Auckland’s flood emergency, along with the severe weather events in Northland, Bay of Plenty and Waikato over the past week, have prompted Tuia Pito Ora New Zealand Institute of Landscape Architects (NZILA) to call for a shift in urban development focus from local authorities around the country to include landscape based solutions.

Institute President Henry Crothers says landscape architects are uniquely positioned to understand, design and work with natural systems and green infrastructure strategies to create projects designed to withstand climate events.

He cites landscape architect-led projects such as the master planned Hobsonville Point medium-density Auckland suburb and the central city’s Daldy Street Linear Park which both performed as they were designed to do during the major weather events with no flooding issues.

Dr Matthew Bradbury is the Director of Te Pukenga’s Auckland Landscape Architecture Programme and is on the NZILA’s Climate Response Group. He says the current emergency has shown how rapidly stormwater can overwhelm existing council infrastructure, carving out new paths through private property, and creating floodwaters along streets and into homes and businesses.

"The impacts of our changing climate, together with major slips in our hill suburbs, flooding of productive rural landscapes, loss of roading and erosion of coastal properties, all require increased consideration when housing densities and low rise development is being approved under new planning Rules,” he says.

“The new National Policy Statement on Urban Development approved last year by central government will test the long-term resilience of these natural environments, especially in Tier 1 and 2 locations which include most of New Zealand’s key growth areas - Tāmaki Makaurau, Tauranga, Wellington, Hamilton and Queenstown.”

Dr Bradbury believes a stronger focus by councils and communities on landscape architecture projects in public open spaces and urban centres is part of the answer.

“These projects can restore and add to the city’s network of urban streams and existing vegetation corridors, which together form the natural systems which can absorb and temper the damage these wild storms wreak, while also creating unique and functional neighbourhood habitat.”

Along with protecting natural barriers to sea level rise such as sand dunes, wetlands and estuaries, landscape architects have a critical role in re-designing and modifying our foreshore areas to absorb change, and address some of the vulnerabilities our communities are facing.

“It’s about taking the public with us on that journey, and incorporating what makes up the essence of a public space, and redefining its natural character in a way which will address these climate impacts we are going to face more regularly from here on.”

For more information or to arrange interviews please contact us at media@nzila.co.nz

www.nzila.co.nz

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