Urban design taskforce gets down to business

The first proposals to combat shonky development in Auckland City should be on Mayor Dick Hubbard's desk within weeks.

Deputy Mayor Bruce Hucker, the man appointed to lead Auckland's urban design taskforce, said yesterday that there was a "folder full" of materials that every member would receive before the first meeting on Tuesday.

It would not be a case of "this building's right and that one is wrong" but a comprehensive methodology to shape the physical future of the city.

"It's a hugely important exercise and we need to have the first recommendations with the mayor well before May," Dr Hucker said.

The taskforce has been launched by Mr Hubbard in an attempt to block bad architecture passing for urban renewal.

Mr Hubbard, who expressed concern during his election campaign about high-density developments becoming "ghetto areas", said the mayoral taskforce would overhaul the city's lax development controls.

The taskforce comprises 14 people, including leading architects Gordon Moller and Julie Stout, developers Richard Didsbury and Nigel McKenna, Property Council member Patrick Fontein and landscape expert Rachel de Lambert.

Dr Hucker said the members would look closely at the experience of other cities, including Edinburgh which produced six key proposals, including the appointment of a top architect or designer as honorary urban design patron "to promote and uphold urban design standards ... " an annual dossier of the best new buildings and a "hall of shame".

* What do you think is Auckland's ugliest building or worst example of urban design?