About this Report
In 2004, the Ministry for the Environment - together with the Wellington City Council and the Auckland Regional Council - commissioned a team of consultants [See Appendix 1 for details about the research team.] to investigate the economic, social, cultural and environmental value added by urban design. The aim was to find what proof existed of the links between urban design and these various forms of value.
The consultants undertook an extensive literature review, analysing a wide range of international and local documentary evidence chiefly from the past five years. In all, they reviewed more than 300 studies from Britain, Europe, North America, Latin America, the Middle East, Australia and New Zealand. (A summary of the report methodology is included in Appendix 1.)
The full research report is available on the Ministry for the Environment's website: www.mfe.govt.nz.
This report summarises the main themes and key findings from the research, illustrating them with quotations and summaries from some of the most compelling evidence. Source documents are listed in the 'Further reading' section on page 25.
This report and the New Zealand Urban Design Protocol
This report supports the implementation of the Ministry for the Environment's New Zealand Urban Design Protocol, which provides a platform to make New Zealand towns and cities more successful through quality urban design. The Protocolis a voluntary commitment by central and local government, property developers and investors, design professionals, educational institutes and others to create quality urban design and to undertake specific urban design initiatives. It acknowledges that urban design is about both tangible physical elements (such as buildings, parks and streets) and the very process by which decisions are made and implemented.
Both the Protocol and this report will be of particular interest to private and public sector organisations, professionals in all the design disciplines, and community groups.
