2.0 Introduction
The New Zealand Urban Design Protocol sets the platform for making our towns and cities more successful through quality urban design. The Protocol calls for a significant step up in the quality of urban design in New Zealand, and a change in the way we think about our towns and cities. Exemplar projects that demonstrate good urban design play an important role in setting goals and raising the quality of the built environment. However, the multitude of decisions made by local government authorities, as part of their everyday work, have the largest overall impact on the quality of our towns and cities.
Concerns regarding the level and extent of urban design skills and capacity have been repeatedly raised [Urbanism Down Under Conference August 2005, and a key discussion topic at various other forums including the Auckland Urban Form Design and Development work strand (UFDD), and the first Urban Design Champions workshops held by the Ministry.] across various professions and sectors. More specifically, it is also believed that the presence of urban design skills is not consistent across local government authorities (for example, many local government authorities do not have specific in-house urban design expertise or knowledge), and that urban design is not seen as a priority for many local government authorities (particularly those that are not currently subject to high urban development pressures).
The Protocol reinforces the importance of local government capacity in achieving an increase in the uptake and delivery of quality urban design. In the 'Making it Happen' section of the Protocol, capacity support for local government and addressing skills shortages, are both areas identified as requiring further investigation by government. These factors highlight the need to gain a better understanding of the nature and extent of the issue, including a better understanding of how central government may be able to help in bridging any gaps.
A key part of the Ministry for the Environment's urban work programme is to support the development of better urban design skills and capacity among urban design signatories, as well as across the board. In this regard, the Ministry is committed to help increase urban design skill levels and capacity by developing initiatives such as the national programme of urban design continuing professional development (identified in its Action Plan).
Against this background, the Ministry decided to commission research in order to determine the level and extent of urban design skills, experience and knowledge in local government. This report presents the results of this survey.
2.1 Research objectives
As stated in the previous section, the overall objective of research was to form a comprehensive picture (i.e. a benchmark) of the level and extent of urban design skills, experience and knowledge in local government.
More specifically, the objectives of the research were:
1. To establish current in-house capacities:
- What is the extent of specialist in-house urban design skills within local government authorities (i.e. how many urban designers are there in local government)?
- What are the professional qualifications, training, professional affiliations and experience of staff providing urban design advice (i.e. how many are qualified vs. non-qualified, and where did they receive their training)?
- What are the roles and responsibilities of urban design staff and consultants, the department they sit within and the types of projects they get involved in?
- What is the use of innovative/creative urban design initiatives within local government authorities, including training opportunities provided/encouraged (these could include councillor training, targeted staff or organisation-wide training, advisory panels or multi-disciplinary review groups)?
- What are the shortfalls in urban design skills/knowledge/expertise within local government authorities?
2. To determine what degree of outsourcing currently occurs:
- To what extent do local government authorities use contracted (i.e. external) specialist skills and expertise (including skills and disciplines sought, specific consultancies used)?
- What other sources of urban design skills, expertise and information are utilised by local government authorities?
- To identify key recruitment issues:
g. What issues or difficulties have local government authorities encountered in relation to recruiting urban design professionals?
3. To identify key issues around capacity building:
- What urban design related skills do local government authorities see as being necessary to take them forward into the future (i.e. what do they currently have and what is missing)?
- What are the barriers to greater uptake of urban design in local government authorities?
- What additional needs and requirements do local government authorities have to enable them to achieve the aims of the NZ Urban Design Protocol?
4. Contextual information:
- What are the specific local factors that determine the relative priority of urban design for local government authorities?
- What organisation and institutional support is there for urban design?
