whakaauaha wāhi Placemaking

Fantastic places are designed and made with people in mind.

Placemaking is all about working with communities in the urban regeneration of their neighbourhoods to create amazing places that they love.

Matariki On The Waterfront (Silo Park) 2022 Image 3

Placemaking podcast

When the Auckland Council no longer needs a property, we don't immediately sell it, without any thought to what a developer might do with it. We first look at what opportunities the site could offer the surrounding community. We then collaborate with local communities and the private sector, to realise those opportunities - to deliver an optimal mix of residential and commercial development, as well as public amenity. Over this series, we'll be talking to people who inspire and assist us to deliver amazing places in Tāmaki Makaurau / Auckland.

Episode 4

Bill McKay is well known Kiwi architect, academic, author and commentator on architectural and urban design practice in New Zealand. His many roles from research and teaching at the University of Auckland, through to fortnightly slots on Radio New Zealand’s Nine to Noon show give Bill a big-picture view of how we design our buildings and urban landscapes.

We talk to Bill to find out what Tāmaki Makaurau and Aotearoa are doing well and what we could do better.

Episode 3

When New Zealand media want to understand what’s going on in the growth and make up of our populations and the communities that comprise it, Professor Paul Spoonley is often the first person to talk to.

A sociologist and demographer, Paul is Distinguished Professor Emeritus and Honorary Research Associate at Te Kura Pukenga Tangata / College of Humanities and Social Sciences, Massey University. He is also the NZ representative on an 18 country collaboration, under the prestigious Max Planck Institute, looking at the impacts of immigration on diversity and social cohesion.

We talk to Paul about the changing face of Tāmaki Makaurau and Aotearoa, how change is inevitable and how to better manage it.

Episode 2

Jeremy Hansen is Director of Communications and Community at Cooper and Company, the people behind Auckland's highly successful Britomart precinct.

Jeremy's contribution to Auckland and Aotearoa, however, is even broader - he has co-written and edited several important books on architecture and urban design, is a frequent contributor to national print and online media, and hosts the popular podcast 76 Small Rooms. Britomart is one of Auckland's greatest examples of placemaking - turning an under-loved precinct into sought after commercial space and popular public realm.

So, Jeremy has a key role in a company that has curated and delivered an optimal mix of premium commercial spaces, conserved heritage and an attractive public realm - infused with visual elements that place Britomart in the cultural context of Tāmaki Makaurau, Aotearoa. We were thrilled to get Jeremy's perspective on placemaking.

Episode 1

Graham Tipene has a deep connection to Tāmaki Makaurau, living at Ōrākei, the place where he and his tupuna were born. Graham is a much sought after artist in the disciplines of tā moko tattooing and in installation artworks that gives life to the history and culture of Auckland within it’s modern infrastructure.

This podcast episode discusses the thinking behind some of our city’s most recent and exciting public artworks and how they speak to Auckland’s growing confidence as the preeminent city of Polynesia.

What is Placemaking?

Placemaking helps in the creation of vital public spaces: the kind of places where people feel a strong relationship to the place, to each other and a commitment to making things better. Through placemaking, the people of a place play a strong cooperative role in the building of their public places.

It is an inclusive approach which benefits all outcomes – social, environmental, economic and all the bits in between.

Why do we do Placemaking?

In its urban regeneration role, the Auckland Urban Development Office has a broad range of responsibilities.

Working with developers, government, Mana Whenua and local communities we design, develop and look after many different places across Tāmaki Makaurau. We need to consider the impacts and the outcomes of our projects from every viewpoint to ensure we are creating developments that will be successful for the very long term.

The communities and ongoing life of these places need to be factored in from the outset and this is why we adopted placemaking as a key approach.

Placemaking fundamentals

We aim to “let the place speak for itself": A process of discovery must be step one - research, observation, stories of place and people, attention to work that has gone before and the physical environment (historic, environmental, built) all need to be taken into account. Once you know who and what you are working for you can start to think ahead.

Placemaking is about building relationships – between people and place, between people, and between Auckland Council and its communities. It is about making sure that all members of our communities have a voice in the changes that are being made. It is about recognising the role of mana whenua as our partners and the kaitiaki of the places in which we are working. Through placemaking we seek to create meaningful and thoughtful change which benefits all – human and otherwise.