The November MLA workshop was a stunning success with the largest number of exams and workshop presentations so far. Students who presented their research work for examination included, Gemma Gao, who explored how urban parks can be designed to act as evacuation places in case of volcano eruption in Auckland, Xinxin Wang who explored how to preserve Auckland’s green network in the face of urban development to retain Auckland’s unique lifestyle and ensure that future growth is environmentally sustainable, Xu Gao who was interested in how to sustainably develop the coastline of the upper North Island as an urban area for the future, Rithy Heng who investigated strategies for the remediation of a brownfield site in Phnom Penh in Cambodia and Junjie Xu who was interested in how landscape ecology can assist in achieving sustainable outcomes for a brownfield development. 

The examiners included; Dr. Lee Beattie, Director of the School of Architecture and Planning, Urban planning and design programme, NICAI, University of Auckland, Bruno Marques, Director of Postgraduate Programmes, Lecturer in Landscape Architecture, Victoria University and Dennis Scott,  Director of D.J. Scott Landscape Architect and Immediate Past President of the New Zealand Institute of Landscape Architects.

 Gemma Gao and Xinxin Wang are also published their research work in a peer reviewed publication.  Xinxin Wang recently presented a paper on her research work;  “Preserving a Green Space Network for a Regional Auckland” to the International Symposium on Megaregions in China at the Faculty of Architecture, Design and Planning at the University of Sydney. Special thanks to their supervisors, Hamish Foote , Penny Cliften, Nikolay Popov, and special guest Pete Griffiths.

The rest of the students presented their research work later in the day.  Shanmugam Kangatharan is looking at how to enhance the development of the Auckland transport network through further development of water transport with Browns Bay as case study. Shasha Li (Nemo) is focusing on improving Auckland’s bicycle and pedestrian networks, through an analysis of Auckland’s urban landscape features and urban traffic network to find opportunities to better connect Auckland’s open spaces. Nemo is working with the Auckland Transport cycle team and will test the research methodology on the design of a new cycle network for East Auckalnd. Kevin Zhu is examining how we can design a GIS based tool to objectively evaluate Auckland brownfield redevelopment sites. Kevin is working closely with Daryl Lim, senior project engineer at Babbage consultants.  Quin Luo is exploring how erosion prone areas can be designed so they provide opportunities for sustainable urban development in the Auckland region, and Qian Wang is developing a children’s lead decision making process for the greening of school grounds. 

Students were ably crited by a distinguished panel that included; Amanda Yates, senior lecturer at AUT and director of AUT’s Emergent Ecologies, Bruno Marques, Director of Postgraduate Programmes and  Lecturer in Landscape Architecture at Victoria University, and Matt Riley, Senior Urban Designer at Barker and Associates.

On Friday morning Shayne Noronha presented his latest research findings on how rising tides will affect the future of New Zealand’s coastal communities. Shayne will present his research work to the citizen of Point Wells and the Whangateau harbour with Garth Falconer one of New Zealand’s leading landscape architects, Riyasp Bhandari’s research is exploring how, by using a sustainability framework, social spaces can be developed on urban waterfronts, Zara Jawadi is focusing on the development of remnant spaces in Auckland city to create a networked infrastructure to support ecosystem health, thriving social communities, and economic opportunities. Zara has been working with Jasmax on developing a literature search of contemporary public transport systems, Shoujun Chen is looking at how a model for the radical transformation of an industrial food system into a locally based, sustainable model in peri-urban areas can be developed in the Auckland region. Chen’s latest finding are to be published in a peer reviewed journal in December. Sravani Khambhampati has just joined the programme. Her research interest is in how peri urban development might become more sustainable through an engagement with local landscape conditions. Sravani is planning to test the research results on two sites, one in Auckland region, the other in Hyderabad. Komal Bhatt completed the presentations with her investigation into the ways in which a cemetery can function as a place of ‘Healing’ for the many cultural groups in Auckland. 

The participants were ably examined by a great panel, that included,  Richard Harris Principal at Jasmax, Fellow of the New Zealand Institute of Architects, board member for the Committee for Auckland, and former chairman of the Architects’ Education and Registration Board, and the Government’s Urban Task Force. Sue Evans, Senior Urban Designer at Housing New Zealand Corporation, Juan Molina, senior architect and urban designer at CPRW Fisher, and Bruno Marques Director of Postgraduate Programmes, Lecturer in Landscape Architecture, Victoria University.  

Thanks of course go to the supervisor team of; Hamish Foote , Penny Cliften, Nikolay Popov, Daniel Irving,  and special guest,  Pete Griffiths.