Map out your own job

By ANGELA McCARTHY

New Zealand is going through an urban renaissance after a long period of inattention, declares Jenny Dixon, head of the University of Auckland planning department.

Awareness is increasing over the need for convivial urban spaces that reduce opportunity for crime, as well as the need to more closely monitor urban sprawl and intensive development.

This is reflected in recent changes to the Local Government Act requiring every local council to consult their community and produce long-term council community plans, says New Zealand Planning Institute president Cheryl Cleary.

"The skills of planners are required to carry out community consultation processes and formulate community outcomes and plans."

It was living in well-planned cities overseas that inspired lawyer Matt Riley to become a planner. "I became interested in urban design and wanted to be active in making positive change in Auckland."

On returning to New Zealand he did a Master of Planning Practice, worked six months for Auckland City Council's streetscape department then moved to his present job with Barry Rae Transurban, an Auckland urban planning consultancy.

Clients include private land developers and councils. A favourite project was an urban redevelopment proposal for Devonport, which involved consultation with the community, landscape architects, council, architects and others.

"I like the idea that it gives me a real chance to do something positive to enable change for a community."

Riley's Auckland City job gave him a great grounding but he prefers the smaller team environment of his present job where he has more opportunities to be with projects to the end.

Dixon says planners work in a variety of private sector and public sector organisations and a major task is advising on the requirements of legislation, such as the Resource Management Act (RMA) and Local Government Act.

While she feels graduates working in councils develop a strong understanding of the engine room of council operations, she worries some local governments are under-funding planning, which is creating a lack of capacity by them to deal with resource management properly.

"Doing planning properly requires time and resources. Some councils try to keep costs down."

Planning consultation often deals with the rights of people to develop or use land or other resources, the need to protect the environment and to consider the social and economic well-being of the community. As a result, decisions can be controversial, says Cleary.

The planner offers professional advice and recommendations so the politicians make their decisions with the relevant considerations before them.

The consultation process and opportunity to give her iwi a say is what planner Liane Ngamane relishes in her role as Hauraki Maori Trust Board's manager for planning. Ngamane is the principal author of the Hauraki Iwi Environmental Plan, a 50-year framework of action for iwi in the area.

"It took more than two years, working within the iwi network. We had to do a lot of consultation through hui and workshops."

Ngamane says the most challenging part was moving 12 autonomous iwi to common goals.

"Working on this plan reminded me of a lecturer's comment that planners had to be good communicators to be useful in today's world. And that was true about this project. I had to have the skills to put together policy and plans but that had to be based in reality. I could only get that by being involved with the people."

She decided to study planning after working as an iwi environmental officer on the Coromandel Peninsula. "I saw a gap in the planning system in terms of Maori planners, particularly once the RMA came along. I also saw a lot of pressure in terms of coastal development."

Dixon puts the number of planners working in New Zealand at around 1500, of which two-thirds are in Auckland. Yet her department can take only 35 to 40 first-year students each year, reflecting space issues and the need to be choosy.

"We want high-quality planners. The course is not a doddle."

There is also the Master of Planning Practice which attracts students from areas as diverse as law, science, engineering and music.

NZ Planning