Cycle City Auckland

Abstract

Since the 1970s, cities in the world have been looking to steer away from the automobile and many are more recently taking the direction of becoming a “cycle-city”, in which much attention is being paid to facilitating the bicycle, for the improvement and sustainability of cities for the future. With cycling come many benefits including improvements in health, less pollution to the environment and revitalisation of social spaces. While Auckland is beginning to follow suit in focusing heavily on inserting and improving numerous infrastructure for cycling, this thesis explores a range of measures to activate the cityscape for cyclists as opposed to the simple gratuitous painting of green paths and inserting separated lanes on the roads. Rather, how could this growing interest of cycling in the city be accommodated further with urban spaces and architecture once all the basic infrastructure is in place? The investigation begins with a specific and personalised cycled route through the city. The experiences of a collection of encountered spaces are taken and analysed as a relationship between movement and terrain in order to form the basis of the design. Architecture in this case is therefore explored as a terrain in relation to speed and flows in order to facilitate for the movement of the bicycle. Hence with this blurring of architecture and terrain is the opportunity for the transformation of the experience of Auckland to the urban cyclist. This thesis thus suggests the potential of shaping public spaces within Auckland City through this lens of the bicycle. Can a bike-centred design of urban and architectural spaces provide for an enriched experience of Auckland City?