Greetings

[JNL]

Hi all,

I am from Wellington, the capital city of New Zealand. It is a harbour city of 165,000 people. My job title is Researcher, Built Environment, which covers all sorts of things! I'm not a planner, but I find Cyburbia a useful resource for some of the areas I'm interested in - for example, assessing and improving the "walkability" of inner city walking networks, Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design, fear of crime as an deterrent to the use of public transport, and inner city revitalisation. Like GeogPlanner I am the baby at my workplace. I am thinking of studying planning (previously I studied Criminology and Psychology).

Jen

 

[JNL]

No-one seems to want to reply to me :-( Is it because I'm not a planner? Or because I'm from New Zealand?? What do people know about New Zealand?

 

[mike gurnee]

JNL, give us some time to reply. Over in the states, it is a national Holiday, and in parts of Canada, there is a municipal labor strike.

From your job description, you are as much a planner as many of us. Titles are often meaningless anyway. Criminology/psych is an interesting background for the study of urban issues. I am sure we will enjoy your perspective as you participate in cyburbia.

What do I know of New Zealand: enough not to join your country and Australia in the same sentence.

 

[JNL]

That's right Mike - New Zealand has two main islands: the North Island and the South Island, and then there's that other little place you referred to (in the same sentence!), which we sometimes call our West Island.

 

[el Guapo]

Welcome

MIke is right - It's our biggest national holiday today in the states. So don't take the lack of replys personally. Welcome and enjoy!

 

[JNL]

Okay, okay, I'll be more patient! It's already Friday afternoon here so I'm off home, I hope you all enjoy your July 4th holiday!

Jen

 

[Glomer]

Welcome!!!!!!

Crime prevention through environmental design??????? What is that?

 

[El Feo]

JNL, one of my college roommates just said "haere ra" (sure hope that's right) to New Zealand a few weeks back. His wife was on a work exchange program with her company, Deloitte & Touche, for about 18 months. They absolutely loved it, and to be honest I think they are already scheming for a way to get back. The words they used most frequently on a recent visit to see my wife and me were "achingly beautiful" and "friendly."

They lived in Wellington, I believe, and they strongly encouraged us to visit sometime. Their most insistent advice was to avoid travelling by boat between North and South Islands. Is there some secret about the Cook Straight the rest of us need to know? Is that the *true* location of Monster Island and Godzilla?

 

[Chet]

Welcome JNL

Your job sounds VERY interesting.

Good to have a Kiwi on Cyburbia!

 

[Chet]

Originally posted by Glomer Crime prevention through environmental design??????? What is that? [/B]

Street Grid = BAD

Cul de Sac = GOOD
????????????

 

[jmf]

CPTED

I did a one day seminar on it a couple years ago. I thought that it was quite interesting and most of it was just practical. Things like thinking about landscaping and the use of the property ie don't have big shrubs around public buildings where people could hide in wait for an unsuspecting victim; lots about lighting; we looked at a case study of a school where the parking lot and bus drop off area cut between two sections of the school...it looked kind of like the buses could line the kids up like bowling pins....anyway changing that so it was safer.

We also talked a bit about homes and security...homes with high solid fences around their yards were broken into more often because the thieves were hidden from view of the street and neighbours. I guess something you would always think about when planning a fence since ususally the concern is your own privacy.

 

[JNL]

jmf is right, CPTED is basically common sense ideas about designing things like fencing, lighting, landscaping, location of activities, etc to reduce opportunities for crime and reduce fear of crime. It emphasises using natural measures as much as possible rather than using security technology like CCTV. An example of this would be to place a cafe within a transit stop to provide natural surveillance of the comings and goings of travellers - these extra eyes act as a deterrent to criminal activity and also a help point if required.

People working in the field of CPTED come from a number of backgrounds, including architecture, urban design, planning, councillors, police, landscape architects etc.

bturk - while I think the cul-de-sac issue is a teeny bit more complex than that, from a CPTED perspective, I would tend to think cul-de-sacs are not very good - they reduce the amount of foot traffic past people's houses (although sometimes a good thing, it reduces the amount of natural surveillance) and reduce community interaction. Not to mention that they tend to discourage walking - an issue I am currently working on: how to design city streets to encourage walking, and how to measure the effects of any changes you implement to improve walkability.

If anyone wants to learn more about CPTED, there are lots of websites about it.

 

[JNL]

El Feo - I have travelled on the Interisland ferry between the North and South Islands quite a few times and have always enjoyed it - if you go in daylight there are stunning views of the Marlborough Sounds, and sometimes dolphins travel alongside the boat. Never saw Godzilla anywhere!! If the weather is bad, then it can become a less than enjoyable experience - 3+ hours of tossing about in the Straight. Last time I travelled on it, 2 sailings were cancelled due to rough seas, then when we finally got on it was still pretty rough and my sister spent the whole trip in the bathroom losing her dinner! But I actually enjoyed it - found the rocking motion quite relaxing.

 

[Cardinal]

Hi JNL! As a loyal citizen of the USA, I went to Canada for a long holiday weekend, north of beautifully gritty Sault Ste. Marie, out in the back country, miles from the nearest internet connection.

Anyway, welcome to Cyburbia, Dan's Planner's Playground. I do a lot of downtown revitalization work. I am curious to know what are the major issues you find in inner city revitalisation, and how they compare to ours in the United States and our northern suburbs (Canada).

 

[JNL]

Michael - I had to have a think about your question because I don't work directly in the area of inner city revitalisation myself. I have a more indirect involvement, with revitalisation issues shaping some of the research that we carry out. Anyway, I have identified some issues:
Noise - conflicts between residential and entertainment land use, also between residential and essential industry (e.g. port operations)
Building conversions - when offices are converted for residential use, there can be issues of whether the buildings are of a suitable standard for residential use - adequacy of access to sunlight is one example.
Informal accessways used by cyclists and pedestrians - the issue is the need to retain them as they are sometimes cut off by, for example, the construction of parking buildings.
Parking for inner city residents is another issue - where should parks be located?
Then there is the ongoing issue of balancing the needs of vehicular traffic and pedestrians - not specific to revitalisation, but perhaps given emphasis when there are more people living in cities.
There are also safety/security issues with creating cities that are livable 24/7 - how to provide a safe environment for users of inner cities on a 24/7 basis.

I hope this goes some way to answering your question about issues of inner city revitalisation in NZ. I would be interested in your thoughts on how these issues compare with those you deal with.

Jen

 

[planasaurus]

Welcome JNL. You are most welcome here. Some of us are just returning from the long vacation.

 

[GeogPlanner]

wait...i always thought most of us on here were on vacation...

oh...that's a mental vacation...that's right...i'm still in the office...

as the mug says...

 

[Cardinal]

Jen - the issues you note are for the most part very different from what we face. Conversion is an issue in some areas, but more so for the loss of manufacturing space as buildings are converted into loft condominiums. The greater problem is disinvestment, as both people and jobs migrate out of cities. We need more people willing to live in our cities and invest in their buildings. Parking and traffic issues are also important, or at least percieved so, and compounded by our American loathing of mass transit.

 

[City Goddess]

Hi JNL! Hello from Canada.

I am also new to the forums. Nice to meet you. You and I have the exact same initials.

Peace,
City Goddess.