Client: Auckland Council
Services: Landscape + Urban Design
Date: 2021-ongoing
Research into the current issues in Aotea Square, creation of vision and recommendations to ensure the urban space is a biodiverse, resilient and healthy space at the heart of the Tāmaki Makaurau - a place to connect with people and nature, rest, play and enjoy.
The Urbanist was engaged by Auckland Council to collaborate with experts to investigate the decline of multiple tōtara in Aotea Square, Auckland Central. Following this The Urbanist, alongside community consultation, created an enhanced landscape design for the redevelopment of the square, utilising the existing living roof built form.
Enhanced biodiversity was one of the key community aspirations for the square. The Urbanist’s enhanced design aims to create a biodiverse, healthy, resilient, and visually interesting and appealing space in the heart of Tāmaki Makaurau. Aotea Square will be known as a place to connect with people and nature, to rest, play and enjoy. The health of the trees will be better supported by companion planting and increased soil volumes, resulting in a space designed for nature and people.
“The Urbanist has created an exciting, biodiverse, beautiful design for Aotea Square that has encapsulated what urban space can be for communities – resilient, healthy, connected, and diverse.”
David Stejskal, Regional Arborists and Ecological Manager, Community Facilities, Auckland Council, December 2022.
