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Appendix 2 - Action Pack

Introduction

Each signatory to the New Zealand Urban Design Protocol will commit to putting the Protocol into effect by developing, monitoring and reporting a set of actions specific to their organisation. These actions will be agreed within six months of signing up and reported to the Ministry for the Environment.

This Action Pack has been developed to provide examples of potential actions organisations might take to implement the New Zealand Urban Design Protocol. Separate examples have been provided for local government, central government and developers and investors, although the example actions will also be relevant to other organisations. It is up to each organisation to choose actions that best suit their particular circumstances.

There is potential for action across all aspects of an organisation's activities, from strategy development to decision-making to research and staff training. Example actions are grouped in categories that reflect this:

championing urban design and raising awareness
developing strategy and policy
forward planning
being a good client
making decisions
exchanging information and research
integrating management
building capacity.

Under each category, there is an explanation and a set of examples. It should be noted that the examples are provided as general guidance and may or may not be relevant to each local situation. An action commitment form is also included at the end of the Action Pack as a guide.

Local government actions

Championing Urban Design and Raising Awareness

An important component of achieving good design is raising awareness of the benefits and challenging existing approaches where they do not result in good outcomes. Individual champions at a senior level within an organisation can be a very effective mechanism for achieving change.

Examples:

Appoint a 'Design Champion' at a senior influential level to promote and champion high quality design and challenge existing approaches throughout the council.
Develop an awards scheme that celebrates quality urban design.
Incorporate an educative component in the council's communication material to raise the community's understanding of urban design issues and solutions.
Develop education on quality urban design for staff and councillors through internal and external training opportunities.

Developing Strategy and Policy

A range of local government policy documents and strategies have a key influence on urban design, from setting development policies and rules in a district plan, to engineering standards for roads, to civic accommodation strategies. All of these influence the form of the built environment at a strategic level. It is important the implications of all such policies on the overall urban design of the city/town are considered at the policy formulation stage. More specific guidelines to support good urban design outcomes can also be useful to support decision-makers.

Examples:

Include a review of urban design issues as part of the preparation of the Long Term Council Community Plan (LTCCP).
Review the district plan to include explicit urban design outcomes. Ensure that collectively the rules support these outcomes. Develop a plan change if necessary.
Develop and adopt urban design guidelines as part of the district plan.
Before publication of any relevant draft council policies, consider the urban design implications of that policy. (This should include all policy, not just resource management policies. Policies relating to economic development, transport and traffic management, car parking management, engineering standards, procurement, reserve management, accommodation, infrastructure provision and many others, all have significant implications on the urban design of our towns and cities).

Forward Planning

Adequate forward planning is essential to guide the future development of areas where major urban change is anticipated. This includes town centres and major infrastructure projects as well as areas of major change on the edge of towns and cities or the decline of the urban population. This might include:

(a) detailed policies and objectives for specific local urban design areas

(b) integrated planning of all urban design functions

(d) forward planning of major urban infrastructure to support future land uses

(e) proactive guidance to encourage appropriate future urban development

(f) guidance on appropriate management of town and city centres.

Examples:

Develop plans to guide future urban development in areas of change, either of major growth or decline.
Develop detailed urban design site briefs and master plans to guide the development of key sites.

Being a Good Client

Councils undertake the design, construction and maintenance of parks and public spaces, buildings (eg, offices, libraries, toilets) and infrastructure (eg, roads, pavements, bus stops, signs). As a client, councils have a significant influence on the outcomes, including urban design issues, such as quality, functionality, adaptability and sustainability. The key influence (for out-sourced projects) is often at the tender stage, particularly the brief for the consultant/contractor and the evaluation criteria. It is important that the public sector lead by example and insist on quality design in all physical construction projects.

Examples:

Achieve high quality urban design in all relevant council projects.
Ensure tender procedures for construction and maintenance are judged against value for money and quality rather than just least cost.
Make a commitment that all briefs for construction should be clear, well thought-out and consider: build quality, functionality, impact and contribution to the community, and cultural identity of the place.
Develop a 'partnering' approach between client, designer and contractor to ensure quality urban design at all stages of the project, as an alternative to a standard contractor relationship.
Set a clear and realistic budget that reflects capital costs and whole life costs (including putting an economic value on the added benefits of design quality).
Incorporate urban design into technical guides of key infrastructure projects.

