Crime Prevention through Environmental Design
It’s about more than just improving the look and feel. At the core of this project is what we call CPTED, Crime Prevention through Environmental Design Principals. There are some unique challenges in the area including the lack of visibility into the park past the parked cars, blind spots, narrow footpaths and lack of activation.
The new design for Dixon Street addresses these issues by creating better sightlines to and from the park, slowing the traffic, and providing more pedestrian and outdoor dining space.
Stage two: Te Aro Park
This part of the project involves permanent urban design changes to Te Aro Park and surrounds, including the removal of the toilets which happened in November 2022.
Toilet removal
Visit the Inglewood Place toilets project page for more information and project updates.
Urban design improvements
With Te Aro Park being one of the last pieces of open space within the historic Pā area, and home to Te Waimāpihi artwork which represents links to the awa of the same name and the historic use of the area by Māori, the site has high significance for Mana Whenua.
When the project was initially set up, the scope was focused on the removal of the public toilets on the park, upgrading the area around them, and improving sightlines and connectivity into the park through the transitional work on Dixon Street. The Waimāpihi artwork (the sculpture made up of the tiles, water features and grassed areas) remained out of scope.
A co-design process with mana whenua was initiated so that the new works would align with their aspirations and values for the area. Through this co-design process with mana whenua and our Māori design lead on the project – who’s role is to translate the aspirations and values into physical design – it became apparent that the scope of the project would not provide opportunity to meaningfully give effect to Mana Whenua’s aspirations. One of the key aspirations is to strengthen the connection of uri (descendants) with the whenua.
As a result, the mana whenua working group requested that we widen our scope to look at the entire Te Aro Park, including investigation of design opportunities if the Te Waimāpihi artwork were to be decommissioned and removed.
Additionally, the LGWM City Streets Programme has been brought in house and included into this project to better integrate the park with the surrounding area.
What’s next
Funding for this project (including upgrades to Te Aro Park, Dixon Street, and Inglewood Place) is being considered through the Long-Term Plan amendment process.
We held engagement workshops in October and November 2022 with children, youth, local residents and businesses to hear their aspirations for the park. We have used the information from these workshops, alongside the direction given by mana whenua, to create an integrated design solution that achieves more public space, safety and accessibility benefits to be realised.
When funding has been decided for the park, we'll seek public feedback on the concept design.
Background
This project came about through the Pōneke Promise in response to safety issues identified in the Te Aro Park – Assessing Harm report. You can find this report, and more about the initiative, on our Pōneke Promise section.
Contact us
If you have any questions, please contact:
dixontearo@wcc.govt.nz