Tauranga City Council & developers will hold a 10-day charrette starting on 26 September to guide development of the new Papamoa East district down the coast from Mt Maunganui.
Project spokesman Darrell Carlin said it was the council’s first Smart Growth initiative and would include the new Modena Beach town centre.
Part 1 (also known as Wairakei) land developers Bluehaven Holdings Ltd (David & Michael Livingstone) & Hawridge Developments Ltd (Greg Clarke) have engaged Perth & Melbourne-based urban designers & architects Roberts Day to run the charrette.
All major stakeholders in Papamoa East, including the developers, designers, council, tangata whenua & community representatives, will meet for a number of days on the development site to intensively discuss all views & ideas.
Mr Carlin said the idea of the charrette was for designers to get a feel for the local community, view existing architecture & design in the region and gain knowledge of local issues & concerns.
Roberts Day work in partnership with renowned Miami-based urban designers Duany Plater-Zyberk, who will also be represented at the charrette. Since the 1970s, Duany Plater-Zyberk has been involved in designing & revitalising villages, towns & cities throughout the world.
Demetri Baches, founder of DPZ-Pacific, along with his partners, Mallory Baches & Ludwig Fontalvo-Abello, will lead the charrette process.
Mike Day, of Roberts Day, said a collaborative effort meant the best possible design ideas would be included in the plan.
“We’ll have a team of specialist urban designers & architects listening to all the ideas & concerns generated from a cross-section of people the Papamoa East-Wairakei community will service.
“The specialists will then work developing plans that the charrette group can view & comment on straight away. Their constructive comments will be used to refine & develop the concept.”
Until now it was theory
Mr Carlin said Smart Growth until now had been about theory & planning possible scenarios. “The Papamoa East-Wairakei urbanism & Modena Beach town centre takes us beyond theory for the first time. It’s Smart Growth in action.
“It’s exciting to see how organisations like Roberts Day and Duany Plater-Zyberk are creating communities & towns in Australia & the US. There will be a lot of interest internationally in what is developed here.”
The formal council plan change for the site is expected to be notified in June 2005.
“What they’re looking for from the charrette are concepts that will form the future look & feel of the Papamoa East-Wairakei urban area.
“Competing ideas, understanding of different parts of the project, time analysis & costs can all be discussed & resolved at the charrette.”
The Papamoa East town centre will be accessed by the Bell Rd interchange of the proposed Transit eastern arterial expressway. Construction is expected to start after the council rezones the land, anticipated to happen at the end of 2005.
Smart Growth philosophy
The Smart Growth initiative focuses on creating opportunities for “live, work & play” within communities. The charrette process promotes Smart Growth philosophies that attempt to limit urban sprawl & give properly integrated environments & well planned open space.
The Duany Plater-Zyberk & Co team has travelled the world designing & planning towns for. Mr Baches was one of 4 directors there, but this year formed DPZ-Pacific, Duany Plater-Zyberk’s first affiliate office, to take on projects throughout Asia & the Pacific.
Duany Plater-Zyberk is well known in North America for re-introducing smart-growth planning principles as an alternative to suburban sprawl & vehicle-based settlements.
Mr Carlin said Papamoa East Part 1 (Wairakei), near the beach and relatively flat, would be developed to encourage a balanced & vibrant community, with strong connections to the local environment to foster cycling, walking & connectivity.
“We will bring our knowledge & expertise to work together with area professionals & residents to design a new community that is sustainable in terms of local needs & the environment,” Mr Baches said.
“DPZ began using the charrette process more than 20 years ago as a means of designing mixed-use, pedestrian-friendly neighbourhoods, not the typical single-use subdivisions so common in North America and now increasingly around the world.
“Immersing yourself in the local area is the best way to design a functional community. The designers will come to Papamoa knowing very few specifics, so no pre-conceived ideas can get in the way of the best design solutions.”
Developers Bluehaven Holdings & Hawridge Developments have a combined 300ha holding. They’ve employed DPZ Pacific because they were concerned at the dominant traditional pattern of past urban development and wanted a commitment to improving the built environment of a future community.
Mr Carlin said they believed it was important to develop a community, not just another sprawling subdivision with “cookie cutter” houses.
“This is the first project to be created under the Smart Growth initiative guidelines that local & regional councils have been working on for some time.
“The developers searched the world for people who had implemented Smart Growth-type developments. They found DPZ-Pacific and Roberts Day, both internationally recognised for their innovation & focus on community values.”
Open day
An open day will be held on 2 October from 2-5pm at the Papamoa Surf Club to display preliminary design proposals.
Websites: Duany Plater-Zyberk
Roberts Day Group
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