Conference 2003
Greening the City:
Bringing Biodiversity Back
into the Urban Environment
Abstract:
Mainstreaming
Low Impact Urban Design and Development (LIUDD): a Platform for
Urban Biodiversity
Charles Eason (Landcare Research, Auckland),
Jenny Dixon and Marjorie van Roon
(Department of Planning, University of Auckland)
Conventional development
practices have led to increasing pressure on ecological systems
in and around rapidly growing urban areas. For example, stormwater
runoff from proliferating impervious surfaces results in increased
levels of pollutants in urban waterways, damaging ecosystems and
biodiversity in receiving waters such as urban streams, estuaries
and harbours. Low Impact Urban Design and Development (LIUDD) aims
to mitigate these impacts by identifying sensitive areas to allow
optimum land use and utilising natural systems to control pollution.
Some local authorities
in New Zealand have recognized the opportunities for environmental
protection and infrastructural cost-savings by producing a variety
of low-impact strategies and guidelines. Nevertheless, major constraints
remain, arising from consumer and practitioner behaviour, deficient
pricing of resources such as water, conflicts between stakeholder
groups, and variable quality of planning instruments. Significant
work is required to overcome obstacles and achieve the broad-scale
uptake of LIUDD that is necessary to make significant improvements
in environmental quality.
We report here on findings
from a literature review on low impact urban design and development
(LIUDD) and preliminary results from working with key stakeholder
groups: consumers, community, developers and regional and city councils.
We conclude that, in order to create a platform for urban biodiversity,
a four-pronged strategy is needed, addressing technical, economic
and regulatory issues as well as getting buy-in from major stakeholder
groups.
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