The Cloud

Positive Rant this time :)

I was reading the herald today and saw an article on the construction of 'The Cloud' on the Auckland Waterfront at Queens Wharf- I won't lie I got pretty excited.
Personally I can't wait for the rugby world cup- its going to be such an awesome time for New Zealand (and heres hoping the All Blacks!!). Its going to provide us with massive opportunities to expand and improve our city. The cloud development is only one of the developments being initiated for the world cup!!

In class today we were talking about pursuing economic development policies that result in broad benefits- so beyond what can initially be seen and looking into the future and seeing how the investment will benefit in the long run. According to the article in the herald this venue will be used for "concerts and festival events, as a 'party central' fan zone during RWC matches" (NZ Herald, 21/03/11)

For years I have been driving  along our waterfront- noting its enormous potential to be a stunning waterfront that could be a place of socialising and events but then the image of the ports and tank farms gets in the way. I can't help but think that maybe the development of the cloud is the first step to the renewal of Auckland waterfront and the beginning of a more beautiful Auckland city. Heres hoping anyway!

http://www.aucklandtrains.co.nz/2010/10/25/party-central-will-be-the-cloud/
This link shows you a heap of photos of what is currently in the site/being demolished now (its an out of date article) and what the Cloud will be like.

I am so amped about the rugby world cup and this has just got me even more excited- It is good to see the government is investing in something that will increase the aesthetics of our waterfront and continue to be utilised POST-world cup!!

A very long bus ride

Today I sat on the bus for an hour and a half to get from university in the city to home in Howick- more to the point it took half an hour just to get outside of New market!! I don't know about anyone else but I can think of a lot of things i would rather do with my time!

It is no wonder that Auckland is dominated by private transport and 5 seated cars with only 1 person in them. There is a huge lack of incentives for using public transport- if I had of driven, sure i would have had to pay for parking but I would have got home a lot quicker and saved myself a whole lot of time!

To make matters worse, the quality of the service is average to say the least. It was pouring down with rain outside and you would think being in a bus you would be safe from getting wet but apparently not. The air conditioning filters are great at letting the rain come into the bus- so not only was I wasting my time sitting on a bus for ages, I was also getting dripped on!

Auckland needs to implement a system that makes the option of public transport the more preferable and quicker option rather than continuously spending millions of dollars on a private system to simply encourage a greater use of cars!! Consider London, most people do not even own a car because of the amazing public transport system and they have zones that you have to pay to drive through. This reduces the congestion within the city whilst enabling an efficient public system that people can rely on to get them to where they need to go in a short amount of time!

I know that Auckland is on no way near the same scale as London, but I think it is the idea that counts. The government invests heavily in this system and therefore people use it.  Its an amazing example of the disorganised and organised cities in which the disorganised city relies on self-funding roads with road user charges and the organised city relies on self funding public transport that sees the user pays then leading to a much better system than the disorganised city. 

The Joys of Auckland

Although this blog is meant to be what I hate about Auckland, I must confess that deep down I actually love this city and I am fully aware of its absolute beauty (besides the tank farms and ports). Despite all the aspects of the city that I believe are a total fail, they must be doing something right for it to be New Zealand's leading city!!

To live in an area with rugged west coast surf beaches, calm northern/eastern white sand beaches, sleeping volcanoes that provide amazing views and a multitude of islands as well as being able to live in a quarter-acre section 30 minutes drive from the city centre- is to say the least.. pretty epic!

However, throughout my blog I am going to be having a rant about how things have been done badly and possible ideas for improvement to make Auckland an even better place to live- maybe then I will decide that I could live here for good rather than searching around the globe for somewhere to call home.