Improving public life in Wellington — LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTURE AOTEAROA

By Den Aitken

Wellington City Council, long time advocates for public life, have recently released the 2021 Public Space Public Life Survey (PSPL) of Wellington’s city centre.

Commissioned by Let’s Get Wellington Moving (LGWM) ahead of a multi-decade programme to transform the city, the PSPL report is driven by quantitative data that captures the movements, activities and experience of people as they go about their everyday city centre lives - the streets they walk or cycle, the parks and plazas they spend time, and the obstacles they may face along the way.

Weekdays and weekends the waterfront has the most actively and diversely used public spaces. The public spaces in the rest of the city are primarily used for movement. Source: **2021-Wellington-Gehl-Public-Space-Public-Life-Study-Report**

The primary purpose of the report is to help inform the LGWM programme of work, and the changes that will result from this programme, and to establish a new baseline by which these future public realm investments can be measured.

The report also provides an opportunity to look at the changes that have occurred since the first PSPL report was commissioned (way back in 2004), such as the introduction of new 30km/h speed limits, parking removal, or initiatives to improve public transport.

Wellington enjoys a very walkable central city and high pedestrian numbers compared to other New Zealand cities. Source: **2021-Wellington-Gehl-Public-Space-Public-Life-Study-Report**

Likewise, the report also identifies areas where change is still needed, such as additional residential development or greater accessibility between the city centre and the waterfront.

The Gehl team, responsible for production of the report, are globally recognised as thought leaders in people-focused urban design. Since the 1960’s, when Jan Gehl established the PSPL methodology, the Gehl team have worked with cities worldwide, helping city leaders and designers reimagine their city centres as places where people - their movements, activities and experiences - take priority.

Kaara Wight and myself, both representing Urban Good (formerly AitkenTaylor), along with 70+ volunteer surveyors, managed things on terra firma, mapping pedestrian and cycle movements, activities, age and gender studies, walkability, built form, and a range of other urban quality assessments to help generate an accurate representation of everyday city centre life.

Wellington central lacks greening and could benefit with better connections to waterfront. Source: **2021-Wellington-Gehl-Public-Space-Public-Life-Study-Report**

In gathering this data, an evidential picture can be painted that reflects the who, how, where, what and when, of public life. Who are the users out and about moving through the city, and who is missing? How are they moving about? Are they pushing prams, or carrying children? Do they have mobility constraints? Where are these users moving to and from? where do they choose to spend time? and where do they steer clear of? What is their experience of the city, and does this experience change over time?

Once we equip ourselves with this information, opportunities to raise urban quality become magnified, design decisions better informed, and public realm investment becomes both meaningful and measurable.

Weekends and weekdays have almost the same number of staying activities. However, the pattern of usage changes. During weekends people recreate at the waterfront, whereas on weekdays most activities are related to commuting and lunch breaks at, or close to, the Golden Mile. Source: **2021-Wellington-Gehl-Public-Space-Public-Life-Study-Report**

So, with more than 280 volunteer hours’ worth of data, what picture did this survey paint of Wellington? Too many car parks, not enough footpaths? Great walking routes, not enough parking? Well, as anyone who has spent time in our Capital will attest, the city centre is vibrant, diverse and active, with a natural green and blue environment that can’t be beat (on a good day). But, like all urban centres, there is still room to make Wellington an even better place for people. You can find out how, here.