Rural residential subdivisions: environmentally and socially sustainable aleternatives

Abstract

The rural landscape is one of New Zealand's greatest assets, however the beauty of the countryside draws development, which in turn often destroys the natural features that attract residents in the first place. Continual expansion of rural development beyond the edges of cities and towns is not consistent with sustainable development. The consequential loss of rural land and dependence on the vehicle make rural residential inherently unsustainable. However in acknowledging that in a democratic society this will continue into the immediate future, the aim now turns to strategically managing where rural land developments occur and to promote guidelines and principles that support and achieve all other aspects of sustainable development. The aim of this research is to raise awareness of alternative designs and technologies and to establish a set of guiding design principles and process & management mechanisms for rural residential subdivisions that address fundamental environmental and social issues required for sustainable development. In the first section, this report questions the inherently environmentally and socially unsustainable methods of conventional rural residential subdivisions throughout New Zealand. It further assesses what measures need to be taken in order for environmentally and socially sustainable principles to become part of the criterion and accepted standards of mainstream rural residential subdivisions. In order to establish a set of design principles and process & management mechanisms, the second and third sections of this report analyse and assess certain urban design theories and case studies respectively. The theories covered include: New Urbanism, Smart Growth, Urban Villages and Intentional Communities which all promote particular principles that can be adopted in a rural context. The case studies are divided into primary and secondary examples. The secondary case studies - The Sea Ranch and Village Homes - are both international precedents from California, US, while the primary ones - Esk Hills and Western Hills - are both from Hawkes Bay, New Zealand. Each case study shows in a different way how and why certain approaches and principles (many of which are promoted by the urban design theories covered in the previous section) have been successful as well as highlighting helpful critiques about their more problematic aspects. The fourth section of this report draws from the content covered in the previous two sections to establish a broad set of design principles and process & management mechanisms. These principles highlight that rural residential subdivisions if approached in a principled, quality-conscious way can fulfil the demand for rural lifestyles throughout New Zealand in an environmentally and socially sustainable manner. This report concludes by acknowledging that planning for environmentally and socially responsive development of rural residential subdivisions is complex and approaches vary considerably. There is no one 'right' way of achieving it, however the principles outlined in this report suggest some elementary methods of reaching it while enhancing and protecting rural character and amenity and meeting the demand for rural lifestyle development throughout New Zealand.