design framework based around workshop formats.
The Urban Development Strategy has yet to be quantitatively assessed under sustainable performance indicators, but its sustainable approach has won New Zealand's premier planning practice award for innovation and creativity in consultation, reporting, planning systems and policy preparation .
Strategic and spatial dimensions must be considered in parallel
The process allowed the strategic implications of policy to be tested in spatial terms and properly understood. The project responded to the different elements of sustainability by developing sub-regional themes and exploring these spatially. Each theme established its own priorities for growth backed up by analysis. These disciplines were integrated into an overall strategy. This approach allowed for a balance between legitimate, but strongly competing, sustainability objectives.
One example is the northern arterial route alignment. The existing road designation was problematic as it isolated an essential area of future residential growth and undermined community objectives. Various route options were designed and tested in terms of strategic traffic growth, land use efficiency, social cohesion, environmental responsiveness and geotechnical conditions.
Respond with innovative analysis and design methods
Existing sustainability-based design techniques alone could not address the complex needs of the Urban Development Strategy. New methods were developed as the process evolved:
- to give diagrammatic expression to 'soft' community and social issues, to ensure these issues are communicated alongside others, which are routinely presented in graphic form
- to translate economic data into place-based employment strategies
- to analyse the relationship between socio-economically deprived areas and their proximity to jobs, social services and public transport routes.
This approach could be used in the UK
The strategic urban design approach used in the Urban Development Strategy should be transferable to the UK. However, it is important to recognise that:
- every growth area has its own special set of local factors (locational attributes and limitations, objectives, planning, governance, funding structures) which shape an individual project/process and its outcome.
- the design team needs a high proportion of local authority representatives to take ownership and ensure ongoing continuity.
The Urban Development Strategy saw an unusually high degree of integration compared to similar processes in the UK or USA. This could be because institutions and professions in New Zealand are less adversarial and seek consensus before resorting to the legal process.
