BP Oil Crisis

The oil spill that occured a month ago continues today. It has had plenty of environmental effects. The oil in the water decreases the oxygen level in the water and kills the species present in the sea. The oil spill hasn't been stopped because they cannot get to the cause and also they need permission to stop it from the CEO of BP etc. This issue continues today because there are too many people involoved. What they should do is just the oil switch off which will stop anymore oil coming out until they fix the problem.
Below is a link to the latest news about this issue.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/jun/02/oil-spill-bp-gulf-of-mexico

New Zealand Theme Park Planned for China

A New Zealand theme park is planned for China and is expected to be completed at the end of this year. A group of Chinese developers are in the country to discuss their idea. They are working with the Awataha community whom are doing the traditional carvings for them. This has generated employment for the community as their is a lot of work that needs to be done. Carvings that take a few years to do are being completed and shipped over in a few months, therefore 100+ jobs have been created.
The park is called "The New Zealand Gardens" that is set on a 25km square site. It has rock climbing, a gondala and luge which is similar to the one in Rotorua. Visitors will experience New Zealands agriculture with a vineyard, a kiwifruit orchard, dairy farm and a golf course with accomodation.
Eric Korewha a master carver from Awataha says "Its a great opportunity for the rest of the world to know about our culture".

I found this news interesting because it is something different. People around the world get to experience our culture without having to fly all the way to New Zealand. The one thing that makes me wonder is will this encourage or discourage people from coming to New Zealand because if people experience it in China why would they want to fly all the way here. However, we shall find out when the park opens later this year. I think its a great project as long as our tourist numbers do not drop.

Project Twin Streams

Project Twin Steams is a project that is being done by Waitakere City which is located in West Auckland. The purpose of the project is to restore 56km of the stream by revegetating, cleaning it up and looking after it as it has been deteriating over the last few years.The project started in 2003 and it is a continous project. Waitakere City Council is closely working with the communities that surround the streams by educating them and getting them involved in things like planting days. Students from the West Auckland schools are also getting involved and many geography teachers are using it as a project base so students can learn about the importance of streams and how they play an important role in our environment.
Below is a link to the Project Twin Stream website where all the information is easily layed out.

http://www.waitakere.govt.nz/abtcit/ne/twinstreams.asp#whatis

Waterview Project Bridges Studies

This article from the New Zealand Herald I found interesting as it is concerned with the new waterview project which they are building a new motorway. It is concerned with whether they should build a cycle/walkway for cyclists and pedestrians.
Follow the link below to find out a bit more information about the projetct.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/news/print.cfm?objectid=10645442

Chelsea Sugar Refinary and The District Plan

Above is a zone map of the Chelsea area which is in the pink area. This assignment we did in year two of our degree and the purpose of it was to create a new district plan for the area for alternative land use if the factory operation was to close down.

The Chelsea site has significant local and regional value because it is located on the Waitamata Harbour and also because it has a lot of heritage and environmental value that needs to be protected.

How we approached this assignment is the land around the Waitamata Harbour has a lot of value because it has very good views and because it is close to the Central Business District. Therefore, what we proposed is to have a mixed use residential and light commercial area within the site. This would allow for an area to hold a fair amount of population since the population projection for Auckland by the year 2050 is 2million (but it could be more) and also it would allow for ferry use because there will be a population to support it allowing the whole area of Birkenhead to use it.
Strategic planning was required and we have to keep all the heritage A buildings how they are therefore they will be used for commercial use and also the tall building would be used as a viewing tower.

This assignment i believe I learnt a lot it was not easy but writing up a district plan never is easy.

Below is a link if you would like to view the group assignment and the land use proposal for the Chelsea Site if the Chelsea Sugar Factory closes down.
Enjoy... (I hope it works)

http://docs.google.com/DocAction?action=updoc&hl=en

Freemans Bay Redevelopment Plan

During our first year of planning we were required to put together a report and make a model for a section in Freemans Bay which is located in Ponsonby Auckland. The purpose of this assignment was to increase the population that is living within the block of Freemans Bay due to population projection increase. We had to use what we learned throughout that semester about different housing typologies and and urban design principles and integrate them into the final report and model. We used a lot of Bentley's and Alexanders principles to create our final model.

The building of the model was very fun because the whole group got involved and we had to create the contours of the land by scale as well as they different typologies and down to the detail even the trees. We had to buy our material apart from the cardboard to make these models. Our report contain information about our redevelopment and why we chose to do it the way we did. Overall, I enjoyed this studio project it was the first time i actually made something like this and the end result was something we were all proud of. Below are photos of our proposal for the redevelopment.



Looking through a private street

Four story building



Birds Eye View of the redevelopment proposal

Student Loan Interest Rates are Returning for New Zealand Students?

John Key says that students need to respect the taxpayer funding. He says that the interest free scheme costs $1.5 billion per annum. Looking at this from a student point of view, i believe that National should not bring back interest to our student loans. We students already walk out with a pretty large debt when we graduate why should we get into more debt. Also what isn't fair is the fact that our most parents and lecturers did not have to pay for their tertiary education because back in those days it was free. Now that the student generation have to they want to make it harder for us it just isn't fair at all. He argues to say that we don't respect the taxpayer funding, well most of the students have jobs therefore we are taxpayers too. We understand and know that there are people out there that have hard jobs but that is why we are educating ourselves so we have brighter futures. I have nothing against the people that are working hard and only getting paid the minimum wage (maybe National should do something about the minimum wage instead) but i do not believe that there should be interest put back into our loans.

This is a very side topic to planning but it still effects us students because we are the future planners and it will effect us. I just thought I would make a post about it because it is important.