Talk Wellington newsitems

• • National Land Transport Programme: the big bucks for transport

    • 9 Sep 2021
    • Talk Wellington
    • “Follow the money”! It’s that time again: government setting out what’s getting the lion’s share of public spending on transport.
    • Accepted from Talk Wellington posts 1 week ago by feedreader
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• • Where do the children play? Stealth segregation

    • 7 Sep 2021
    • Talk Wellington
    • When a housing development say “inclusive” it might pay to look closer.
    • Accepted from Talk Wellington posts 1 week ago by feedreader
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    • blogs
  
  

• • Characterful medium density housing!

    • 16 Aug 2021
    • Talk Wellington
    • Who else is having conversations where someone goes “ooh but it’s all leaky soulless apartments, we don’t want that”? Here’s a feast for your eyes and balm for your worried soul Welcome to Talk Wellington’s random collection of neat medium-density examples to cheer you up, to show your friends, to tell the council you want … and to inspire density skeptics (presuming they’re in good faith, not just being awful). (Images’ links are in the image, caption or the text – click for more.) Enjoy! Characterful, “old”… medium density Montréal has a LOT of medium density residential neighbourhoods. They’re super liveable and beloved, and they are home to numbers of people that would sort out many of Wellington’s classic woes. Here’s some pretty historic-y medium density which has actual awesome neighbourhood vitality and character by the bucketload, for everyone. Medium density can be… no more than two storeys, with lots of mixed use and features like shop-top housing! No offence, Mt Vic / Khandallah / Thorndon / Woburn, but your neighbourhoods can’t hold a candle to the Castro for real liveable character, not just visual character. So leafy! Apartments you rent short-term: this is the Garden Wing of Singapore’s Shangri-La Hotel. It was built in the 1970s! Lush az. This is all open air How ’bout indigenous character! The stunning medium-density Utukoia replaces two detached homes on traditional quarter-acre sections with 14 new terrace homes (53 bedrooms total), communal facilities and a range of private, shared and public spaces. Phwoar. Check out the Auckland Māori Design Hub for more delicious stuff There are some smart folks stimulating Māori design and innovation at the Āpōpō accelerator right here in Te Whanganui-a-Tara, run by the Indigenous Design and Innovation Aotearoa / IDIA team. How about some modern character? Check out the beautiful high density of the Urban Habitat Collective, coming soon right in Newtown: Or the beautiful CoHaus (read their amazing story here) Even ol’ Kiwibuild is finally doing lovely stuff in Onehunga: How about the spaces in between the housing? Density done well brings your laneways to life as a part of people’s backyards, as in Queensland… Go large We really need comprehensive, multi-block developments to sort out whole areas of our cities. You can do ’em on something that’s underused space like… a golf course? Or even as a regeneration of… ooh, maybe a large area of detached housing, hello Kāinga Ora. So check out this thread on Vancouver’s Regent Park development. Hello #densitydonewell: a big uplift in density is helping fund all sorts of fantastic public amenities for the residents of the varied and accessible apartments: green space, schools, lovely public realm, community gardens, people-friendly street grid… That fourfold increase in density has helped to pay for generous public realm and community facilities including parks, athletic grounds, and an amazing aquatic centre #torontotweets #densitydonewell #citiesforall pic.twitter.com/cCy2dYq6V5 — Stuart (@HoughtonSd) September 11, 2018 Be still, our beating hearts…. And finally… DensityNOTdonewell While we tend to agree with Bernard Hickey that the battle over densifying suburbs is the battle of our generation, there’s plenty of reasonable property-owning folks who are genuinely, good-faith worried. They’re worried that crappy, ugly things will be built – and are vulnerable to being scaremongered by wild claims about housing values (hat tip Property Investors Federation). And let’s be honest: NZ has strong historical form in doing medium density badly – especially badly in construction, which means bad financially for those who bought in them. The cars seem to have the best of this bargain… And bad design is far from history: there’s still plenty of crap designs out there, thanks to our unfamiliarity with good-quality medium density. Here’s one example of rubbish medium density that appears to deny its residents most of the benefits of density done well like access to green space and social connection. So let’s also be clear: nobody wants crap design or construction, and we absolutely don’t have to accept it “because housing crisis”. So let’s get more and more people on the bandwagon for good medium density, #densitydonewell! What other examples of great (or grotty) medium density do you know? How do they make you feel and why?
    • Accepted from Talk Wellington posts 2 weeks ago by feedreader
    • Tagged as:
    • khandallah
    • newtown
    • thorndon
  
  

• • Are EVs going to save us?

