PORTFOLIO
LILLIAN ELLIOTT
URBAN ECOLOGY
URBAN PLANNING
3rd Year Architecture Project, Unitec
This report project endeavores to deepen the comprehension of urban ecology and analyse a community within Auckland. Ultimately this project creates a proposal for a more well-rounded urban planning scheme for this community with consideration to sustainability and our urban ecologies.
Throughout this report, I underwent an analysis of Penrose catchment urban ecologies concerning Auckland; furthermore the interrelationships between the catchment and its surroundings. Intertwined with the chosen risk of sea level rise affect in affiliation to Manukau harbour and how this impacts Penrose, this analysis draws on various case studies of cities, Auckland council information and future plans along with a range of resources to ultimately pin point faults that have the potential to be revitilised or revisited. The aim of this report was to evaluate Penrose in its current state and introduce new methods of thinking to revise and reinvigorate the catchment and its surrounding; to better assist how this urban ecology and its interrelationships can respond to the risk of sea level rise.
Throughout this report, duration was an integral element that helped to fully address fragile elements within this urban space. As the issues we face within urban systems and urban planning are durable and relentless, man-made objects will always have a time limit. This report proposal leads toward the importance of ‘Mutualism for design’ (Orr, 2012), solutions that can evolve, adapt and work with the issues that we face, to create an urban ecology of sorts in order to involve and integrate the ‘issue’ or the ‘problem’. The ministry for the Environment recommends flexible adaption plans heading into the next century, rather than relying on a single sea-level rise value scenario, as with the impact of climate change, there are a wide range of possible futures for urban vulnerabilities.
This report addresses ways in which we can start to work with nature to benefit the urban ecology of Penrose, Onehunga, and Manukau Harbor along with the importance of considering adaption that isnt directly involved in the problematic area but are linked to the problematic area. This in turn creates beneficial changes to surrounding areas through the adjacency effect.
PEOPLE & LAND USE
ENERGY
WATER
Auckland Analysis
(Mapping images shown on the right)
Mapping on the right depicts categories i chose to analyse Auckland. When inquiring into the catchment of Penrose, I have specifically mapped aspects of people and nature, furthermore analysing the dependencies between these two elements over time. Penrose encompasses many uncertainties between nature and people elements, as it is located on the coast/estuary with a high level of industrial land use, and is threatened by sea level rise. I adopt Forman’s thought process of the invisible and visible to analyse Penrose through this lens, and how it is interconnected to other aspects of Auckland and potentially New Zealand. This will ensure, all elements are considered whether they are visible or invisible, furthermore how these visibles impact the invisibles or visa versa.
One of the mapping methods i have undertaken to depict my findings is informed by Formans ‘patches and corridors’ (shown as the coloured path like mosaics). Forman discusses how patterns emerge in an urban space when viewed from a large spatial scale. These patterns distinguish densities across the urban and almost always create a mosaic comprised of distinct boundaries and objects (Forman, 2014). The boundaries and objects are largely produced by human activity because we simplify, linearize and geometricise, and in the process, we reduce variability and adaptability in an attempt to gain control (Forman, 2014).
SEA & COASTAL
Penrose/Onehunga Proposal
As apart of the case study ‘Oyster-Tecture’ by Kate Orr ‘mutualism by design’ was a term frequently used as a foundation tool that highlights the binary between a sustainable future and habitats that foster global biodiversity. Specifically, mutualism by design describes the relationship or interrelationships between two species where both benefit from the association. This concept is integral to co-existing in space, and encourages the system of using the other species strengths or weaknesses to the advantage of one another; ultimately cohabiting and thriving.
‘Multualism by Design’ is utlitsied in this proposal by incorporating a series of Oyster reefs in the open waters of Manukau Harbour to create a design where both humans and animals/biodiversity can benefit from the association. This reef not only touches on the short term effects of breaking storm wave surges due to the risk of sea level rise and oysters acting as a natual filter for the harbour water; this proposal also considers the long term economic effects. In due course, Manukau Harbour can again become a community hub, a spot for fishing and catching shellfish safely in clean water, where people could use the water recreationally without the risk of swimming in contaminated waters. Currently, there are only half a dozen large oyster ventures in New Zealand, and in 1988, half were harvested and exported bringing in a revenue of $4.6 million. However the interest in shellfish is renewing over the country, the government predicts that the country has the potential to earn $250 million from aquaculture in the coming years, and this proposal could tap into that economy.
In the meantime, while the waters regenerate and the oysters and reefs grow; in the preliminary stages of the harbour being filtered, Manukau harbour could become somewhat of a tourist destination. The harbour could bring in visitors on a guide to learn about the history and uses of the harbour, along with the causes of pollution and how the cultivation of these oyster reefs will assist with water cleanliness, climate change, and sea level rise along with the community, culture and the economy.
To connect this series of considered interventions, it is crucial to consider the effect on the community within Penrose and Onehunga. Having a sense of community and culture unites an area and is essentially the foundation of an urban ecology. This series of interventions will most likely bring awareness to the importance of Manukau Harbor along with the importance of its Maori spiritual and physical well-being.
This proposal also draws a direct link to the previous uses of Manukau Harbour, specifically a seafood source and significant fishing location. Creating this link encourages community involvement to rehabilitate the harbor back to somewhat of its original state with the integration of ‘mutualism by design’.
This proposal seeks to envision the interface between water and land with the consideration of sea-level rise in mind to incorporate the community with the journey. This is considered by creating interventions in locations that will be beneficial to the community in terms of recreation and having the possibility of being able to swim and fish.
Not only does this proposal consider how to integrate the community now but it also considered the necessity of integrating the community in the future by locating where the council plans to invest. By planning a proposal that takes into consideration the next 100 years with the effects of climate change, specifically sea-level rise, concerning community development and engagement to culture; the urban vulnerabilities that once had the potential to threaten the coastline of Penrose and Onehunga have now been considered and turned into an opportunity to regenerate and involve the community.
Urban Ecology Report in Full
