Constructive Criticism of The Southern Initiative
I was out West yesterday while the Auckland Plan Committee met today in Town Hall (for the final time of this Council Term). What was special about yesterday’s Auckland Plan Committee that had my attention? Well it wasn’t the Unitary Plan – that was for sure. It was a report (or lack-thereof) on the progress of Mayor Len Brown‘s second most vaunted project – The Southern Initiative.
The Southern Initiative being:
The Southern Initiative
The Southern Initiative will focus on South Auckland and is designed to improve:
- educational achievement
- economic development
- job growth
- public transport
- housing
- social conditions.
The Southern Initiative is being developed in partnership with government agencies, the local community and other key stakeholders.
A map of the initiative can be viewed below:
Auckland Plan map 1.3 – The Southern Initiative (PDF 13.7MB)
—–
More on the sketchy information about The Southern Initiative (as well as the September 2013 report presented to the Auckland Plan Committee yesterday) can be seen in the embed below
You can see the Twitter coverage (that made up for a rather sorry session in regards to The Southern Initiative (a year on after start-up)) in this pdf below. Please bear in mind you need to start from the bottom of the document and work your way back up to stay in chronological order.
The main Tweets I want to pick up on were these to illustrate what in my eyes looks like a project running at minimum speed WHILE off the rails as well:
-
Lee – it’s not a case of getting the message out its a matter of doing things and making choices http://ow.ly/oY1wd
Retweeted by Ben Ross -
Lee – if people are voting with their feet by not attending we should take notice – Southern Initiative http://ow.ly/oY1rr
-
Lee I’m hearing this is just another bureaucratic thing with a snappy brand – Southern Initiative http://ow.ly/oY1of
-
Southern Initiative Casey we’re badly underselling this project http://ow.ly/oY18H
-
Southern Boards not turning up at meetings http://ow.ly/oY0Nu
Retweeted by Ben Ross
44With finally my initial reaction to the caning The Southern Initiative took yesterday per my Facebook post:
The Southern Initiative took a bit of a caning today in the Auckland Plan Committee.
To be honest it is not hard to see particular why. For heaven’s sake: Local Boards not attending meeting, no internet site to tell us progress, give input or even CONTACT details so I can talk to the Initiative Manager.
Any Council-led work on Manukau (The Heart of South Auckland) will be a dead duck at this given rate unless drastic change is in play
Essentially I could sum up the The Southern Initiative in these basic view points:
- Running at minimum speed while also off the rails – which seems to be common in public sector projects in New Zealand
- The TSI undersold. Heck no digital portal or even contact details where we can either contact people on The Southern Initiative and/or check progress and give feed back (so another appalling comm’s effort after the Unitary Plan comm’s issues during the first feedback round)
- The Southern Local Boards are not even apparently showing up? What the heck? There must be a reason why this is the case because this is extremely unacceptable to me as a citizen and ratepayer of the South
So The Southern Initiative is taking a caning for lack of deliverable results. At the same time Council is about to throw more monetary and human resource at this Initiative in order to (most likely) pick the pace up on this project. The catch is that The Southern Initiative already seems derailed let alone the fact it wont be getting off “notch 1” (minimum speed) any time soon unless both strong leadership (to which there seems to be none if I see the Top Heavy accusations fly from the Committee) and strategic recruiting.
So what do I mean by strategic recruiting for The Southern Initiative to get it righted and back under way at pace again? Solution is rather simple – hire qualified Geographers.
You heard me right – Geographers.
Why Geographers for The Southern Initiative? Let me tell you why and why it will be the best social investment Council could make in recruiting for The Southern Initiative.
Disclaimer: I am qualified with a Bachelor of Arts in Geography and Political Studies from the University of Auckland. Interpret this as you wish
Geographers and Geography
Geographers are universally trained (regardless if they go down the Physical or Human paths) in understanding how the wider Earth works. And by wider Earth I mean both its physical form (Physical Geography) and human form (Human Geography) (there are two other ( smaller sub) fields in Geography: Environmental Management and GIS).
I am by trade a Human Geographer although I have basic skills in: Physical Geography, Environmental Management and Geographic Information Systems (GIS). Coupled to my Geography skill set is also skills in Public Policy, Liberalism, Social Anthropology and Communications.
Before I go on with Geography though some quick fire education tips first to clear up some often misnomer of what Geography (Earth Writing) really is:
Geography
Geography (from Greek γεωγραφία, geographia, lit. “earth description”[1]) is the science that studies the lands, the features, the inhabitants, and the phenomena of the Earth.[2] A literal translation would be “to describe or write about the Earth”.
The first person to use the word “geography” was Eratosthenes (276-194 BC).[3] Four historical traditions in geographical research are the spatial analysis of the natural and the human phenomena (geography as the study of distribution), the area studies (places and regions), the study of the man-land relationship, and the research in the earth sciences.[4]
Nonetheless, modern geography is an all-encompassing discipline that foremost seeks to understand the Earth and all of its human and natural complexities – not merely where objects are, but how they have changed and come to be. Geography has been called “the world discipline” and “the bridge between the human and the physical science“. Geography is divided into two main branches: human geography and physical geography.[5][6][7]
Also to clear up the most common misnomer with Geography (which also annoys me):
Traditionally, geographers have been viewed the same way as cartographers and people who study place names and numbers. Although many geographers are trained in toponymy and cartology, this is not their main preoccupation. Geographers study the spatial and the temporal distribution of phenomena, processes, and features as well as the interaction of humans and their environment.[8] Because space and place affect a variety of topics, such as economics, health, climate, plants and animals; geography is highly interdisciplinary.
