What is urban design?
Urban design is a design discipline that seeks to create desirable places for people to live, work and play. It involves the design and placement of buildings, roads, rail, open spaces, towns and cities. It focuses on the relationship between built form, land use and open space, natural features and human activity. Good urban design creates spaces that function well, have a distinctive identity and visual appeal.
Our commitment to quality urban design
We recognise that our activities impact the living environments of New Zealanders. As a signatory to the New Zealand Urban Design Protocol, we're committed to planning for, developing and promoting quality urban design. Our challenge is to incorporate this commitment into all aspects of our business. For us this means ensuring:
- transport networks fit in sensitively with the landform and the built, natural and community environments through which they pass
- all systems of movement along and across the transport corridor are integrated into the design of projects with good connections and access to communities
- design contributes to the quality of public space and the road user experience.
Urban design and state highways
Urban design applies to all areas of the state highway network and is a multi-disciplinary approach to improve the quality of life for communities. Urban design, as it applies to state highway infrastructure in urban and rural settings, responds to the natural and built environment. It concerns the design of state highways in response to place and their contribution to the physical form, functioning and visual quality of the regions through which they pass and serve.
The May 2011 Victoria Park Tunnel project newsletter (PDF, 660KB) focuses on urban design and illustrates how we apply urban design to our state highway projects. Urban design initiatives on the project include the new public plaza to be built in front of the Rob Roy Hotel, reinstatement of Victoria Park on top of the tunnel and the Jacobs Ladder Footbridge that will reconnect land and see in St Marys Bay.
Policy, principles and frameworks
See more detailed information on the application of urban design from our:
- Urban design policy
- Urban design principles: underpass guidance notes
- Urban design principles: noise wall guidance notes
- Urban design principles: road bridge guidance notes
- Urban design principles: pedestrian bridge guidance notes
- Urban design principles: landscape design guidance notes
- Urban and Landscape Design Frameworks - Highway and Network Operations guideline
- Environmental Design Framework s- Highway and Network Operations guideline
- FAQ.
Learn how and where we expect project managers and teams to apply urban design in highway work from our Urban Design Professional Services Guide.
Find out more
Urban and Landscape Design Frameworks
The purpose of a ULDF is to illustrate guiding landscape and urban design principles for a project, together with proposed concept design responses. A ULDF sets out an overall urban design vision both for the project and its integration with wider aspirations and plans in surrounding areas including wider land use and development. In this regard, an ULDF reflects a wider strategic direction and long term urban and landscape design vision than just the immediate project. Aspects of that design vision may be delivered in the future by others or in partnership with the NZTA.
Following are a selection of ULDF's developed by the NZTA.
- Central Motorway Improvement - Urban Design Framework
- Greenlane Landscape Report (Boffa Miskell) - June 2008
- Newmarket Viaduct: Landscape and Urban Design Framework
- SH20 Manukau Harbour Crossing Urban Design Framework
- SH20 Manukau Extension Urban Design Framework
- Hobsonville Urban Design Master Plan
- Victoria Park Tunnel Urban Design Master Plan (Mar 2010)
- Tauranga Eastern Link - Urban Design Report (July 2009)
- Te Rapa Bypass Urban and Landscape Design Master Plan (2010)
- Western Ring Route Urban and Landscape Design Framework (July 2010)
- Christchurch Southern Motorway - Environmental, Urban Design and Landscape Master Plan (2010)
Urban Design Register
To assist NZTA project managers, a register of experienced consultants has been identified by the NZTA Urban Design Team. The Urban Design Register includes various specialist professionals such as urban designers, landscape architects, architects and artists. See our state highway register of urban design professionals.
If you are interested in being on the Urban Design Register please contact jacque.bell@nzta.govt.nz.
Acoustics' Website
For information, suppliers and tools on noise barrier design, refer to our acoustics website at http://acoustics.nzta.govt.nz/. The acoustics website provides a range of information and tools to help ensure that transport noise is managed in an effective and efficient manner.
Research
Environmental values of the state highway corridor: a west coast case study survey of stakeholders
Author: Jude Wilson, Simon Swaffield
This report presents the results of a field investigation into the environmental values and landscape preferences of key stakeholders in relation to the management of the roadside corridor of the State Highway system.
The research design was based on a regional case study, focused upon the West Coast of the South Island. The report presents the results of questions about preference, identity and management of the non engineering assets in the State Highway reserve, within the context of the wider landscape corridor of the highway.
Contact us for more information.