Making Decisions

Councils make decisions on a range of issues that impact on the physical environment and have a range of statutory functions that require the issuing of consents. It is important that the urban design implications are considered before making a decision.

Examples:

Consider ways of incorporating urban design guidance in decision making. (This should include all relevant decisions, including those relating to infrastructure, car parking, reserves, transport, accommodation, community and cultural facilities).
Set-up an in-house advisory group or design review panel from the local community to advise on the urban design quality of resource consent applications.

Exchanging Information and Research

Better information about how our towns and cities are faring and how effective our responses have been is critical to achieving better outcomes. To make the best use of scarce resources councils and other organisations need to share their research.

Learning from past experience, including other organisation's experience, rather then re-inventing the wheel, increases effectiveness and results in better outcomes. To facilitate this, a commitment needs to be made to document and make available information and experiences. Larger councils also have a critical role in being role models for smaller, less-resourced councils.

Examples:

Document and publish any urban-related research undertaken and make this information available to other councils and government through publication on your council website.
Develop joint urban design programmes of research with other councils in your region, central government, universities, and research agencies to increase quality urban design.
Document examples of development that illustrate best practice in urban design and make this information available on your website and other suitable websites.
Before beginning a major development project or policy development process research existing examples of urban design best practice.
Make a commitment to effective consultation with neighbouring cities/districts as part of the development of major urban design policy decisions.
Document best practice procedures and processes relating to urban design (including city planning, infrastructure planning, structure planning, Long Term Council Community Plans) and make this information available on your council website and other relevant websites.

Integrating Management

Urban areas are complex systems that require integrated management. Councils have influence over many aspects of urban areas, from issuing consents, to managing parks, providing roads and other infrastructure, providing services and community facilities, encouraging investment, and marketing and branding. It is important that councils integrate their management of these functions and co-ordinate delivery on the ground to achieve better urban design outcomes.

Examples:

Develop a multi-disciplinary team approach to managing the built environment and break down sectoral or professional boundaries.
Use the Long Term Council Community Plan (LTCCP) as the basis for improving the quality of urban design initiatives.
Provide a means for groups to work across council departments (eg, matrix groups) on specific geographical areas or urban issues.
Undertake council strategic planning exercises in close co-operation with the community, sector groups, neighbouring councils and the regional council.
Work with the community, local authorities, and other sector groups to develop a joint or regional approach to urban design management issues.

Building Capacity

Councils need to build sufficient internal capacity to manage complex urban issues and achieve good urban design outcomes. This includes people, funding and structures. It is important that all staff who manage the built environment have some understanding of their role in shaping and influencing the urban design of a city, building or space. This includes councillors, resource managers, planners, architects, engineers, landscape architects and surveyors.

Examples:

Make a commitment that all councillors making decisions on resource consents (and any other statutory decision making processes relating to the built environment) will attend training on their role and the implications for quality urban design.
Provide opportunities for all staff managing the built environment to undertake training and education programmes to increase their understanding of urban design issues.
Provide access to specialist urban design advice to assist decision makers and strategic planners (this could be through employment of a specialist officer, through the use of consultants or through the use of available regional or national resources).
Work with the universities, professional institutes and other training providers to provide effective training and education programmes on urban design at a range of levels for all disciplines involved in managing the urban environment.

Monitoring and Evaluation

The action commitments of each signatory should be monitored to analyse their effectiveness in providing a quality urban environment. Monitoring needs to be appropriate to the size of the signatory organisation so it is practical to collect and analyse information, and can provide an overall picture of initiatives that worked and those that didn't. Monitoring actions as well as outcomes may be useful. Actions provide an indication of progress, whilst outcomes indicate important results. Reporting results will be an important contribution to the collective learning process.

Central government actions

Championing Urban Design and Raising Awareness

Examples:

Appoint a 'Design Champion' at a senior influential level to promote and champion high quality design and challenge existing approaches throughout the department.
Commission a scoping review of all departmental programmes and projects to identify the potential urban design implications of those.
Communicate urban design initiatives to stakeholders and sector groups.

