An Idea Being Floated – Seeking your views on it

 

An idea popped into my mind yesterday after reading Auckland Transport Blog’s “Manukau street getting a parking diet.” In that particular post we see a small project Auckland Transport is about to embark on in improving one small bit of the auto-centric Manukau CBD street scape.

I had asked ATB’s contributor Patrick for a comment which I got one. Patrick also left a link on the history of Manukau: “How Do You Solve a Problem Like Manukau?” in which I caught this comment: ““let it die a dignified death””

I do not quite think Manukau now is quite willing to go down that path. If anything it is a sleeping giant waiting to be woken up and its full potential realised as a city centre.

Interest in urban renewal around Manukau is simmering away with recent and continued calls in allowing Manukau to become the Second CBD of Auckland slowly raising prospects of more whole-scale urban renewal in Manukau.

A recent animation of what Manukau could look like by 2040 has also been floated around on YouTube and with the link found in my following blog post: “Manukau Like This.”

 

The idea that popped into my head was ‘We should hold an Urban (Renewal) Design Competition for Manukau.’

A Draft Idea on the Competition

The brief is this

Manukau is a major hub of business activity for Auckland and especially South Auckland. However, Manukau’s past as a city centre as been blighted from the auto-centric planning models of last century. This makes Manukau cold and unfriendly through its street-scape and urban design for people. With the Unitary Plan forecasting intensification especially around our larger urban centres like Manukau, we have a unique chance to bring via urban renewal Manukau from its last century auto-centric past to a modern 21st century people-centric centre.

Manukau is shaped to become the Second CBD of Auckland (after the main CBD) thus a critical player in Auckland’s future and well-being. We need people to step up and help take Manukau CBD from its auto-centric past and bring it into its people-centric future. Remembering we have the Mayor’s aspiration of The World’s Most Liveable City to live up to.

The Manukau Urban (Renewal) Design Competition has two categories to which you can enter one or both. It is open to both New Zealanders and international folk alike.

The winner would be one who not only designs a people-centric physical urban scape of Manukau, but also in their design recognises “sense of identity” the population attaches to both the physical urban scape and to the identity of “Manukau” itself!

 

The two categories are

• Macro Urban Renewal
• Micro Urban Renewal

Macro Urban Renewal is drawing up a design for the entire competition area – that is Manukau City Centre (to be defined). In this you look at the holistic approach of such an urban renewal task rather than a specific place within Manukau itself. You are not asked to do micro-level work in this category. The broad sweeping beginning of the Manukau Animation video is an example of a macro approach

Micro Urban Renewal is drawing up design for a set specific area within the Manukau CBD competition area (yet to be defined). Your attention compared to the macro level is looking at the finer details of a set area rather than a broader narrative. Bear in mind though it could be wise to partner up with someone undertake Macro work and work together as a team capitalising on your own set of specialist skills (massive hint folks). You are free to choose one or as many of the set micro areas as you desire for this category. An example of micro work can be seen in the sweep down of the Ronwood Precinct around two-thirds of the way in of the Manukau Animation video.

 

There would overall winners and category winners (prizes to be determined) at the end of the competition. Hopefully then Auckland Council would use the winning ideas and assist Manukau realise its bright new future.

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So what do readers think? Good idea or utter crazy? It is an idea that popped into my head and one I thought be worth exploring. That does not mean you go bugger off with the idea either 😛

I’ll toy around with the idea some more and see if it is worth floating to Council later this year. In the mean time your thoughts below