Urban Planning & Geography

Whāinga ako: Lesson Goals

To understand how urban planning and green infrastructure impact society

Have you ever thought about how a city is laid out and what impact it can have on people?

You may be surprised to learn that even small things like planning green spaces into a city has a huge impact on people.

Example: Trees 

Trees do more than just look good. Canopies create lower temperatures, higher value properties, less flood risk, less pollution (therefore asthma rates are lower). There are also other health benefits like better mental health and less diabetes in regions with more trees. 

Impact in the USA

In Chicago, Black, Asian and Latino settlements have less green spaces. These areas are hit by a lot of heat and generally get hotter than those areas with more green spaces. When a flash flood hits, (these are increasing due to global warming), these areas get more surface flooding as there are no plants to soak up floodwater.

In white settlements there are a lot more trees and so they do not have such extreme issues, even though they are in the same city! 

In Christchurch

Public spaces are crucial in Christchurch for Ngāi Tahu to connect with their cultural heritage, their ancestors and traditional practices like gathering kai. This adds to their sense of identity in the city. Green spaces also help sustain the environment by protecting native species and biodiversity. This is something the city council now takes into consideration when planning areas of development. However this wasn't always the case! We have to acknowledge that settlers coming to Aotearoa created cities to fit their own physical and cultural needs and did not consider the needs of tangata whenua or the land itself. An example of this is early settlers impact on natural waterways; Kitchen waste and chamber pots were emptied into channels running along the sides of the streets, and manure from the animals that provided the transport in the city just washed straight into the Avon and other waterways. It quickly became a very polluted area affecting kai gathered from the water and the health of people living in the region. Better planning could have avoided this.

Christchurch was planned with rich influence from European countries. This is why we have a beautiful (although broken) cathedral and other old stone buildings like the museum. And we're fortunate to be called the "Garden City" because we have lots of parks and green areas. A study in 2009* found that these parks are pretty evenly distributed around the city, with most people living close to one (within 400 meters). But there's a catch – parks in less wealthy neighbourhoods might not be as well cared for compared to parks in wealthier areas.

Questions:

1. Do you think it's possible to balance the cultural needs of different communities when planning and developing a city? 

2. How?

3. How might involving local communities in the planning process contribute to a more inclusive and effective design of green spaces?

4. How does the difference in care for parks between wealthier and less wealthy neighbourhoods impact social equity?

5. Why is it important for modern city planners to consider cultural heritage in their designs?

6. Why is city planning important in creating resilient urban environments when we face climate change?

Note for teachers: You may want to split these questions up amongst groups to share the load depending on the class. Share and discuss answers.

Urban planning task. Groups will create a map with plan of a city on it using provided cutouts. They need to take into consideration what the city needs. The teacher will judge the best city for a reward!