Vision and values in Auckland’s urban design: Shaping a liveable city

Arts in Action envisions a society enriched by the values that influence decision making across all disciplines and forms of practice.

Creative thinking is at the nub of social change because it offers alternative ways of viewing what is often regarded as fixed and non-negotiable, being attached to a dominant ideology.

Richard Reid is a visionary architect whose values inform and shape his work. When he returned to Aotearoa in 1997 he added a Bachelor of Landscape Architecture to his degree in Architecture in order to understand and integrate into his practice the natural and social environments of Aotearoa. He established his own practice in 2001 and continues to actively contribute to community and environmental groups, in particular the Auckland Volcanic Cones Society (2003-07) and Ngataringa Bay Society (2007-2011).

Among his projects are the renowned ‘double move’ of Auckland’s Birdcage Hotel, Puketapapa Mt Roskill Volcano & Waikaraka Cycleway re-design which ensured a more holistic outcome for a landscape of national and international importance and in Wellington, his alternative transport plan for the Basin Reserve Roundabout which was preferred by a Board of Inquiry to NZTA’s flyover, helping to protect a nationally important historic urban area from destruction.

Richard’s article on Fletcher Residential’s proposed redevelopment of Three Kings Quarry elucidates the chasm between development motivated by informed urban design practice and community, environmental and aesthetic considerations or that driven by market and bureaucratic planning assumptions.

The article provides an overview of Fletcher’s design within the context of the historic volcanic landscape of Te Tātua a Riukiuta (Three Kings Volcano), the city’s plans for residential intensification and the expectations of the local community and outlines Richard’s alternative design which was commissioned by Puketapapa Local Board in 2015.

Click here to read the full essay.