    • 5 Aug 2021
    • Talk Wellington
    • I spend my days working to build walking, cycling, and public transport infrastructure so I am pretty used to hearing something along the lines of “why bother with this stuff, when EV’s are going to save us from our climate problems?” Usually, I shrug this question off by discussing the many other reasons why we should boost active transport, such as healthier people and reduced congestion on the roads.
    • Accepted from Talk Wellington posts 1 month ago by feedreader
    • Tagged as:
    • electric-vehicles
  
  

• • Fast, good submission: Government Policy Statement on Housing and Urban Development (oh yeah)

    • 29 Jul 2021
    • Talk Wellington
    • A Government Policy Statement on Housing and Urban Development says what the government’s arms are going to do about this stuff, this term.
    • Accepted from Talk Wellington posts 1 month ago by feedreader
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    • blogs
  
  

• • The Missing Middle Mystery: housing detectives on the case!

    • 27 Jul 2021
    • Talk Wellington
    • A housing crisis is a great time to ask “where are all those other types of housing?” This is a great little video that unpacks why cities have the housing stock and “culture” and “character” we see today.
    • Accepted from Talk Wellington posts 1 month ago by feedreader
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    • blogs
  
  

• • Reshaping streets for transport justice: webinar with Oakland, CA

    • 20 Jul 2021
    • Talk Wellington
    • Because people in councils and consultancies are generally employed, white, middle-class, the solutions they suggest for cities are often “elite projections” and won’t really do the good for those unlike them – unless they (*we) take special care.
    • Accepted from Talk Wellington posts 1 month ago by feedreader
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    • blogs
  
  

• • Let’s give Wellington an injection of life and spirit

    • 16 Jul 2021
    • Talk Wellington
    • You may have noticed that in Wellington, we’re really good at talking, but not so good at doing.
    • Accepted from Talk Wellington posts 2 months ago by feedreader
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    • blogs
  
  

• • Reshaping streets for transport justice: webinar with Oakland, CA

    • 2 Jul 2021
    • Talk Wellington
    • Because people in councils and consultancies are generally employed, white, middle-class, the solutions they suggest for cities are often “elite projections” and won’t really do the good – unless they (*we) take special care.
    • Accepted from Talk Wellington posts 2 months ago by feedreader
    • Automatically tagged as:
    • blogs
  
  

• • Safety, crime, cities, and communities

    • 27 Jun 2021
    • Talk Wellington
    • Some new research on what caused crime to drop in the USA has some pretty cool insights for New Zealand wanting to grow better places to live – those “safer communities together”.
    • Accepted from Talk Wellington posts 2 months ago by feedreader
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• • Golden Mile carfree: phew!

    • 16 Jun 2021
    • Talk Wellington
    • In a month of extreme weirdness, Let’s Get Wellington Moving have got something 100% RIGHT Last night Let’s Get Wellington Moving announced that they are definitely going to carfree our Golden Mile.
    • Accepted from Talk Wellington posts 3 months ago by feedreader
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    • blogs
  
  

• • Get walking! NZ Walking Summit

    • 15 Jun 2021
    • Talk Wellington
    • The NZ Walking Summit is a curious thing.
    • Accepted from Talk Wellington posts 3 months ago by feedreader
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    • blogs
  
  

• • Less death please and thank you: Thorndon Quay/Hutt Road submissions in quick!

    • 5 Jun 2021
    • Talk Wellington
    • Let’s Get Wellington Moving, our old frenemy. It’s popped out of the woodwork to ask for your thoughts on Thorndon Quay and Hutt Road. If you want to catch up on the Let’s Get Wellington Moving saga start here. Otherwise scroll right on ahead and get to submitting! Submissions close June 8th, 5pm.
    • Accepted from Talk Wellington posts 3 months ago by feedreader
    • Tagged as:
    • thorndon
    • consultation
    • lgwm

    Geocode(Some(Thorndon Quay, Pipitea, Wellington, Wellington City, Wellington, 6140, New Zealand),Some(-41.2725887),Some(174.7824917),Some(OsmId(330599309,WAY)))

    Thorndon Quay, Pipitea, Wellington, Wellington City, Wellington, 6140, New Zealand (OpenStreetMap)
  
  

• • Future of Hutt Transport: Survey Time!

    • 20 May 2021
    • Talk Wellington
    • If you live in the Hutt, make sure you have your say by completing this actually quite fun survey to help inform future transport decisions.
    • Accepted from Talk Wellington posts 3 months ago by feedreader
    • Tagged as:
    • consultation
  
  

• • The Future of Te Ngākau/Civic Square Event (May 15th)

    • 6 May 2021
    • Talk Wellington
    • Interested in the future of Te Ngākau/Civic Square? Come along on the 15th! Wellington Civic Trust is holding a public engagement and information event next Saturday (15th May).
    • Accepted from Talk Wellington posts 4 months ago by feedreader
    • Tagged as:
    • civic-square
  
  

