Here's a letter that Dr Dushko Bogunovich, Professor of Urban Design at Unitec, submitted to the New Zealand Herald on waterfront matters. They must have lost it or been in a spam jam that day. Here it is and another to Judith Tizard regarding waterfront development in Auckland. Professor Bogunovich would like to see a clean energy station on Auckland's waterfront. What a refreshing idea ....
Here's a letter that Dr Dushko Bogunovich, Professor of Urban Design at Unitec, submitted to the New Zealand Herald on waterfront matters. They must have lost it or been in a spam jam that day. Here it is and another to Judith Tizard regarding waterfront development in Auckland. Professor Bogunovich would like to see a clean energy station on Auckland's waterfront. What a refreshing idea ....
Letter to the Editor

Cr Richard Simpson's proposal for the Domain site makes a lot of sense and should be studied further. In contrast, the government's current preference for the waterfront makes little sense and is likely to add to Auckland's sad history of urban planning and design disasters. Waterfronts are for activities that have to do with fronting the water, as the word says. A stadium would not fit that definition even if it was about swimming.

The government's desire to 'showcase New Zealand' is commendable. The question is what have we got to showcase. Something that interests us, or something that interests the rest of the world?

We are at the stage of global mobilisation over the climate change threat. A clear and 'Stern' message has come that all national economies must urgently transit to some version of green capitalism. This transition largely concerns technological innovation in all areas of production and consumption, but particularly urgently in the ways we urbanise and occupy the shorelines of the world seas. We should use Auckland's waterfront to demonstrate the skill of NZ urban planners, designers and engineers in urban development that does not cost the Earth. This would be the way to showcase on our premier waterfront something that matters to the world, instead of sending the rather trivial message that over here we love sports.

Dushko Bogunovich
Associate Professor of Urban Design
Unitec, Auckland

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Dear Ms Tizard,

We met at the Digital Earth conference in Aotea Centre on Wednesday afternoon - Ann Magee introduced me and I handed you a few of my articles published in the NZ Herald.

As I said then, I hold some rather strong opinions about the future of Auckland - particularly with respect to its urban design and how issues of environmental sustainability impinge on urban design and planning - and I thought you might find some of these opinions interesting in your Minister for Auckland Issues role.

I had a powerpoint presentation at the conference that I thought I'd send you too. My presentation was about the connection between urban design, sustainability and ICT, in line with the theme of the conference. But I went further to assert that developing demonstrations of 'high-tech' environmentally responsible urban design projects is Auckland's best chance to become a 'global city' in any sense. Auckland is obviously a too small player on the international stage to compete - in conventional terms - with places like London, Tokyo and Sydney. But if Auckland has something that these cities - and even more cities like Mumbay and Shanghai! - dearly needed, then Auckland actually might get some attention. Compare this with a few other small cities which are 'global' in some special sense - e.g. Monte Carlo, or Jerusalem, because they offer something uniquely precious. That 'something' that all the cities of the world need these days is the paradigm of the 'sustainable city' - both as a body of knowledge, and a physical demonstration.

From my research and world-wide travel over more than 25 years, there is no other city over million people that has such an amazing situation in relation to the local and regional landscape, like Auckland. Therefore, our city, better than any other big city in the world, illustrates the emerging paradigm of 'landscape urbanism'. When this is further seen against the NZ 'clean-green' image, our RMA environmental legislation, and the just held DE conference, then it becomes clearer that Auckland is uniquely positioned to take global leadership in what is becoming one of the most important scientific - and business - races ever: to figure out the design model and the accompanying technologies for 'the sustainable city of tomorrow'.

I cannot think of a better project than an 'eco-tech Auckland' to fit into the Government knowledge economy and creative industries strategies. These strategies are obviously very important for the future of NZ but, with all due respect, they are rather dull. They seem to advocate conventional projects and in any case projects in which Auckland and NZ do not have a particularly strong competitive advantage when viewed in the global context. We should be investing in areas where we have an absolute comparative advantage, not where the competition will be tough. And in areas that the world actually needs, i.e. which have an ethical dimension on top of being a good business to be in (sustainability). Auckland's unique geographical and ecological setting and its pattern of urban development until today are one such absolute comparative advantage and it should be seen against - apparently - the global waking up to the fact that global climate change is well on its course and that cities hold the key to the survival of civilisation as we know it.

Anyway, I hope you enjoy the PP I presented at the conference - attached!

With best regards;
--Dushko

8/11/06