Could modern retirement villages offer an insight into urban planning for Auckland?

A post from the blog Cities Matter illustrated a pointer of retirement villages and urban design, it goes:

Retirement villages also provide a physical model of how we might best achieve higher density living in urban areas.  In fact, as Mark pointed out, they could play a significant part in shaping Auckland (and other cities) over the coming decades. Integrated villages offer the prospect of economical construction, higher residential densities, economies of scale in service delivery, and reduced transport demand. So they provide something of an exemplar when we think about where people might prefer to live in a resource-constrained future.

I believe retirement villages could offer a very valuable insight into urban design – especially as intensification will be needed regardless of what Brownfield:Greenfield ratio is set at in The Draft Auckland Plan (I advocated for a 60:40 split in my submission). Pretty much everything Phil McDermott says in that post I agree with. Strange irony though is that while I was in Tauranga for Christmas, Rebekka and I were visiting my Omi at the Metlife Care Retirement Village. I had a look around at the complex with its mix of stand alone housing, units and apartments, along with basic community facilities such as a pool, library and shared eating/social function area.

In the picture above, you can see two retirement villages (right) and the close proximity to Bayfair Shopping Complex and the main highway.

To save repeating everything at the Cities Matter post of all which I agree on, all I say is I see the potential for these retirement type village models to be expanded to include all social groups to help facilitate the needs of a growing population in Auckland. As I continue post on The Draft Auckland Plan Series I might take a look at the retirement village model being adapted to suit the needs of wider Auckland and Papakura (the spot I will choose).

Great post Phil at Cities Matter.