retrofit the social and utilities facilities anddensify and partly repopulate in order
to justify the investment called for. In all of this it is important to remember that
the advent of an increased density demands a proportionally increased input of
utility restructuring, public transport provisioning, and landscaping.
Urban density increase strategy, broadly contemplated, inclines toward urban sus-
tainability, viewed from both a within-city and from a wider regional perspective.
Urban ecosystems are, and ever will be, unbalanced in that they ‘consume’ inputs
of raw energy, materials and food, and ‘produce’ waste gases, putrescent liquids,
and generally useless solid garbage. Sustainability is a conservation withdevel-
opment ideal to be maximized, even though it may never be fully attained. The
neighbourhood retrofit and consolidation process reviewed in this passage con-
tributes additionally to revitalization through the pursuit of community sociabil-
ity, amenity enhancement and compatible work-at-home arrangements.
Shopping as a leisure activity
Two countervailing forces, the protectionist urge to ‘save’ traditional central
business districts and the profiteering urge to ‘capture’ middle- and lower-income
consumers, are at work in the cities and larger towns of Australasia and North
America. The United States and Canada have reinvigorated many small-city
centres along the lines described evocatively by Franaviglia in Main Street
Revisited(1996) and Suzanne Dane in Mainstreet Success Stories(1997). The main
shopping opportunity for cities and large towns lies with ‘big box’ strips and
within ‘large shed’ malls, usually at cheap and accessible locations in the suburbs
Urban Growth Management 251Figure 5.11 Creating an open space oasis
A conjectural depiction based on a starter effort by the Addigton Bush Society in Christchurch.
Two houses removed. Four new houses inserted. Large, secure private open space created.