| “ | …mere names of places…are not geography…know by heart a whole gazetteer full of them would not, in itself, constitute anyone a geographer. Geography has higher aims than this: it seeks to classify phenomena (alike of the natural and of the political world, in so far as it treats of the latter), to compare, to generalize, to ascend from effects to causes, and, in doing so, to trace out the laws of nature and to mark their influences upon man. This is ‘a description of the world’—that is Geography. In a word Geography is a Science—a thing not of mere names but of argument and reason, of cause and effect.[9] | ” |
|
— William Hughes, 1863
|
Geography as a discipline can be split broadly into two main subsidiary fields: the human geography and the physical geography.
The former largely focuses on the built environment and how humans create, view, manage, and influence space.
The latter examines the natural environment, and how organisms, climate, soil, water, and landforms produce and interact.[10]
The difference between these approaches led to a third field, the environmental geography, which combines the physical and the human geography, and looks at the interactions between the environment and humans.[8]
And just to annoy our Planners as Planning can be seen as spawned off from Geography, there is this:
Related fields
- Urban planning, regional planning, and spatial planning: Use the science of geography to assist in determining how to develop (or not develop) the land to meet particular criteria, such as safety, beauty, economic opportunities, the preservation of the built or natural heritage, and so on. The planning of towns, cities, and rural areas may be seen as applied geography.
—-
So again why Geographers for The Southern Initiative?
As I said earlier Geographers (like myself) are considered to be universally trained in matters The Southern Initiative is trying to address. If required or so desired Geographers can or will add-on other subjects to expand the skill set horizon.
For example a Geographer might also study law and become a Resource Management Act lawyer. For me I added on Political Studies (Public Policy) and Social Anthropology to both better understand our diverse Peoples (the Anthro side) and our Governance apparatus (Public policy) (for when I go sparring with either politicians or bureaucrats (usually the former)).
Take a look at what Human Geographers usually dabble in their work (as well as the description):
Human geography is one of the two major sub-fields of the discipline of geography. Human geography is a branch of the social sciences that studies the world, its people, communities and cultures[1] with an emphasis on relations of and across space and place. Human geography differs from physical geography mainly in that it has a greater focus on studying human activities and is more receptive to qualitative research methodologies. As a discipline, human geography is particularly diverse with respect to its methods and theoretical approaches to study.
Fields
The main fields of study in human geography focus around the core fields of:
Culture[edit source | editbeta]
Cultural geography is the study of cultural products and norms – their variation across spaces and places, as well as their relations. It focuses on describing and analysing the ways language, religion, economy, government, and other cultural phenomena vary or remain constant from one place to another and on explaining how humans function spatially.[5]
- Subfields include: Children’s geographies, Animal geographies, Language geography, Sexuality and Space and Religion geography
Development[edit source | editbeta]
Development Geography is the study of the Earth’s geography with reference to the Standard of living and the Quality of life of its human inhabitants, study of the location, distribution and spatial organization of economic activities, across the Earth. The subject matter investigated is strongly influenced by the researcher’s methodological approach.
Economic[edit source | editbeta]
Economic geography examines relationships between human economic systems, states, and other factors, and the biophysical environment.
- Subfields include Marketing geography and Transportation geography
Health[edit source | editbeta]
Health geography is the application of geographical information, perspectives, and methods to the study of health, disease, and health care.
Historical[edit source | editbeta]
Historical geography is the study of the human, physical, fictional, theoretical, and “real” geographies of the past. Historical geography studies a wide variety of issues and topics. A common theme is the study of the geographies of the past and how a place or region changes through time. Many historical geographers study geographical patterns through time, including how people have interacted with their environment, and created the cultural landscape.
- Subfields include Time geography
Political[edit source | editbeta]
Political geography is concerned with the study of both the spatially uneven outcomes of political processes and the ways in which political processes are themselves affected by spatial structures.
- Subfields include Electoral geography, Geopolitics, Strategic geography and Military geography
Population[edit source | editbeta]
Population geography is the study of the ways in which spatial variations in the distribution, composition, migration, and growth of populations are related to the nature of places.
Settlement[edit source | editbeta]
Settlement geography, including urban geography, is the study of urban and rural areas with specific regards to spatial, relational and theoretical aspects of settlement. That is the study of areas which have a concentration of buildings and infrastructure. These are areas where the majority of economic activities are in the secondary sector and tertiary sectors. In case of urban settlement, they probably have a high population density.
—
All covered and required by The Southern Initiative – if it is to be success.
So come on Auckland Council hire some Geographers here to do the grunt work with The Southern Initiative and get it back on track and moving at pace. You will find us Geographers:
- Universally trained in the skill sets of Geography – which The Southern Initiative requires (looking at its objectives)
- Trained in qualitative research (and quantitative)
- Communicators (good Geographers are also good communicators)
- Adaptable and will to expand the skill set as the Geography Discipline requires us to be
- Social – meaning Geographers work with all kinds of people usually all of the time. Geography is known as Earth Writing and Earth is full of people
- Usually autonomous as we are often out in the field solo – so we do have to work without “supervision” quite a lot
Your move – if you want The Southern Initiative to Succeed and South Auckland to truly better itself and its people!
Talking Southern Auckland 