Developing Strategy and Policy

A range of government legislation, strategies and policies have a key influence on urban design. These include:

indirect impacts of national policy (eg, immigration policy affecting where migrants live and work and therefore growth pressures in our cities, and import policies affecting the numbers of second hand cars on our roads and therefore traffic growth in our towns and cities)
direct impacts from policy setting the direction for the provision of significant urban infrastructure (eg, transport policy setting the direction for provision for roads and public transport, health policy setting the direction for provision of hospitals, housing strategy setting the priorities for housing provision)
legislation setting the framework for aspects of urban management (eg, Resource Management Act, Local Government Act, Land Transport Management Act).

All of these have a significant influence on the form of the built environment at a strategic and local level. It is important the implications of all such policies on the overall urban design of our cities and towns are considered at the policy formulation stage.

Examples:

Ensure that urban design implications of any proposed new legislation, strategy or policy affecting the built environment are considered at the policy formulation stage.

Forward Planning

Government departments and Crown entities have a major role in providing and funding the provision of urban infrastructure. Adequate forward planning is essential to ensure the infrastructure meets local and regional needs, that planning and provision is co-ordinated with regional and local government, and that it contributes to the overall urban design of the town or city.

Examples:

Include urban design issues in any rolling reviews of infrastructure needs.
Co-ordinate planning of infrastructure with local and regional government through the Long Term Council Community Plan (LTCCP) and District Plan processes and taking account of projected growth and land uses.
Develop a proactive urban design acquisition strategy to identify and purchase/designate suitable sites for major infrastructure.
Co-ordinate planning and provision of infrastructure with government, local government and other infrastructure providers to achieve greater integration and efficiencies in urban areas.

Being a Good Client

Some departments and Crown entities undertake direct design and construction of buildings (eg, department offices) and infrastructure (eg, roads, hospitals, schools, courts, prisons, police stations); others take out long-term leases on buildings or may provide funding to other agencies to manage construction activities. In all these situations, the departments should be viewed as the client as they have a significant influence on the outcomes, including urban design issues. Any new building or piece of infrastructure should be considered in terms of quality, adaptability, sustainability and functionality, as well as its potential contribution to the urban area it serves.

A key client influence for directly managed projects will be at the tender stage, particularly the brief for the consultant/contractor and the tender evaluation criteria. For indirectly managed projects, the key client influence will be the policies and guidelines that apply to the managing agencies. These should include achieving quality urban design as a key outcome and provide guidance and assistance to meet this objective. It is important that the public sector lead by example and insist on quality design in all physical construction projects.

Examples:

Commit to achieving high quality urban design in all government construction projects, whether directly or indirectly managed.
Ensure tenders for construction are judged against value for money (including quality, adaptability, sustainability and functionality), rather than just least cost.
Develop clear urban design guidelines and procedures for managing construction and infrastructure projects from inception to completion, including guidelines on technical information, writing a brief, tender procedures, assessment criteria, choosing a team, partnership and project management.
Develop a 'partnering' approach between client, designer and contractor to ensure quality urban design at all stages of the project, as an alternative to a standard contractor relationship.
Set a clear and realistic budget that reflects capital costs and whole life costs (including putting an economic value on the added benefits of design quality).

Making Decisions

Whilst departments may have no statutory consent functions, they do make decisions on a range of matters that affect urban areas. These include:

designations of land for public purposes under the Resource Management Act
funding of major infrastructure projects
urban-related programmes and projects
governance structures.

It is important that the urban design implications of any decisions are explicitly considered in the decision-making process.

Examples:

Consider ways of incorporating urban design guidance in decision making and develop a departmental guideline on best practice procedures.
Submit major development schemes to an urban design advisory group or design panel.
Consider the urban design implications before making a decision on a designation, or the provision of major infrastructure, or funding of major infrastructure.

Exchanging Information and Research

Better information about how our towns and cities are faring and how effective responses have been is critical to achieving better outcomes. To make the best use of scarce resources, government departments need to share their research with other departments, with local government and other organisations.

Learning from past experience, including other organisation's experience, rather than re-inventing the wheel, increases effectiveness and results in better outcomes. To facilitate this, each department should document and make available its own information and experiences. Those departments with a dedicated research capacity have a critical role in providing valuable research findings to less-resourced organisations.

