Context 167 - March 2021

C O N T E X T 1 6 7 : M A R C H 2 0 2 1 21 URBAN DESIGN quarrymen.TeTiriti oWaitangi/Treaty ofWaitangi, signed in good faith in 1840, gained formal recognition in New Zealand law only in 1975. A 1985 amendment gave it greater legal weight, including with respect to heritage protection. Government involvement in heritage dates from the 1950s, with the establishment of national heritage agency Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga, which now manages a list of over 5,600 entries. The list includes specific entries forWāhi Tapu andTūpuna (Māori sacred sites), reflecting New Zealand’s bicultural found- ing. Heritage in Auckland is managed through the statutory Auckland Unitary Plan. Understanding both of heritage and Aotearoa/ New Zealand’s bicultural approach to its man- agement has increased since the turn of the 21st century. Auckland Council’s Māori design hub has been created to enable best practice in architecture and urban design. The ongoing transformation of Auckland’s downtown water- front public spaces is a good example of Māori design in practice. If Felton Mathew were to return to Auckland today and take a walk down Albert Street, he would find his path disrupted by construction of City Rail Link (CRL), a $4.4 billion, twin-track, four-station underground railway line. This is New Zealand’s largest ever transport infrastruc- ture project. CRL construction saw all 14,000 tonnes of the Edwardian Chief Post Office (CPO) transferred to a supporting structure to allow rail tunnels to pass beneath it.When open, the CPO building will serve as a gateway to the rail station and the city centre, continuing an intelligent approach to re-use. Another CRL station will be built at Karangahape Road. Running east-west along a ridge above the city centre, this was the only street for which Felton Mathew deigned to use its existing Māori name; a reflection of its long- held significance. Once the heart of middle-class Aucklanders’ department store shopping life, Karangahape Road lost its economic hinter- land in the 1960s to motorway construction. Department stores gave way to strip clubs and economic activities on the margin of the mainstream. The area was viewed with a lack of interest by developers. This meant that Karangahape Road escaped much of the swathe of 1980s development. Businesses in the area tended to re-use and adapt existing buildings. Today the area is home to over 600 owner-occupied businesses and an intense concentration of heritage buildings. As one of central Auckland’s two historic heritage areas, it arguably has a greater sense of place than anywhere else in Auckland and, when CRL opens, it will be one of the city’s most accessible locations.This provides an opportunity for many more Aucklanders to get to know the area; it also means a challenge for the area to retain its uniqueness and heritage in the face of change. This is a citywide issue. Undeterred by property prices that resemble Monte Carlo, Auckland attracts people through job opportunities, an enviable lifestyle and fine weather. The city is expected to account for 70 per cent of New Zealand’s population growth in the coming decades. Much of this is likely to be met through densification of the existing urban fabric, with old houses on large plots demolished and replaced by townhouses or flats.Will new buildings be able to enhance the sense of place? Where do we most need to maintain our heritage? And how can we enable the special character areas of the future? These are going to be important questions for Auckland and Aucklanders in coming years. GeorgeWeeks, a principal urban designer in the Auckland Council urban design unit, is responsible for the refreshed Auckland City Centre Master Plan. Terrace housing in Symonds Street, Auckland, built in1897 (Photo: Ulanwp, Wikimedia)