KEY POINTS:
Michael Stevens complains about how the "planners and their political masters on the city council have happily overseen the wholesale degradation of the heart of the city over the past few decades."
He says architectural treasures such as the Victoria Arcade have been destroyed.
What old parts do you mourn the loss of and can Auckland recover?
This forum debate has now closed. Here is a selection of your views on the topic.
Kaiwaka
It is nice to find that Mr Stevens likes the environment in Freemans Bay. I am personally pleased because during the early/mid sixties I was part of the team of architects, planners, and engineers who rescued Freeman's Bay from Robbies plans to bulldoze it flat as part of a Slum clearance programme (aided and abetted by the Ministry of Works). The new Mayor McElroy (the best Mayor Auckland ever had) had attracted a group of senior planners (Dr Taylor, Bruce Duder and Bryan Dudson) into council to form a City Development Team. I joined as a young graduate in Architecture. We re-wrote the Code of ordinances to allow people to build on small lots and I invented the word Town House. We then used the land which had already been "slum cleared" to build prototypes of the different kinds of buildings as a check to make sure our codes made sense in the hands of architects. The aim was to sell these into the private sector because this was the best way to prevent the "these people dont need this or that" syndrome. I also rented one of the units to check it out. So the reason they were sold was to prove their success - and it worked. When Dame Cath bought one we felt we had made a strong point. Sadly since then density has become a goal of the rulers rather than a measurement. We warned against this. But the team gradually disbanded and Auckland lost its way.
Vince Jefferson
As an off-street aside - has anyone investigated the shopping arcades off Queen Street? Or is it collective resignation that they are stuffed full of Asian shops that have a purpose other than retailing the same goods that no one ever buys.
Captain Charisma
I'm not old enough to recall some of Auckland City's grand old ladies, but I feel a pang of sadness each time I look towards that lonely obelisk on that lonely hill where there no longer stands a mighty tree.
Alan Wilkinson
No it won't change. I moved to Auckland 22 years ago, moved on north 8 years ago and still return every month on business. Over that time little happened except more of the same mess in central Auckland and redevelopment of the viaduct. Planners won't fix it because it is not a planning problem. It is a design and entrepreneurial problem. It can't be fixed by telling people what they can't do. It can only be fixed by inspiring great people to great things. But from the top down Auckland is driven by greed, power and politics. Fix that and you will fix the problem. Otherwise it will perpetuate itself.
London
Back in Auckland about a month ago and the most noticeable thing was the city's total and absolute dedication to the car. Aside from the extensive (and expanding) motorway system and the near decrepit public transport infrastructure, it's most obvious in the CBD: there are more overground carparks in Auckland than in any other city I've been in, most particularly noticeable at street level. You have sites of some historical significance, eg 'Hobson's landing place' (the old Auckland Star site) now dedicated to parking. Even at the War Memorial Museum the most prominent sign is one dedicated to motor vehicle transport rather than the commemoration of those who died (check out the east facade).All rather sad. If you want to rectify the degradation of Auckland you're going to have to address the problem of its over-reliance on cars.
G (London)
I am an ex-NZ planner living and working in London. I can only agree with Mr Stevens that Auckland is becoming a desolate concrete jungle. At the risk of sparking another debate about the RMA, I note Mr Stevens directs the majority of his angst towards planners and the Auckland City Planning Dept. Planners take a lot on the chin but I thought I'd reply. The NZ planning system (sorry, resource management system) has reduced planners to little more than paper pushers. The system has become hijacked by overly legalistic interpretations of everything and a permissive approach to development thanks to the immovable NZ psyche of private property rights ("It's my piece of land, I'll do what I want" - sound familiar?) NZ's system has lost its direction when it comes to urban design - something I think you will find most planners lament. Demonstrating harm has become a scientific exercise in courtrooms, leaving little room for subjective opinion on matters of design. Don't think NZ planners do not care - we do! But we're hampered by (inter alia) poor policy, rules that try to prescribe good design, no central goverment guidance and an individualistic approach to development by everyone.
Craig (Grey Lynn)
Unfortunately the writer is right. Auckland has to be one of the ugliest cities in the Western world. It's not just the heritage buildings we've destroyed, it's the rubbish we build in their place. Hideous, cheap, ugly buildings continue to go up without pause. Infrastructure is strained and we continue to fail to plan. Meanwhile the council worries about billboards.
Dave
The best thing about Auckland is....getting out of the place! It is the most over-rated, poorly planned, road-clogged city in the world! As a city it has no heart, no soul, no clear plan/goals where house prices are crazy, the in-fighting councils crazier & a lazy arrogant population.
pCb (Mt Roskill)
We've reached a point when convention centres, stadiums and art venues count and the rest of the city doesn't. I'd be quite happy to just see efficient transport and clean, graffiti free suburbs. The CBD like the rest of the city has been brought down while speculators profit. The pity of it is that looking at the Viaduct Harbour and the Hilton Hotel, Auckland could be a real city instead of the adhoc collection of greyness it has become. As for the red fence separating us from the harbour that may just be protecting the last jewel we have . . .
