After touring Seaside, Florida, a New Zealand developer is taking inspiration back home and developing two master-planned communities with garden parks and communal areas. Plans are underway to bring New Urbanism to New Zealand.
Developer Patrick Fontein liked what he saw in Seaside. He liked it so much, he's going to build a couple in his home country of New Zealand. The New Urbanist town and other master-planned communities in the United States have given Fontein a wide array of suggestions for the two master-planned communities he is developing. Overall, his trip to Seaside left him most impressed with the "commitment to creating community."
"Hundreds of houses will be built on one site at Orewa (north of Auckland) and another at Taupo. Fontein is developing the two huge plots simultaneously in a scheme which will be one of the country's largest housing programmes."
"Before plans were completed, he hunted through the US to find the best master-planned housing estates and examine the feasibility of bringing the best aspects of those estates here."
"Of the sites he visited in Los Angeles, Florida, Colorado and Oregon, the resort community of Seaside on the Florida panhandle interested him the most."
Read the full story: Florida township inspires $500m estates
Planetizen Federal Action Tracker
A weekly monitor of how Trump’s orders and actions are impacting planners and planning in America.
California plans to bury El Niño’s downpour
If the state plays its cards right, it may be able to store a billion acre-feet of El Niño’s water in aquifers.
Desperate measures: Advocates weigh draining Lake Powell to fill Colorado River
Draining the reservoir could reduce evaporation losses by a couple hundred thousand acre-feet.
Arizona, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania hope to finally advance climate goals post-midterms
The three states have spent years under Republican or divided control.
Democrats’ victory may threaten act to expedite energy projects
Democrats may decide to vote against the Bipartisan American Affordability and Jobs Act, and negotiate a more favorable bill once the 120th Congress begins.
Voters choose public transit, approve $31 billion in funding
Approved projects include $101,000 for reduced-cost transit in a Michigan town and $14 billion for regional transit in the San Francisco Bay Area.
FREE Course: Walkable City 1: Why Walkability?
After describing his path towards focusing on walkability as the essence of good planning, Jeff Speck marches through his five principal reasons for making more walkable places.
Reinventing Malls: Planning Alchemy—Turning Gray Fields Into Gold
The course focuses on the opportunities and imperatives that shape reinvention of mall sites.
City of Rosemead
Rutgers University, Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy
One Hundred Miles
University of Michigan School for Environment and Sustainability (SEAS)
Hunter College, City University of New York (CUNY)
The Architects Foundation
City of Cambridge
Montrose County
The Pocatello Development Authority