- Nearly all our Tier 1 and 2 urban areas have this year adopted new strategies for how and where – and with underpinning key infrastructure – to grow over the next 30 years
- For some urban areas successful urban growth will require substantial investment in network and social infrastructure and services, whereas for other areas such marginal costs of growth will likely be much lower
- In this session we will explore what we know about such cost differences between and within urban areas, and how this can inform land development planning and related cost recovery options
- We will in particular reflect on how to apply one of the core principles of the Government’s Going for Housing Growth policy programmes, namely that ‘growth should fund growth.’
Ernst Zollner
Ernst Zollner (pictured centre) is an urban economist and planner who has pondered the vexed issue of successful urban growth management over the last 30 years in an embarrassingly large number of roles across three consultancies, a local authority (Wellington City), two Crown Entities (NZTA Waka Kotahi and Kāinga Ora), three Ministries (MBIE, HUD and MfE), an industry lobby group (Local Government NZ) and even a university (Auckland). Ernst is currently the Director Strategic Urban Partnerships at Kāinga Ora and through this role is an enthusiastic member of the respective steering groups of NZ’s six Urban Growth Partnerships. These six Partnership areas (all our Tier 1 urban areas plus Queenstown) accounted for 75% of NZ’s population growth between 2018-23, so success in urban growth management and land development really matters!
Image credit CATRIN OWEN / STUFF