Urban Policy - Living Cities

Download the Urban Policy as PDF

Introduction

The design of our towns and cities affects everyone: how we live, work and play. Our Urban Policy is about creating liveable, vibrant and safe communities. With smarter planning and transport policies, we can save money while protecting the environment and improving our settlements for all New Zealanders.

Urban New Zealand

Over 85% of New Zealanders live in cities and towns, yet when we think of 'the environment' most of us think of rural and 'natural' environments rather than quality urban environments. We are an urban nation in denial. Wherever human settlements exist, two closely linked sustainability issues arise:

• The way the community interacts with its biological and physical environment; and
• The processes by which the community 'sustains itself'.

Sprawl in some areas and population loss in others creates social and economic pressure as human interaction falls, jobs relocate and infrastructure struggles to cope.

The cumulative ecological and community consequences of many resource-use choices only become obvious in times of crisis (as was the case in Auckland's water shortage during 1994, or the nationwide response to the 1992 electricity shortage).

The Way Forward

Practical and proven ideas abound on how to do things differently. 'Living cities, 'eco-cities', 'healthy cities' - all share the vision of urban sustainability as one of thriving, dynamic and vibrant human communities existing in harmony with the rest of the living world.

A city is like a living organism, an ecosystem in relationships with other systems. It has an internal life and exchanges of material and energy with the outside world. We can modify and adapt successful examples from around the world and create our own unique high quality urban areas.

The Green Party supports the Urban Sector Template from Project Foresight in 1999 and the Urban Design Protcol of 2005.

Many positive changes will come about if cities and communities are empowered to pursue sustainability. Urban Foresight suggests five interlinked goals as part of a living cities programme:

• PROSPERITY: Dynamic, prosperous and productive urban areas thriving in a global economy.
• SOCIAL COHESION: Durable, cohesive and diverse urban communities.
• QUALITY OF LIVING: A strong urban identity supported by a quality urban environment.
• EMPOWERMENT: Effective participatory governance and a culture of permanent partnership.
• ECO-EFFICIENCY: Urban areas lead in getting more from less for longer

The Green Party supports the overall direction of these goals. Sustainable prosperity will require a greater emphasis on strong local economies rather than globalisation.

The Protocol aims to make our towns and cities more successful by using quality urban design to help them become:

• Competitive places that thrive economically and facilitate creativity and innovation
• Liveable places that provide a choice of housing, work and lifestyle options
• A healthy environment that sustains people and nature
• Inclusive places that offer opportunities for all citizens
• Distinctive places that have a strong identity and sense of place
• Well-governed places that have a shared vision and sense of direction

Cities and towns face issues that are unique; this is recognised around the world. Yet there hasn't been enough focus in New Zealand on implementing the principles in the Urban Design Protocol. Our inaction is also our greatest opportunity since we now have the chance to learn from the best the world can offer.

We believe that issues connected to sustainability, and the principles described above, are highlighted in an urban context. We believe that there is a community of concerned citizens who know our nation is less than it could be because our cities and towns are neglected. This Urban Policy is our response to that neglect.

Vision

The Green Party has a vision of thriving, dynamic and vibrant human communities existing in harmony with the rest of the living world. 'Living cities' evolve when citizens are empowered to shape their communities using the best available information. These sustainable vibrant urban areas, exist where:

• There is a low level of car dependence and high levels of walking, cycling and public transport use.
• Movement and interaction is safe and easy for all.
• Cities and towns have a strong and thriving heart linked to a web of urban villages each with their own identity.
• Good housing and meaningful work is available to citizens.
• Parks and green spaces are a pervasive, cherished and protected part of the urban landscape.
• Diverse and vibrant cultures interact to create a shared identity that is more than the sum of its parts.
• Physical and cultural heritage is cherished as linking past and future.
• All citizens feel able to participate in shaping the future of the city they call home.
• Quality public spaces create a civic testimony to citizens belief in their city.

Specific Policies

1. A Ministry of Urban Affairs

The Green Party will create a Ministry of Urban Affairs with the role of:

1. coordinating and reporting on central government policy as it affects cities and towns.
2. providing technical assistance to local authorities on the development of sustainable cities and towns.
3. auditing and monitoring progress towards urban sustainability.
4. researching sustainable cities.
5. providing limited financial assistance to assist cities making a transition towards more sustainable ways of living.
6. facilitating dialogue between and within local authorities about urban issues.

2. Sustainable Transport

Our cities and towns are oriented around cars instead of people because of old fashioned and inflexible traffic engineering standards that don't take into account value. This is costing us dearly. We can create safer, healthier and more prosperous cities and towns with simpler and smarter planning regulations, and greater investment in buses, trains, walking and cycling. Streets can be shared public spaces, with traffic calming, traffic reduction and in some places, increased pedestrian-only spaces. By creating towns and cities for people, we can also make our economy and society less vulnerable to high oil prices.

The Green Party will:

1. ensure that transport investment and planning within urban areas is integrated with, and subordinate to, the needs of people in cities and towns.
2. create national targets for reducing car dependence and enhancing mobility within urban areas.

