Client
Services
Year
Location
: Auckland Council + Auckland Transport + Kāinga Ora
: Collaborative Strategic Pilot Project
: 2024-2025
: Auckland, New Zealand
Te Ararata b Stage 2A Tree Infrastructure Plan
The Urbanist was commissioned to produce Tree Infrastructure Plan for 12 hectare development to act as a pilot project to test the process at design development stage through to construction. The aim being to demonstrate a way of working to ensure that trees are considered at the correct stages of development and incorporated into the process in a robust and consistent way.
This pilot project is the continuation of a collaboration between Kāinga Ora, Auckland Council Community Facilities, Auckland Transport, Healthy Waters, Watercare and Lead Alliance to work together to provide better outcomes for trees in the street environment. The Urbanist recognised the need for systemic change, and provided a process to enable more effective outcomes for people and nature in an efficient way.
Trees benefit us through increased levels of wellbeing across environmental, cultural, social and economic outcomes and are an essential part of climate-resilient urban environments.
The project recognises that there are competing objectives for space within the road corridor and that space for trees is taken by other services. We have been working collaboratively to develop a strategy to overcome some of the regulatory roadblocks which limit the available space for trees in the streetscape during development. A series of potential ‘departures’ from the regulatory standards have been identified through this process and are incorporated into the tree planting strategy.
“The Urbanist has developed an innovative and sustainable framework for planting the public realm (local parks and streets) across Tāmaki Makaurau that shows great expertise in urban design, planning and landscape. This strategy ensures we create neighbourhoods that are resilient to the effects of climate change, enhance biodiversity and enable communities to thrive.”
David Stejskal, Regional Arborists and Ecological Manager, Community Facilities, Auckland Council.
The Urbanist Team:
Reviewed and collated requirements for planting in the road corridor including locations and distances from services, sightlines, CPTED from the agencies involved.
Developed a set of principles to guide the work.
Undertook a series of workshops with key stakeholders to understand where there is potential for changes to the standards to allow more space for trees, both above and below ground. These were arranged to promote collaboration between entities which usually work separately to work together to find solutions.
Developed a prioritisation strategy to provide a method to maximise the benefits and to channel funding where it has the most impact for people and nature.
Developed realistic outcomes over the short term based on investigations into various street and lot typologies and how they best support increased tree planting.
Produced detailed street tree planting plans based on agreed potential departures from regulatory standards to show how the targets can be met.
Compared this outcome with current requirements and limitations.
The project is currently out for feedback with the wider group.