Best Practices Report for Developers and Architects to help deliver People First and Healthier Cities 1.0 Introduction: The Strategic Imperative of Active Design In an era of interconnected public health, … Continue reading A Ben Goes Planning Special: Active Design in Practice: A Best Practices Report for Developers and Architects
Future Streets Initiative: A Phased Implementation Plan for Safer, More Liveable Public Spaces 1.0 Project Vision and Strategic Imperative This document outlines a phased implementation plan for the Future Streets … Continue reading Ben goes Planning Part 8.2: Reclaiming the Streets
Time to start reclaiming the streets for the people Executive Summary This document synthesizes the core principles and strategies for designing safer urban streets by focusing on speed management. The … Continue reading Ben goes Planning Part 7.2 – Why our Streets are Failing: Designing for Safer Speeds: A Synthesis of Key Principles and Strategies
Time to face the Truths About Our Streets Introduction: The Invisible Architecture of Our Daily Commute Have you ever felt a surge of anxiety stepping off a curb to cross … Continue reading Ben goes Planning Part 7.1 – Why our Streets are Failing: More Lanes, More Danger: 5 Counter-Intuitive Truths About Our Streets
Reconnecting the lost art (and science) of city, town and community building! With all the chatter about housing, housing shortfalls, loneliness, and resistance to brownfield developments (intensification), it could be … Continue reading The Missing Middle: Enabling the Complete Package, including those Universal Connections!
Mixed Use = Connected Cities! Quoting Patrick Risk from LinkedIn: The best neighborhoods offer much more than just homes to live in… they offer spaces people want to gather, shop, … Continue reading Functioning Cities: Making Mixed Use “as-of-right.”
We have nothing to be scared of with medium density developments When you are use to low density urban geographies, going to medium density can seem scary while high density … Continue reading Medium Density in Cities are your Friend
Knowing ones place in Planning to deliver desirable outcomes The frank discussions with Hamish Rennie over the weekend on LinkedIn about the National Standardised Zones got me thinking two things: … Continue reading Placemaking: Public vs Private Realms and the Role of the Planner
Who is to blame or do both need to adapt better? No sooner had the announcement about National Standardised Zones come out into the public sphere, do we see a … Continue reading National Standardised Zones to Stop Urban Design Nitpicking?
Minister Christopher Bishop champions mixed-use development, citing global examples and touting its benefits for urban areas. He stresses its potential to enhance accessibility to amenities, promote social interaction, and improve transit efficiency. Bishop argues that mixed use can lead to better outcomes in traffic, pollution, productivity, and community cohesion. He also advocates for embracing low-density mixed use through terraced housing. This model integrates commercial or office spaces on the lower floors and residential units above.
Talking Southern Auckland 