The Framework for Housing Quality
The Covid-19 lockdown showed us all how important housing quality is. Some homes were uncomfortable or got cold. Some homes were fine physically, but not well suited for how they were used over lockdown. For me – a numbers-focused economist type guy – it’s a crucial reminder that it’s not just about the quantity of our housing and whether we’re building enough.…
45 Comments Housing after the Lockdown
I had grand plans at the start of 2020. I was excited to be back on Greater Auckland and writing seriously about housing.
And then a Covid-shaped curveball came along, and didn’t seem to leave space for much else. I’m not sure how you all spent your lockdown (Interesting stories?…
The Human Right to Housing
All New Zealanders have the human right to adequate housing. It might be “the best kept secret” in the country, but this right has been endorsed by our governments for 70 years, and it’s one of the key pillars for Greater Auckland’s “20/20 Vision on Housing” series.…
Flashback Saturday: Stu Donovan on housing
Every weekend we dig into the archives. This ‘Flashback Saturday’ is a bit different from our usual, and as part of our “20/20 Vision on Housing” programme we’re doing a retrospective on ex-blogger Stu Donovan’s housing posts.
Stu is an economist and engineer, now living overseas.…
20/20 Vision on Housing
Over the years, Greater Auckland has become well-known for its work on transport. We’ve also published some fantastic articles on housing, but these have tended to be one-offs; we haven’t had a clear editorial direction on housing.*
In transport, we carved out a unique position saying constructive, evidence-based things that others in New Zealand weren’t saying, based on international best practise.…
Flashback Saturday – Farnham Street residents looking at each other down the barrel of a gun
Every weekend we dig into the archives. This post by John was originally published in September 2016, which isn’t really that long ago in the scheme of things, compared, say, to the length of the career of John Farnham (caution: this post contains multiple references to John Farnham). …
City centre employment keeps growing
Hottish off the press: there are now more than 120,000 people working in Auckland’s city centre,* making it the biggest hub for employment in New Zealand. Almost 3,000 jobs were added in the last year.
That’s based on a fairly typical definition of the city centre, stretching from Wynyard Quarter to the eastern end of the ports, and inside the motorway noose (plus the western end of K Road).…
Flashback Saturday: Why I love intensification in my neighbourhood
Every weekend we dig into the archives. This post was first published in May 2013 as one of John Polkinghorne’s first guest posts. Six years on, John has never quite gotten used to referring to myself in the third person. He’s still living in Auckland’s city centre, albeit with a much worse commute – it’s gone from a 10 minute walk to 15 – now has an actual baby rather than hypothetical kids, and a much larger apartment.…
Wind, Water, Heart!
Some news recently bought a smile to my dial. Mercury Energy has pushed the “go” button on a major new wind farm near Palmerston North; work begins in August and the farm will start operating from late 2020.
Mercury has committed to the construction of the first 33 of 60 consented wind turbines at Turitea near Palmerston North, representing a key milestone in New Zealand’s renewable energy development.…
Getting more diverse views on housing
Transportblog became Greater Auckland to reflect our wider focus on urban issues – transport and housing being the biggies. But we’ve written less on housing this year, and I wanted to ask you our readers: what are we missing? I mainly write about housing, but I’m not writing as often as I used to, and I’m just one person with one viewpoint.…
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