Testing and Refining a Policy and Methods Framework for Water Sensitive Urban Design

The New Zealand (NZ) Low Impact Urban Design and Development (LIUDD) research programme is investigating the uptake of ‘low impact’ practices through the provision of policies, practices, tools and guidelines for implementation of developments. The multiinstitutional and multi-disciplinary programme, funded for 2003-09, brings together councils, developers, community groups and researchers to collaborate on greenfield and brownfield projects at nested spatial scales including buildings, sites, neighbourhoods and catchments. The LIUDD approach evolved from origins in Low Impact Development (LID), an alternative approach to stormwater management in North America, and Water Sensitive Urban Design (WSUD) in Australia. The programme aims to avoid a wide range of adverse effects that result from conventional urban development and redevelopment. It aims to protect aquatic and terrestrial ecological integrity (van Roon and Knight, 2004) and minimise infrastructure costs in the long term, while providing for urbanisation of varying densities. As part of the research undertaken, a set of LIUDD principles has been developed as a policy framework. Analyses have been undertaken to test the principles and methods for their robustness and appropriateness in different development contexts. The paper begins with a brief overview of the principles and an array of case study projects from NZ and Australia including examples of existing urban areas, urban regeneration, and greenfield developments of varying densities near metropolitan limits and coastal dunelands. The cases, which have been separately assessed in relation to this policy framework, are discussed under each principle in a cross-case analysis that reveals commonalities and site-specific differences. These provide feedback on the cases as well as the appropriateness and comprehensiveness of individual principles and the relevance of the framework for LIUDD and WSUD.

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