IT'S LIFE JIM ....

.....BUT NOT AS WE KNOW IT.

I listened to an interesting item on National Radio this morning where a Wellington architect talked about commercial building conversions where empty office space is being transformed into apartments resulting in the reinvigoration of our inner cities. 

I had touched on this in a post back in December 2020: QUE SERA SERA

The Covid pandemic and the both coincidental and resultant movement to working from home for office and professional workers is causing a downturn in commercial property leasing and a rethink about the long-term viability of the traditional office. In New Zealand the result already has been a large shift of office workers away from the cities of Wellington and Auckland so that 'For Sale' and 'For Lease' signs are numerous in office buildings, retail sites and cafes, lunch-bars and bakeries that have been there to support office workers. In my previous post I said:

There are however, only so many cafes, restaurants, food halls and telecommunication kiosks that can be sustainable and a very big risk that existing shops and retail fronts on the best streets in Auckland, Wellington and other cities (Christchurch rebuild is looking to invite inner-city living in a much bigger way than it was pre-earthquake) will be closed and remain unused.

This could result in cities becoming boarded up, no-go zones like the worst of USA cities and International war-zones which will counteract any advantages coming from more people living in the cities (gentrification).

Already, in Wellington and Auckland downtown areas the decline in foot-traffic and robust commercial business is being replaced by criminal activity and homelessness.

In a 30 August 2021 report STUFF said about central Wellington:

A block of public toilets at the epicentre of a worsening central Wellington safety problem is set to go as the city council looks at how to take the chaos out of downtown.The issues, focused around Te Aro Park in the central city, were outlined in a report to council in September 2020. They included intimidation, violence, defecation, graffiti, harassment, physical harm, aggressive behaviour, loud music, drug dealing, and sexual violence.

Problems associated with gangs, at-risk youth, and those in emergency accommodation had worsened since, mostly around Te Aro Park and Courtenay Place, council papers say.
Wellington city councillor Tamatha Paul says the problems combined to create a sense of chaos in the city.

Paul said complex issues of gangs and an increase in emergency housing were related to the inner city problems, but were not the same.
“It all contributes to a sense of chaos in the city,” Paul said.
Wellington Area Commander Inspector Dean Silvester said the central city was a “high-risk and high-demand area” and police were deployed as needed.

Downtown Auckland is almost becoming a no-go zone with recent gang fighting, assaults and shootings.

On December 22 2021 The NZ Herald reported:

Downtown Auckland is sinking into anarchy and becoming a lot like 1980s New York City, just with fewer murders, a concerned resident has told city leaders.

"Auckland is internationally regarded as one of the safest, and most friendly big cities in the world. I think if things don't change before the borders are reopened - this is a reputation we will quickly, and irreparably lose," the resident said in an open letter to Mayor Phil Goff and Auckland Central MP Chloe Swarbrick.

The resident, who does not want to be named, said he no longer feels safe in what used to be a thriving CBD and worries about his wife who has been followed by unsavoury characters half a dozen times.

"Every day, and most nights, I hear people screaming at each other, fighting, setting off fireworks on the footpath between buildings.

"Public drunkenness, meth rages, and opioid comas are now so common that when I see someone lying motionless in the middle of the footpath - all I do is check if they're breathing before carrying on.

"I wonder how much this has to do with a five-fold increase in emergency housing here, combined with '501' deportees all being put in the CBD. Combine that with minimal police presence, little to no consequences for crime and antisocial behaviour, rising unemployment, and little to no support for mental health and substance abuse," he said.

The man asked Goff and Swarbrick what plans they had to fix any of this "before the CBD becomes universally regarded as a place to be avoided?"

OK, I'm not saying that these Wellington and Auckland problems are new or that they are a result of the pandemic but what I am saying is that a decrease on 'normal' population and activity in these areas will fuel more anti-social gathering, drug-taking and violence to the point where these areas could take on the look of the aforementioned New York of the 1970s and 1980s.

NYC late 1970s

If commercial premises  usage is going to decline then a drive to populate these with inner city dwellers needs to be seriously undertaken. A move to commercial building conversions into apartments for a wide section of the population needs to be properly thought out, planned and put into action. In the recent past inner city dwelling has been at the one end high-priced luxury pied a terre apartments for the wealthy and at the other , cheap and tiny student accommodation and 'low rent' council flats. There hasn't been a lot to cater to the middle ground.

Proper planning and construction of utilities, supports and catering has to be put in place as well like never before. Schools, playgrounds, churches, libraries, retail, services, cafes, bars and restaurants have to go hand in hand with a probable incoming population. The new cities can't be concrete jungles or to look empty and discarded after close of business. This is the scenario that currently is attracting the undesirable elements. Older European cities have long-solved this with vibrant communities thriving in inner cities.

Sure, they haven't had the 'quarter acre paradise' ideal that has been New Zealand since the second world war but .... that is rapidly becoming a memory.

We will need to listen to Spock and accept that life will be not as we know it in the future.