Growth – The only certainty is change

It sometimes feels like ‘what is next?’ in terms of environmental issues. The latest being our houses are too hot. How did we not see this coming with all the talk and research into climate change and its effects?

Two years or so ago, the government was imposing new standards and building regulations on healthy homes and now the houses are so weather-tight there is not sufficient air flow for cooling. Meanwhile, Auckland Council has promoted Plan Change 79 that requires more concrete for pedestrian and cycle passing bays, among other things. The heat sink created by more concrete and dark finishing colours on buildings will have its own impact on climate change and heat in our urban areas.

It seems planners are responding knee-jerk to many varied and complex issues that face communities now and will certainly face the communities of the future. I have been questioning how we do this better. How do we predict and plan for an uncertain future where the pace and complexity of change seems to be ever-increasing?

Planning is a valuable and complex profession, but one that I think is letting itself down by focusing on the minutiae and losing the bigger picture. Both the big picture and the detail are important if we are to do it well and create functional, vibrant, healthy and enjoyable environments for current and future generations.

Many local areas are currently, and will be, subject to rapid population growth and urban development. Warkworth, Wellsford, Mangawhai – each is a community in its own right, but there are synergies and interconnections. How do these communities and their growth work together? Who is considering or looking at these issues? There are separate territorial boundaries and different communities and different planning processes in play.

As a profession, the challenge for planners and our communities is to be able to be visionary, creative and collaborative in planning for our current communities, and how they will grow and contribute to the communities for future generations. The more information, scientific and cultural inputs we have into planning for the future, the better.

I wonder if we would be facing the issue of houses that are too hot in summer if this process had been in play before the building regulations were roughly standardised across the whole country, even though we have significantly different environments in terms of climate. And let’s not forget that with climate change, the temperatures will only continue to rise.