Examples:

Provide training and advice for managing agents (eg, school trustee boards, or district health boards) on how to achieve quality urban design.
Document and publish any urban-related research undertaken on behalf of your department and make this information available to other departments and local government, including through publication on your website.
Develop joint programmes of research with other departments, local government, universities and research agencies to maximise efficiency and increase co-ordination.
Document examples of urban design best practice procedures and processes and make this information available on your website and other suitable websites (eg, Quality Planning (QP) website).
Before starting a major development project or policy development process research existing examples of urban design best practice.
Make a commitment to effective consultation with local government as part of the development of major policies and major decisions.

Integrating Management

Urban areas are complex systems that require integrated management on a geographical basis (eg, a region). Government departments have traditionally approached issues from a narrower sectoral basis, often at a national level. This can result in policies or programmes being put in place that are not effectively co-ordinated and integrated with urban management at a local level, and which may have unintended consequences in other aspects of the urban system, including on urban design. It is therefore important that departments recognise their key role as contributors to urban management and develop more integrated ways of working.

Examples:

Develop a multi-disciplinary team approach to urban management issues and break down sectoral or professional boundaries.
Develop cross-cutting teams to co-ordinate policy and programmes for urban areas.
Undertake strategic planning exercises and major policy development in co-operation with other government departments, sector groups and territorial authorities.

Building Capacity

Government departments need to build sufficient capacity to provide policy advice on complex urban issues and achieve good urban design outcomes. This includes people, funding and structures. It is also important that all staff that have a role in urban management have some understanding of their role in shaping and influencing the urban design of a region, city, building or space.

Examples:

Provide opportunities for all staff involved in any aspects of urban management to undertake training and education programmes to increase their understanding of urban design issues.
Provide access to specialist urban design advice to assist decision makers and policy makers (this could be through employment of a specialist officer, the use of consultants, secondments, or joint initiatives with other government departments).
Work with the universities, professional institutes and other training providers to provide effective training and education programmes on urban design at a range of levels for all disciplines involved in managing the urban environment.

Monitoring and Evaluation

Developer and investor actions

Championing Urban Design and Raising Awareness

Examples:

Appoint a 'Design Champion' at a senior influential level to promote and champion high quality design and challenge existing approaches throughout the organisation.
Develop an approach of encouraging innovation and creativity within your organisation in addressing issues relating to the built environment and urban design.

Developing Strategy and Policy

Relevant strategies and policies may include:

investment strategies
development land identification studies
land banking strategies
strategic plans
development strategies.

All of these will have an influence on the form of development and the overall urban design of the urban areas in which an investment is being made. It is important the implications on the overall urban design of our cities and towns are considered as an integral part of the policy and strategy development phase.

Examples:

Make a commitment to consider the urban design implications of any proposed strategy or policy relating to the built environment, as an integral part of the policy formulation stage.

Forward Planning

Adequate forward planning is essential to guide the future development of major development areas, including significant individual development schemes. There is a range of potential tools that can be used, including:

structure plans
master plans
site briefs
design codes.

In many cases it will be the developer who will lead the development of these forward planning instruments, in others it will be the local government or the landowner, but it is nevertheless important for the developer/investor to be closely involved in the process.

The advantages of forward planning for areas proposed for major development is to provide:

integrated planning that seeks to ensure the development is responsive to the urban area in which it sits and reflects its context
high quality urban design outcomes through more integrated planning and setting appropriate design criteria for development
co-ordination of the provision of necessary infrastructure to serve the development
focused community participation at an early stage of the development process
co-ordination amongst the various public and private sector bodies that will have an influence on the eventual form of the development
clarity about the vision and expected outcomes.

Examples:

Make a commitment to proactively lead the development of appropriate forward planning instruments for major development schemes.
Work closely and proactively with local government and other sector groups in the development of forward planning exercises.
Undertake focused community participation to inform major urban development schemes at an early stage of the process.

