Abstract:
Post war consumerism has left cities of the twenty-first century laden with the built residue of industrial systems. Societies that developed systems geared for production and efficiency throughout the previous century, are now faced with unprecedented issues of urban sprawl, population growth and limited resources to tackle these phenomena. Increasingly, worldwide, we are witnessing much of the built environment of the twentieth century going through a process of transformation. The need for space to be re-designed has created the adaptation of previously non-domestic architectural types into places for living and leisure. A current trend for cities and consequently those who engage with the built environment, is a practice of re-purposing, re-fitting and re-programming existing structures which thereby de-stabilizes the form to programme relationship of architectural type. Spaces within cities that were once places of industrial economy and infrastructure are being converted in response to cultural, economic and political shifts. This conversion in part is a response to a demand for green space and access to sustainable resources in the urban environment. This thesis maps the social epochs of the twentieth century, interrogating how the evolution of the market has transformed both the nature of food supply and its relationship to urban form. Through a parallel written and design investigation, this thesis will critically analyse how urban form has developed in relation to food supply and will propose a design for New Zealand’s northern most city; Whangarei. This thesis views food supply and the model of the traditional market as a critical driver for the articulation of a threshold between architecture and urban form. Through the project vehicle of Whangarei Growers Market, this thesis aims to provide design solutions to facilitate the market’s growth socially and spatially. This case study seeks to offer an insight to how the re-emergence of local markets around New Zealand and worldwide should be supported within the urban environment and seen as local infrastructures. By acknowledging the potential of preexisting networks in Whangarei, this thesis argues for the Whangarei Grower’s Market to be an initial catalyst for social, spatial and political agency in an aim to set up an urban framework which is conducive to the city’s anticipated future growth.