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LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTURE AOTEAROA
Stephen Brown is a practising landscape architect, whose career
stretches from Kent in the UK – working on the Channel Tunnel
project – to assisting Auckland Council with the Unitary Plan
Process. His face has become altogether too familiar in the
planning arena and Environment Court.
1. What is rural character? Are there a series of defining attributes that are universal, and if so, what are
they, or is rural character entirely context specific?
Rural character is a perceptual construct: it relates
to the perception and appreciation of the values found
in rural localities.
Judgements about rural character are influenced
by the expressiveness, legibility, aesthetic values, and
the residual naturalness of individual landscapes, but
unlike many ONLs, have meaning and value despite
the presence or dominance of rural production within
them.
2. A degree of dynamism is implicit in rural character associated with productive rural landscapes as
highlighted in Raewyn Peart’s “Landscape Planning
Guide for Peri-Urban and Rural Areas” publication.
Given the changing nature of rural character
associated with productive rural landscapes, do you
think that Outstanding Natural Landscapes (ONLs)
can include elements of productive rural character
and if so, to what extent. Can an entirely productive
rural landscape be outstanding and if so how do you
retain its quality in the face of rural dynamism?
The concept of ‘sufficient naturalness’ has emerged
over recent years, and was explored at some length
in the Escarpment Mine and Rosehip Orchard cases/
decisions. A landscape does not have to be pristine to
qualify as an ONL, or even close to it, but should retain sufficient natural elements, patterns and features,
that they help to structure and mould the landscape:
they are authentic components of it that remain
fundamental to its character and value eg. a rugged,
escarpment-lined coastline, even where parts of it
are backed by open pasture, or an area notable for
its stands of native forest – perhaps kauri or mature
totara – even where pasture threads between some of
those stands.
In some instances, the very articulation of key features, like the stands of bush just mentioned, can be
augmented by such interaction and engagement,
enhancing, rather than diminishing, the expressiveness, memorability and other attributes of an ONL.
3. Why have so few territorial authorities not identified section 7(c) Resource Management Act amenity landscapes, only capturing our highly attractive
rural landscapes in ONLs? Do you think this is a
shortcoming and what are the alternatives for protecting, enhancing and sustainably managing these
landscapes as they change over time so that they
can become healthy and resilient?
There are multiple reasons for this resistance:
Councils are by nature conservative and they represent a political body politic that is has a vested interest in maintaining the status quo.
Thus, methods used in the past are known and
provide comfort, whereas change can be viewed as
threatening. Rural councils are dominated by farming
interests and small business people who have little
desire to ’rock the boat’, let alone encroach further on
private property interests or promote ‘environmentalism’ in a country that is still shackled by its pioneering
past and an incipient anti-environmentalism.
I also think that there is a certain complacency
about New Zealand: ‘it’s the best place in the world to
live’ – a refrain also common amid the likes of rural
North America and the heartland of other western
countries.
It’s also very difficult for many rural planners and
councillors – even with the best will in the world –
to know how to manage Amenity Landscapes. They
are often quite subtly differentiated from ordinary,
run-of-the-mill rural landscapes, to the point where
individual landscape architects can actually interpret
and map Amenity Landscapes quite differently (hard
to believe, but true); and they don’t have the same
statutory ‘weight’ as ONLs or other Section 6 matters.
As a result, it can be very difficult to differentiate the
provisions addressing ‘run-of the-mill’ rural landscapes from those focused on Amenity Landscapes
– via the Activity Status and other Rules applicable to