Urban Green Villages: Re-imagining Communities in High-Density Areas

Auckland is in the midst of a metamorphosis. The city is standing on the same precipice as many other cities around the world, needing to consider the balance of social, economic and environmental welfare, alongside a growing population set to reach 2.4 million by 2050.

Fundamentally, the way we shape our cities is the kind of humanity we bring to bear. The goal of the thesis is to propose and experiment a model for a holistic community intended to bring back personal autonomy, diversity, flexibility and neighbourhood life to Auckland’s city centre.

Questioning the current status-quo of high-density living, the future state of Auckland and these fundamental inquires will be explored in the City Works Depot harvest and redesign.

The quality of the built environment is essential to any developing city as it directly corresponds to quality of life. This thesis is a vision of a community-focused, village inspired, nature-led residential development that encourages social interactions amongst inhabitants, designs parameters to reconnect society to natural processing as well as a structure that envisages evolutionary growth. 

This thesis aims to combine the freedom of suburban architecture and the social coherence of village life with the density of the city.¹ The main instrument of this exploration is the expansion of horticultural interventions into the urban environment to envisage the fusion of architecture and nature into an amalgamated typology while reflecting on an exploration of a greater co-existence in society.