The cities and their people: New Zealand's urban environment

Report summary

The unsustainable nature and deteriorating quality of our urban environments are significant issues for New Zealand. This report focuses on questions of sustainable development for our towns and cities and identifies major strategic priorities.

Commissioner's preface

New Zealand is coming of age in the sense that in little more than a century we have moved from being a predominantly rural, natural resource-based nation, to a predominantly urban people with a much more diverse range of wealth-generating businesses. While this is no different from many other nations evolution, New Zealand has, in common with Australia, compressed this transition into an extremely short timeframe. As a consequence I believe we are still getting to grips with the challenges and opportunities of the New Zealand city and town.

Executive summary

This is the Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment's first investigation of the management of the urban environment. This report investigates the state of the urban environment, identifies the key issues and strategic risks, and poses a series of questions regarding how we may advance the sustainable development of our cities and towns.

In this report 'urban' is defined as the spatial area including the central business district, the inner city, industrial and commercial districts, suburban and peri-urban areas. The findings of this investigation highlight the need to increase the focus on sustainable development and urban sustainability. There is a need to be more proactive as a society, if New Zealand's urban evolution is to deliver the environmental qualities and urban system efficiencies that are within our grasp.

Sustainable development is 'development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs'. It can also be described as 'getting more, from less, for longer'. The United Nations Agenda 21 is a framework of action to achieve sustainable development. The concept of sustainable development has not been widely adopted or implemented in New Zealand, despite the enormous influence of the Resource Management Act 1991 (RMA). The concept is not 'owned' by many politicians and key government agencies. The broad goals of sustainable development (in contrast to sustainable management) are not a feature of any legislation or policy, and Agenda 21 is not widely supported. Local communities and businesses are not adequately informed of opportunities to improve the quality of life and urban environments.

The global Agenda 21 programme that New Zealand has adopted post-Rio provides one framework for a sustainable development focus. Unfortunately, it has received little attention by central government and has been embraced by few local authorities.

Sustainable development is now a global agenda, with increasingly challenging global 'performance targets'. New Zealand is entering a new era of globalisation. Global competition is shifting the focus from countries onto cities. This gives local communities an important opportunity to provide creative local solutions. Sustainable development of New Zealand's urban environments has been plagued by a lack of vision, lack of concern ('urban denial'), and a history of many (small) starts but few finishes. Decision makers may be unaware of how our current attitude to urban issues and sustainable development is in conflict with that espoused by international organisations, other countries and target markets that are considered important. This attitude is a strategic risk for the environment, the economy, and the well-being and resilience of urban communities.

Findings & recommendations

The key messages contained in this report provide a 'wake-up call' for improving the management of urban New Zealand and progressing sustainable development. With a few local exceptions, the sustainability of urban development is largely being ignored. There are many opportunities to 'get more, from less, for longer' as our cities and towns evolve.

As our urban population has become more affluent, there have been:

• increasing per capita demands for land, water, energy, transport, housing and services
• increasing air pollution and discharges of sewage and stormwater
• losses of heritage and amenity values with intense pressure on traditional relationships of tangata whenua with the environment and taonga
• adverse effects on the health, wealth and well-being of people and communities.

Sustainable development

Sustainable urban development involves improving the efficiency of resource use, reducing waste and addressing environmental, economic, and social issues in an integrated way.

Possible stimuli to the adoption and implementation of sustainable development in New Zealand include:

• preparing a strong national sustainable development strategy that specifically recognises the requirements for creating more sustainable urban environments (eg addressing resource use, eco-efficiency and integrated management of environmental, economic and social issues)
• requiring all Government agencies to report annually on how they have recognised and implemented the principles of sustainable development as part of policy and programme development
• establishing a sustainable development unit to inform Ministers on the strategic risks and opportunities of embracing the global agenda on sustainability (eg within the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet)
• setting up a non-governmental business orientated "Foundation on Sustainable Development" as a high level independent think tank to advise Government.

Central government and urban sustainability

Central government is not responding to urban sustainability challenges and yet they have a key role in providing leadership and vision, support, coordination and assistance. This is not 'coming in over the top of local government' or the imposition of ideas, but rather an investment in consultation, dialogue, and information. Many central government agencies are involved with aspects of the management of the urban environment but no one agency has the urban environment as its sole or even major focus.

Possible initiatives for central Government to progress urban sustainability include:

• providing leadership on sustainable development and supporting local government efforts, through improved partnerships
• assisting local government to implement the principles of Agenda 21 (eg information on Agenda 21 best practice approaches and sustainability indicators)
• improving the integration of service delivery from central government (eg by welfare agencies) at the local level
• early consultation with local government to examine the implications of Government policy proposals on local government, and thereby people and communities
• tasking a central Government agency to focus on the management of the urban environment including the provision of information to local government, businesses and communities on actions to progress urban sustainability.

Local government

Possible areas for action by local authorities to progress urban sustainability include:

Sustainable urban communities

Critical to urban sustainability will be greatly enhancing the role of the community and participatory democracy. Government must find new and creative ways to inform and empower communities, involve them in decision-making, and enable them to make choices in an efficient and effective way.

Liveability and environmental health

The liveability of each urban area stems from unique combinations of amenity values (open space, design features, urban vegetation), historic and cultural heritage, and intangible attributes such as character, landscape and "sense of place". Many urban residents place a high value on amenity values and their contribution to improving the quality of urban life. Liveability issues and the importance of good urban design are not adequately recognised in management approaches, policy or legislation. The provisions of the RMA that address amenity values and the interactions between development and the environment (including people and communities) are essential and they must be retained. Proposed developments need to recognise amenity values and follow design guidelines established by the community.

Information, monitoring and research

There is information about our urban environments, but it is dispersed, of variable quality, and lacks integration and analysis. In the absence of national support and coordinating agencies there is limited funding for urban research.

Possible solutions to improve research and information on urban sustainability include:

• creating an explicit output class within the PGSF structure for urban research
• preparing a national science strategy for sustainable development to encourage cross-output research and integrates biophysical, social, economic and cultural issues
• tasking a Government agency to provide national support (including funding) and coordination of research and information on urban sustainability
• preparing a regular state of the urban environment report based on a national urban sustainable development indicator framework.

Infrastructural issues and eco-efficiency

Actions to improve infrastructure management and eco-efficiency include:

• applying the 'polluter pays-user pays' principle to ensure the funding of the full costs of the provision and operation of all infrastructure and services
• integrating transport and environmental management and providing greater support for public transport
• improving energy efficiency through further exploration of demand side and efficiency measures that have positive economic and environmental benefits
• improving the quality of information on waste management practices and promoting integrated waste management with strong waste minimisation targets and higher levels of recycling
• taking greater consideration of the planning, design, construction and operation of infrastructure and buildings with whole life appraisal methods and reuse of waste materials.