From Urban Sprawl to Compact City

Future urban growth strategies at the regional district and community levels represent a decisive break from traditional predict and provide patterns of development. Plans for Auckland's urban future follow a theoretical debate over the virtues of urban sprawl and compact city types of development which has dominated urban planning literature over the past 15 years as overall Auckland's strategies look to move away from sprawl as the basis for urban growth and focus more on intensification. However as is outlined in the literature there are many critiques of the compact city thesis and those critiques can be readily applied to Auckland especially with regards to feasibility and acceptability problems that have already plagued the implementation of intensification as higher-density urban living contradicts with what most New Zealanders perceive to be an ideal lifestyle.