Kirstie (Beach Haven)
The heart was largely cut out of Auckland CBD in the 1980's with the wanton, largely council approved, destruction of the western side of Queen St. Remember His Majesty's Theatre and arcade? There used to be vibrancy to the little side streets that now are just access ways to pedestrian unfriendly private car park entrances and blank walls of grey marble and concrete. So many of the buildings now look the same that is surprisingly easy to get lost. The overlarge, over common billboards, are the only colour. Hardly surprising that they are now the council's next target.
Kaumatua
Fellow Aucklanders, move southward and you will find that all other NZ cities are still beautiful. By the way I am in Wellington.
Aucklander aged 62
I have lived in Auckland for some 22 years having joined the drift north from the South at that time in search of work. In the past 16 or so years I have seen lovely old buildings either demolished or fallen into such disrepair that the heart of the CBD has vanished. His Majesty's theatre springs to mind. Thank goodness the Civic was saved. And as to the Aotea Centre, the acoustics for opera and orchestral concerts are ruined because of lack of this essential component for a concert hall. The opportunities were there for various councils to make the waterfront into something wonderful for now and the future, instead we have hideous blocks of apartments with no character or architectural style. Some I notice have washing hanging out of windows. Maybe the tenants or owners of these hideous apartments come from some part of the world where this is acceptable, but please not here in Auckland. No sadly downtown, and the central city area is looking more and more like some third world city. It won't be too long before slum like squalor arrives. By no stretch of the imagination can we call our council City Fathers.
Christopher
One of the difficulties in such regularly expressed despair about the built environment of Auckland is the absence of 'time'. Here I mean that the soviet-style apartment blocks, and the destruction of Victorian-era architecture are the result of decisions made in the early 1990s. The built environment doesn't spring up overnight; it is the result of a process, governed in large part by the District Plan. The District Plan was written in the early 1990s, and what we see today, and the complaints that are generated are a reflection of what the 'Citizens and Ratepayers Now' led Council of that time wanted. Things can change. The current Council has put into place initiatives that will shape the built environment for years to come, for the better. But it takes 'time'. As much as I would appreciate people understanding and articulating the historical context as a guide to present day actions, which will shape the future, our culture discounts such considerations, to our loss.
Silent Bob
I couldn't agree more. Property developers seem to have complete say in what goes on in this city. How the multitude of slum apartments in the inner city and on the skyline got the green light is completely beyond my comprehension. And lets not even start on the city's transport infrastructure planning. Eyes up Wellington, Christchurch and Dunedin - expect some more jafas rolling down the hill in the not too distant future.
Ms Auckland
Michael Stevens makes more than a few good points about the decline of Good Ol' Auckland. But what can we expect from totally visionless politicians whose main purpose in their grey political lives mostly centres around pulling old historic buildings down (in cultural circles called: criminal vandalism and erasing past heritage like another unlearned commie regime), as well as removing colourful street hawkers from Queen Street's otherwise grey, uneventful footpaths. None of which improves Auckland or the lives of Aucklanders one little bit, besides greedy developers. Not since the good Robbie has Auckland had a politician with a vision without having to use a cheap useless crystal ball. Let's find another Robbie.
Mary A
Unfortunately, through greed, lack of foresight and good future planning, the damage has already been done.
John Robb
Demolishing the Soviet style apartments would be a great start with the city planners, who allowed these future ghettos to be built in the first place inside. It seems to me Auckland hasn't had a decent local body politician since Robbie. The rabble of mainly self-serving plonkers we've had since aren't fit to shine his shoes. Dr someone or other especially comes to mind.
Westie
As an avid reader of the lonely planet thorn tree site, may I suggest that Auckland city council, Auckland tourism et al also take a look at comments made by travellers and those south of the Bombays, re Auckland.While Welly is consistently held up as a shinning example of culture, vibrancy and 'heart', Auckland on the other hand is ho hum, sprawling, just another big city and soulless. I would guess that these impressions are made by people based on a ride from Mangere to the CDB a trip up the Sky tower, an overnight stay and departure the next day. However there is an element of truth when you consider the desecration Michael vividly describes. Queen st has become a colourless canyon, best avoided except for the lovely Civic theatre and good old Smith & Caughey's! The only chance of recovery now is to accentuate the positives, promote historical walking tours of the CBD, preserve the wonderful old buildings on the waterfront, do what the Heritage hotel group did for the old Farmers building and inject new life into whats left standing of Auckland's (and my) heritage!
Tony (St. Lukes)
You are just so right. The mayor & the council are just so out of touch with the people! We have a situation in Mt.Albert- nearly 4000 of the residents of Mt.Albert have signed a petition to have a site retained & developed as a tribute to one of the founding citizens of Mt. Albert -Mr.Kerr-Taylor. But the Mayor& the council are adamant that it should become another hideous, high density Housing New Zealand development 3x stories high in amongst villas & old style bungalows. Enough is enough as your article highlights.
Andrew Atkin
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