New lynn – Auckland IMM case study. Low-density urban morphology and energy performance optimisation; A new pilot project in Auckland using Integrated Modification Methodology (IMM)

Integrated Modification Methodology (IMM) has already been applied in established metropolitan contexts, such as Porto Maravilha in Rio de Janeiro, the neighbourhood of Shahrak-e Golestan in Tehran, and Block 39 in New Belgrade, with good outcomes.1 When Professor Dushko Bogunovich from New Zealand’s Unitec Institute of Technology came up with the idea of a comparative analysis of two sprawling metropolitan contexts – Auckland and Milan – we decided to apply IMM to a sample of Auckland’s low-density suburbia. Cultural and physical geography specificities of Milan and Auckland aside, these two urban contexts have sufficient similarities to make the outcomes of a comparative analysis relevant in the raging global debate on how to address the issue of urban sprawl. Both Auckland and Milan are car dominated cities. They consist of a central city surrounded by poorly connected suburbs, indicating unsustainable levels of consumption, excessive waste generation and heavy dependence on private transport and other types of infrastructure. Both cities struggle to address the issue of urban sprawl actually much larger than the official metropolitan territory: most of the northern North Island in New Zealand in the case of Auckland, and almost the entire sub-region of western Lombardy in the case of Milan. While we believe it is not too late to address the issue of urban sprawl – this remains an imperative – we also acknowledge that the strategies of Milan and Auckland will have to differ (Bogunovich, 2015). Divergent approaches were intrinsic to this research workshop, and we welcome them. It is our hope that the different angles on the two cities offered here will enable us to formulate more generic, theoretical propositions. These should be relevant beyond the specific circumstances of Milan and Auckland, and hopefully be significant globally.