Sustainable Development and Urban Issues

Sustainable development is one of the key philosophical underpinnings of the Local Government Act 2002 (LGA 2002).  The LGA 2002 requires councils in New Zealand to take a sustainable development approach.  To do this, local authorities must take a long term view and take into account all four dimensions of well-being - social, environmental, economic and cultural and the reasonably foreseeable needs of future generations.

 

The LGA 2002 promotes engagement with local communities and responsiveness to their wishes through community outcomes processes and the long-term council community plan (LTCCP).

 

Community outcomes describe what New Zealanders think is important for their local community, now and in the future.  Throughout New Zealand, communities have identified their current community outcomes through processes led by their local authority. Community outcomes statements create a picture of what local communities want for their future social, economic, environmental and cultural well-being.  There will be similarities between what communities have identified as their community outcomes and the domain topics of the measuring sustainable development project. 

 

Local authorities also have the responsibility for monitoring the community's progress towards community outcomes. This must be reported back to the community, at least every three years.  The intent behind community outcomes reporting is to depict any process made towards meeting the community outcomes.  This is about depicting any progress made towards achieving sustainable development at the local level, and compliments the reporting on progress towards sustainable development at the national level.  Effective coordination, collaboration and partnership between Local and Central Government is therefore of vital importance.

 

Local Government New Zealand  are involved in the number of projects or policy development processes that relate to the concept of sustainable development.  Some of the more recent projects are:

 

  • Building Sustainable Urban Communities - a discussion document exploring place-based approaches to sustainable urban development in New Zealand
  • Ministry for the Environment work on urban design
  • Department of Building and Housing - Buildings and Construction Sector Urban Intensification Taskforce
  • Department of Building and Housing - Housing Supply and Urban Development Steering Group
  • Statistics New Zealand - Measuring Sustainable Development in New Zealand project

 

Resources: