Urban Design & Planning

The Gisborne District Council sought a broad-scale landscape assessment of the prime, coastal Wainui-Okitu-Sponge Bay area in Gisborne to enable better management of the land resource and to inform decisions about zone management and Plan Changes in the light of pressures for growth and impending new infrastructure (waste and water reticulation). One aspect of EELA”s approach was the undertaking of an analysis of ‘old Wainui’ to understand the subdivision patterns that make this such an attractive and desirable coastal community, so that new rules regarding future subdivision might create similar strong coastal suburbs. Areas suited to differing densities were mapped with visual sensitivity guiding the locations recommended for increased housing density. This comprehensive planning and assessment report won a silver NZILA Award in the 2008 Landscape Planning section.   [New Zealand Institute of Landscape Architects AWARD -pdf]

‘Sense of place’ is a term that has emerged in relation to the broad field of ‘landscape character’ and has become one of the core assessment tools of the landscape architect. Landscape character can be said to comprise natural and cultural qualities/processes associated with a site and people’s perceptions of these. Collected together, the landforms, natural and cultural landscapes and features, vegetation, aspect and accumulated site history etc. contribute to special qualities that define the identity of a place – its ‘sense of place’..... [Read more]
[Image courtesy of Tairawhiti Museum]

Heart of Gisborne, who undertake a significant portion of the city’s event management and celebration planning, were motivated by the costly disadvantages of closing roads and setting up temporary stages for hosting such events  to express their need for a public city square. Responding to this, the Gisborne District Council engaged EELA with a brief that began:
+ The city centre, (in large part) courtesy of its town centre programme, is home to many popular and steadily growing events which are recognized as contributing to the vibrancy and prosperity of the city centre. However, with a lack of civic space three major issues are arising........... [Read more ...]