Tearing Down the Red Fence: the rhizome as a parasite of bureaucracy in the city of sails

Abstract

Auckland, as a coastal city so famed for its proximity to and lifestyle surrounding water, that it has been named ‘The City of Sails’, surprisingly offers very little in terms of this coastal experience in the inner city itself. Prior to the America’s Cup held in 2000, Viaduct harbour was just a dock for fishing and charter boats before it was redeveloped into a public space. Prior to the Rugby World Cup held in 2011, Queen’s wharf was still fenced off, inaccessible to the public— and even then, the development of the wharf only resulted in failed competition designs and finally, after a long period of indecision, a large temporary structure with a shelf-life of less than 20 years was built. As it so happens, the only catalyst capable of spurring Aucklanders into action to develop its public amenities, especially of a maritime nature, are large international events— which attract equally large transient populations who will come and go for very short periods of time. Comparatively, the number of international passengers entering Auckland’s port is consistently in the six figure range every year and growing, easily outnumbering the large crowds which visit once maybe every five to ten years for a big event. Why then, is the arrival of large, international cruiseliners not considered a priority? The thesis poses this question not to focus specifically on the cruise industry itself, but to position it as an underlying reference point for the socio-spatial concepts I intend to discuss. We will use the thriving cruise industry as a catalyst for the development of waterfront amenity, in order to meet the demands posed by the transient tourist populations of cruise passengers, and on a much smaller scale, the transient local populations of ferry passengers. This development will focus not on the generation of new, iconic architectural forms, but instead focus on the reclamation of public space from private sectors— and subsequently, create the conditions for the production of a new space where the bureaucracy and the unfolding of public life can co-exist. The beginning chapters of this thesis will focus on laying out the context of the site and the problems that surround it, before diving into a potential solution that can be found through a discourse on the metaphysical implications of space, societies, and the emergent connective systems that bind them together.