• • WCC Long Term Plan: Your Submission Guide

    • 6 May 2021
    • Talk Wellington
    • “Don’t tell me what you value; show me your budget and I”ll tell you what you value”.
    • Accepted from Talk Wellington posts 4 months ago by feedreader
    • Tagged as:
    • consultation
    • wcc
  
  

• • Play streets are magic, paperwork is not

    • 20 Apr 2021
    • Talk Wellington
    • Play streets: a wonderful way to foster play and community resilience.
    • Accepted from Talk Wellington posts 4 months ago by feedreader
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    • blogs
  
  

• • Tasting plate of goodness: recent stuff

    • 14 Apr 2021
    • Talk Wellington
    • There’s a lot going on at the moment; dive in and get a taster of it How We Live report – a doozy Hello, yes please We’re pretty excited about this – amongst all the “here’s how we fix housing” initiatives, this crowd seem unusually good.
    • Accepted from Talk Wellington posts 5 months ago by feedreader
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• • “It’s really good but where’s the consultation?!” tactical urbanism, social licence and blowing minds

    • 4 Apr 2021
    • Talk Wellington
    • A bunch of towns are discovering tactical urbanism right now through the Innovating Streets programme, and a Low Traffic Neighbourhood project in Onehunga is a theatre for some very familiar angst – and some very unfamiliar progress.
    • Accepted from Talk Wellington posts 5 months ago by feedreader
    • Tagged as:
    • consultation
  
  

• • Climate Change Commission Draft Budget Submission Guide (Done in 3 mins!)

    • 17 Mar 2021
    • Talk Wellington
    • It’s time again to speak up: tell the leaders to do right by our future – cos if we don’t, they won’t.
    • Accepted from Talk Wellington posts 6 months ago by feedreader
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    • blogs
  
  

• • Climate nerd kōrero alert!

    • 11 Mar 2021
    • Talk Wellington
    • Through the power of Zoom, we have the chance to hear Lord Deben, the UK’s big daddy of climate change response, chat with our own climate caretaker, Dr Harry Clark.
    • Accepted from Talk Wellington posts 6 months ago by feedreader
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    • blogs
  
  

• • Just what the therapist ordered: A short commute

    • 7 Mar 2021
    • Talk Wellington
    • The last 12 months have been tough.
    • Accepted from Talk Wellington posts 6 months ago by feedreader
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    • blogs
  
  

• • Climate budgets: reckons, responses and raruraru

    • 6 Feb 2021
    • Talk Wellington
    • A few pointers to find the good stuff (and cut through some screeching) on the Climate Commission’s draft budgets for reducing our greenhouse gas emissions.
    • Accepted from Talk Wellington posts 7 months ago by feedreader
    • Automatically tagged as:
    • blogs
  
  

• • Low Traffic Neighbourhoods can, and should, benefit us all

    • 27 Jan 2021
    • Talk Wellington
    • We all want good street design, and varied transport options.
    • Accepted from Talk Wellington posts 7 months ago by feedreader
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    • blogs
  
  

• • Tis the season to be readin’

    • 17 Dec 2020
    • Talk Wellington
    • Summer is coming (supposedly), but even if the weather isn’t playing ball, at least holidays are coming.
    • Accepted from Talk Wellington posts 9 months ago by feedreader
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    • blogs
  
  

• • Out with “Road Safety”, in with “Transport Health”

    • 7 Dec 2020
    • Talk Wellington
    • The reported road toll is only the tip of the iceberg.
    • Accepted from Talk Wellington posts 9 months ago by feedreader
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    • blogs
  
  

• • Wellington: “Progress is hard!” Other cities: “Hold my beer”

    • 1 Dec 2020
    • Talk Wellington
    • As Wellington twitches with frustration about the future of its transport, other cities are rolling their sleeves up, leaning into the challenges and making stunning progress.
    • Accepted from Talk Wellington posts 9 months ago by feedreader
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    • blogs
  
  

• • Fresh thinking on filling the affordable housing gap

    • 29 Nov 2020
    • Talk Wellington
    • Although Aotearoa has a dire lack of state housing, there is also a growing hole in the middle too.
    • Accepted from Talk Wellington posts 9 months ago by feedreader
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    • blogs
  
  

• • Stebbings Valley 2.Oh-no

    • 23 Nov 2020
    • Talk Wellington
    • WCC has returned after a 2 year hiatus to give us version 2.
    • Accepted from Talk Wellington posts 9 months ago by feedreader
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    • blogs
  
  

• • Resource Management reform: the RMA’s daddy says…

    • 14 Oct 2020
    • Talk Wellington
    • Our resource management system needs a real shake-up and sort-out – it’s something all the political parties and all the experts agree on.
    • Accepted from Talk Wellington posts 11 months ago by feedreader
    • Automatically tagged as:
    • blogs