Urban Design Champions’ workshops
Nick Smith addressing the 2010
Urban Design Symposium
August 2010 Urban Design Symposium - Stretching the Horizon
The one day August 2010 Urban Design Symposium –‘Stretching the Horizon’ held in Wellington was hosted by the Ministry for the Environment and the Wellington Regional Strategy Office. The day began with a speech from the Minister and then a discussion of urban design approaches with key note speakers Stuart Niven, Urban Design Director, Department of Planning and Community Development Victorian State Government and Martin Wedderburn – Principal Transport Planner, Colin Buchanan, London. This was followed in the afternoon by signatories discussing specific technical tools for achieving successful urban design and Wellington region urban design case studies.
November 2009 Urban Design Stocktake of Resource Management Plans and Policies Seminars
The November 2009 seminars were held in Wellington, Christchurch, Dunedin and Auckland for Urban Design Protocol Signatories. These seminars were provided to raise awareness and understanding of the key findings from the Urban Design Stocktake of Resource Management Plans and Policies report and provide an update on the changes to the NZS4044 Land Development and Subdivision standard.
March 2009 Review of Urban Design Case Law
The March 2009 seminars were held in Christchurch, Auckland and Wellington to increase understanding and awareness of the Review of Urban Design Case Law. This included the key points of the case studies relating to local examples and suggestions on how we could do things differently in future.
June 2008 Urban Design Symposium
The one day June 2008 Urban Design Symposium was held in Wellington and showcased signatories work and best practice examples of Wellington’s urban design. In addition Phil Jones, transport planner from Phil Jones Associates, UK and member of the team that produced Manual for Streets,spoke on championing urban design through transport planning.
MfE runs urban design champions’ workshops up to three times a year in order to support appointed urban design champions in their role. The workshops provide an opportunity for champions to hear from others and to network.
August 2007 workshop
The August 2007 workshop was held as a one-off by MfE in partnership with Tauranga City Council as part of their 'Inspire' Urban Design Week. The theme for this workshop was 'smaller city centres.' A key note presentation was given by Mike Scott, Director of Planisphere, Melbourne. Mike talked on urban design strategies and community engagement. Presentations were also given by Jane McCredie, Urban Design Manager, Manukau City Council; Paul Bowman, Hamilton City Council; Paul Bowker, H & H Developments; and Martin Bryant from Wraight Associates.
May 2007 workshops
To celebrate the NZ Urban Design Protocols’ 2nd birthday and the achievements of all its signatory organisations to date MfE held a series of events in Wellington. On 3 May the Minister for the Environment, Hon Benson-Pope hosted a cocktail function at the Grand Hall, Parliament. A key note presentation was given by Charles Johnson, CEO of the City of Waneroo, Perth. Charles talked about the benefits of urban transformation authorities. On Friday 4 May the Ministry held an urban design symposium to showcase a few examples of the excellent initiatives some of the signatories have undertaken. Presentations were given by 12 organisations on intensive residential development, design panels and urban strategies. Over 200 people from signatory organisations attended the celebrations.
Charles Johnson (City of Waneroo, Perth, Australia) giving his key note presention
Anthony Flannery (Chow:Hill), Anthony Williams (MfE) and Martin Udale (Property Council and McConnell Property) at the Grand Hall, Parliament
November 2006 workshops
Over 100 people attended the November workshops held in Johnsonville (Wellington), Halswell (Christchurch) and Henderson (Waitakere). The theme of these workshops was transport and urban design and the Ministry invited Raeburn Chapman from the Roads and Traffic Authority in New South Wales to present on urban design policy and practice relevant to transport infrastructure.
Peter Joyce sets the scene at the Waitakere Urban Design Champions Workshop in November 2006
June 2006 workshops
These workshops were held in Waikanae, Pukekohe and Dunedin. A total of 100 champions from signatory and potential signatory organisations attended the workshops. The workshops were held in conjunction with the Kapiti Coast District Council, Franklin District Council, Dunedin City Council and the University of Otago. Each half day workshop included a fieldtrip to local urban design projects and was combined with a panel of speakers and discussion on urban design perspectives including how these applied to the local issues.
February 2006 workshops
Over 130 people attended three workshops in Wellington, Auckland and Christchurch. The theme of the workshops was “Competitive Cities - the role of urban design”. The keynote presentation from Marcus Spiller, economist and planner, is available below:
Competitive cities – the role of urban design: Keynote presentation (PDF 366 KB)
This workshop was also used to launch the first edition of the Urban Design Toolkit. (The second edition of the Urban Design Toolkit was published in April 2007).
Lindsay Gow (Deputy CEO Ministry for the Environment) shows the Urban Design toolkit to Hon Minister David Benson-Pope (Minister with Responsibility for Urban Affairs)
August 2005 workshops
Two workshops for urban design champions were held in Wellington and Auckland. Approximately 110 people attended, representing most of the signatory organisations. The main purpose of these workshops was to provide some guidance on the role of champions within their own organisations. Richard Simmons, the Chief Executive of Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment in the UK was the keynote speaker.
The summary notes of these workshops are available online.
Last updated: 27 September 2010