Being a Good Client

Developers contract a variety of design professionals (including architects, planners, urban designers, landscape architects, surveyors and engineers) as well as construction companies as part of their core business. Both investors and developers also build or take long-term leases on office space for their organisation. In all these situations, as the client, you have a significant influence on the outcomes, including urban design outcomes. It does not make business sense to be focused only on least cost - any new development or office space should also be considered in terms of quality, adaptability, sustainability and functionality, as well as its potential contribution to the urban area it serves.

A key client influence will be at the tender stage, particularly the brief for the consultant/contractor and the tender evaluation criteria. These should include achieving quality urban design as a key outcome and provide guidance to meet this objective. The relationship between developer and designer is often a key one and particular care should be taken to ensure they are given a clear brief to achieve quality design and to respond appropriately to the site context. It is important that the private sector lead by example and insist on quality urban design in all physical construction projects.

Examples:

Commit to achieving high quality urban design in all development projects.
Ensure tender procedures for construction and maintenance are judged against value for money and quality, rather than just least cost.
Make a commitment that all briefs for construction should be clear, well throughout and consider urban design through out the project.
Develop a 'partnering' approach between client, designer and contractor to ensure quality urban design at all stages of the project, as an alternative to the standard contractor relationship.
Set a clear and realistic budget that reflects capital costs and whole life costs (including putting an economic value on the added benefits of design quality).
Incorporate urban design into relevant technical guides and guidance.

Making Decisions

Whilst developers and investors have no formal decision-making functions, they do participate in statutory consent processes, particularly under the Resource Management Act. Whilst the responsibility for these lies mostly with local government, developers can influence the quality of design outcomes (and therefore the quality of the eventual development scheme) through the adoption of best practice procedures. These may include:

early consultation with local government on the proposed development scheme, including pre-application meetings
adoption of a clear design statement that outlines the intended quality of design
appointment of a quality team of design professionals (including architects, planners, urban designers, landscape architects, surveyors and engineers) with a lead consultant
preparation of comprehensive resource consent information, adequately addressing all relevant policy and guidelines
early and proactive community consultation and participation
working in partnership with local government, infrastructure providers and other key stakeholders
submitting major development schemes to an urban design advisory panel (if available) and acting on the feedback received.

Examples:

Consider ways of incorporating urban design best practice procedures for development projects, to achieve high quality urban design.
Submit major development schemes to an urban design advisory group or design review panel (where available).

Exchanging Information and Research

Good research information is essential to achieving better urban design outcomes. Most research in New Zealand is led by government agencies, local governments and universities. However, developers and investors do undertake their own research (eg, research on housing preferences and market trends). To maximise the usefulness of such data and to make the most of scarce resources, it is important that information is shared much more widely than at present. Learning from past experience, including other organisation's experience, rather than re-inventing the wheel, increases effectiveness and results in better outcomes. To facilitate this, all organisations need to document and share their own research, information and experience.

Examples:

Document and publish any urban-related research and best practice procedures undertaken on behalf of your organisation and make this information available to others.
Develop joint programmes of research with central and local government, universities, and research agencies to maximise efficiency and increase co-ordination.
Before beginning a major development project, consult with other organisations as to existing examples of best practice from which you can learn.

Integrating Management

Urban areas are complex systems that require integrated management to achieve quality urban design. Development schemes, whether large or small, have an impact far beyond the site boundaries, and this has to be recognised and appropriately managed. It is important that developers and investors recognise their key role as contributors to urban development and management and develop more integrated ways of working.

Examples:

Develop a multi-disciplinary team approach to urban development schemes, ensuring there is effective working across professional boundaries.
Work in partnership on major development schemes to ensure there are integrated outcomes.

Building Capacity

Developers and investors need to build their own capacity in urban design and management to inform the development of major schemes. This includes people, funding and structures. Whilst expertise can be brought in through consultants, a high level of understanding of the issues is also needed for project management and in developing strategies. It is therefore important that all staff that have a role in urban development have some understanding of their role in shaping and influencing the urban design of a region, city, building or space.

Examples:

Provide opportunities for all staff influencing the built environment to undertake training and education programmes to increase their understanding of urban design issues.
Provide access to specialist urban design advice to assist decision makers.
Work with the universities, professional institutes and other training providers to provide effective training and education programmes on urban design at a range of levels for staff.

Monitoring and Evaluation

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