0—Present
Papers And Publications
Common Ground Studio
This section is a repository for some of our written work that we still find useful down at the Lab.
In the course of what we do, we’re often required to write up a bit of research or a summary perhaps of what new things came out of our ‘inquiry by design’ in a project. So, small essays, sometimes papers that generalise what appeared first in Court evidence. Some project reports may also be included if we’ve used them as reference documents in more recent work. [NB project reports temporarily unavailable. Come back soon for the fix]
All material in this section is licensed under CC BY 4.0. To view a copy of this license, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This means you can:
- Share — copy and redistribute the material in any medium or format for any purpose, even commercially.
- Adapt — remix, transform, and build upon the material for any purpose, even commercially.
Attribution is a must, of course, but what we also ask as a courtesy is if you use anything to create new work or, in particular, if you extend some of the more theoretical pieces we have here, can you please send us a copy. We’re just as interested in moving things forward as, no doubt, you are. Common Ground. It’s in the name.
Documents not showing a link and individual icon are waiting on being finalised. They usually have a shorter overview page as a placeholder elsewhere on the site which will give a fair idea of what they’re about.
NB: Many of these documents are live – either summaries of ongoing research or they’re getting filled out with more detail. If you’re wanting to use any of the information in them it’s worth returning to them here to check the current version number.
Reports And Evidence
These project reports are the ‘original source’ driving more detailed inquiry into specific matters documented in the papers below.
Suburban Tissue Comparison
This is the first study from back in 2013 that quantified performance differences between different ‘types’ of residential subdivision.
Residential Lot Performance Modelling
A subdivision design might be fabulous, but how can we stop badly delivered built-form ruining everything?
Infill Housing Performance
We all thought single-lot infill subdivision was bad – now we know how bad.
Case Study: Subdivision Design, Hikurangi
It’s not often a subdivision gets to have 2 completely different designs.
Density As A Function Of Amenity
Aggregate amenity mapping as a method of calculating required-density targets.
Rear Entry & Lot Efficiency
Tissue analysis showing how using mews drives lot design quality and efficiency, putting paid to the assumption that mews design doubles up on roads and reduces development area.
An Alternative Consent Processing Pathway – WDC
When you have to break all the District Plan rules and standards to achieve a better urban design outcome, the Council need a consenting pathway that’s easier and simpler than if you didn’t.
The Well-Functioning Urban Environment
Looking under the hood of New Zealand’s first WFUE modeller. Whereto from here?
Kinky Roads and Off-set Grids
Council EES’s and guides like Austroads may help us specify a road, but they don’t show us how to design one.
Narrative Design
Narrative design as a valid method to construct organic growth patterns in small settlements.
Greenway Design
Nothing generates urban quality, functionality, and efficiency like a Greenway. Is the reason it’s never listed as an official road type because no-one knows how to design it?
Mews Entry And Subdivision Efficiency
The use of mews might make for a nice environment, but obviously they’re a lot less efficient and make a lot more road, right? Tissue analysis showing on every count how wrong that is.
Fragmentation And The NPS-HPL
It’s hard to tell if councils don’t understand, if they see doing nothing as a way of stymying development, or if they just don’t know what to do. This short paper answers at least one of these.