Full details of our policies in this area are contained in our Transport Policy

3. Infrastructure and Resource Flows

Our cities are maturing and issues of infrastructure development and renewal are becoming prominent. Some cities simply need renewal, others struggle with urban decay, which still others face growth pressure.

The Greens believe we need to take a fresh look at resource use in cities and place more emphasis on local solutions from community energy efficiency to increased greywater use to composting toilets. It is, for example, ridiculous to pipe drinking water from 100 miles away when the water that falls on the roofs of our homes and buildings is piped straight to the sea. We need to understand where water comes from and where it goes and we need to develop sustainable ways to meet our needs that take these natural cycles into account.

The Green Party will:

1. promote a 'waste-free' approach to production and emphasise research and technology to help us 'do more with less for longer'.
2. ensure ongoing access to high quality water while promoting its conservation.
3. promote innovation in waste and water management with increased emphasis on conservation and small-scale local solutions.
4. encourage energy efficient design and use of local renewable energy in urban areas.
5. ensure culturally appropriate disposal of all sewerage.

Full details of our policies in this area are contained in our Energy, Waste and Water Policies

4. Heritage

The Green Party will:

1. strengthen heritage protection in urban areas; and
2. encourage greater awareness of the positive role of historic heritage in creating a durable urban identity.

5. Participatory decision making

Quality urban life is linked to a sense of community and identity within urban areas. Market research suggests that many people would prefer to live in a walkable urban village with a sense of identity, rather than sprawling car dependent suburbs. Part of the reason there is a shortage of such neighbourhoods are the barriers to participation in local government planning processes.

A partnership between central and local government over urban issues is long overdue. Central government can provide the framework, resources and information to support informed local decision-making. Local government can then involve its citizens in creating cities that reflect local needs and values. People struggle to get involved at the moment because they are pressed for time and money, and local authorities publicly notify just 5% of development proposals.

The Green Party will:

1. encourage councils to notify more development proposals for public comment, and require them to include policy on notification as part of their plans, which would allow the public to have a say on that policy.
2. increase environmental legal aid, first established by a Green Party Budget bid in 2000, so that citizens' groups can take part in RMA cases with good legal, planning and scientific advice.
3. provide the Environment Court with independent scientific and professional advice to help assess the evidence of expert witnesses.
4. support local government in the exercise of its general power of competence.
5. encourage local government to develop more participatory approaches to democracy in the spirit of the Local Government Act 2002.
6. create a National Policy Statement on sustainable cities and towns under the RMA.

6. Conservation in the town

Most New Zealanders live in towns and cities, urban areas that are typically surrounded by high quality farm land. These are the places where the environment has suffered most since the arrival of Europeans in particular.

Formerly these areas supported the richest, most diverse ecosystems of lowland forest and wetlands. Today only a few degraded remnants of this original forest remain. The native birds have gone, but we can bring back the dawn chorus.

Restoring nature in and around town can be built on the enthusiasm and effort of local people who believe in it. But government can do plenty to inspire that enthusiasm, and nurture the efforts of local people.

Through the National Policy Statement under the Resource Management Act and advocacy from DOC and members of Parliament, the Green Party will encourage and require local councils to:

1. develop comprehensive strategies for conservation management of towns and cities, linked to district plans and to regional council pest management strategies.
2. protect remaining areas of forest and wetlands in and around town through their district plan.
3. develop strategies for weed control that stamp out small weed problems before they become big ones, and provide strategic control of established weeds.
4. ensure that new subdivisions near important natural areas do not allow keeping of potential predators such as cats and/or dogs, if they represent a threat to native wildlife.
5. initiate the re-establishment and creation of wetlands and support forest restoration projects.
6. establish a 'mainland island' such as the Karori Wildlife Sanctuary in Wellington, where a predator proof fence protects a former water supply catchment from introduced animals, allowing the re-introduction of native species most threatened with extinction.
7. provide general tree protection for key native species in urban areas.
8. develop strategies which encourage residents to plant locally appropriate native species in their gardens. Christchurch City community boards have established a programme where residents can find maps at their local garden centres which show them the natural ecosystems that were once found on their properties, and the native plants they can plant to restore them.
9. retain natural streams and restore piped streams to a natural state, with plantings of native wetland plants. This not only provides a better environment for people and nature, but it reduces flood risks and is cheaper than piping.

In addition, the Green Party will:

1. work with local government and communities to ensure a minimum 5% of the land area of each of the 268 ecological districts in Aotearoa/New Zealand is in native vegetation or set aside for the restoration of nature within 10 years.

Full details of our policies in this area are contained in our Conservation, Environment and Water Policies.

7. Clean Waterways

Conservation in and around town should not be limited to land. Over half of our lowland streams and rivers are too polluted for swimming. People ought to be able to walk down to their local beach and go for a swim without worrying whether the water is clean.

The Green Party will:

1. minimize pollution of urban streams and harbours through an Urban Waterway Restoration Strategy, so people can enjoy their local streams and beaches.
2. target towns and cities as areas for new marine reserves, so that people don't have to travel to see the sea in its natural state.

Full details of our policies in this area are contained in our Conservation, Environment, Water and Sea Policies