| Water based urban form |
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Turning more water transport into reality does not need to be a tough battle, says Tony Watkins Owen McShane is quite correct in wondering why planners go to such lengths to ensure that people cannot live and play where they want, while at the same time enforcing a growth strategy which leaves people clustering around transport nodes for easy access to roading systems already at breaking point. Before there was planning people simply gravitated to the bays of the isthmus and each bay had its cluster of friendly local shops adjacent to the wharf. St Heliers would be a typical example. The natural landform allowed the people to flow downhill like water for a swim or to socialise. The bowling clubs and the tennis courts were developed in the obvious locations next to the shops. When you went for a swim you knew most of the other people because this was organic community urban design. The roading network, when it came, took people away. Owen McShane is correct in saying that water transport could bring them back. but he might do better than just wish Mayor Law good luck. There are many planning strategies for bringing about a change in attitude but one of the most useful is to quickly and with minimum cost implement a successful pilot project. Nothing succeeds like success. The opposite planning technique is to make a solution so grand and so expensive that it dies of its own obesity. If you want to stop a project you simply make it bigger. Where then is an ideal location for a pilot project? The Hokianga Harbour seems ready made. The urban design of the Harbour was a perfect response to water transport. As Owen McShane suggested people were very good at urban design before the planners arrived. Each of the small settlements reflects a relationship to the water. Some like Rawene or Horeke are on promontories reaching out into the harbour. Some like Panguru or Whirinaki are at the navigable limit of inlets. Some like Kohukohu or Opononi are at moments of intensity. It is very difficult now for the stranger to understand the urban design of the Hokianga because the transport planners put in roads which served to isolate the communities from each other. It takes half an hour to get from the Rawene to Horeke by road, but only a few minutes by water. However all is not lost. It is fortunately still possible to experience the old urban design form by taking the vehicular ferry from Rawene to the Narrows. The joys of water transport are immediately apparent. Every journey becomes a social occasion. The wind blows through your hair as you catch up on gossip. The sunsets over Motukaraka are stunning. Water pleasure rather than road rage. What extra then is needed to realise Owen McShane's dream? This week the Council closed the pontoon at the Narrows, declaring it to be unsafe. The pontoon is important because it allows all tide access for water transport to the corresponding pontoon at Rawene. The pontoons provides quick access from the North Hokianga to the Rawene hospital. Next week, with the ferry out of service for maintenance, and the pontoon also out of service, the journey to the hospital will take hours rather than minutes. The first move then is to protect the existing infrastructure. Maintain the wharves which exist all around the harbour and upgrade the pontoons. The second move is to introduce a network of small boats to link all the wharves. The third move would be to make the ferries free. Roads after all come free. It is probably not necessary to make the fourth move of letting the tourists know. The word will quickly get around. Patronage is essential to justify and improve service. The rest of Owen McShane's dream of "truly blessed vital and dynamic mixed use communities" will require nothing more than planners learning to stay away while respecting and understanding local urban design history. The coffee at the Boatshed Cafe is already superb. The Waterline Cafe is worth a trip up from Auckland. For a fraction of the cost of the Puhoi motorway extension Venice will have moved much closer to Auckland. Close enough for Aucklanders to fall in love with water-shuttles and joyfully learn a lot about urban design and urban form for nothing more than the cost of a weekend in the sun. Who needs luck when you, along with Mayor Law, can have all this to go with your chianti? * Tony Watkins is director of Maritime and Urban Design International. |
Ignoring our urban design inheritance is a perilous mistake.
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