Auckland’s urban sprawl, planning frameworks and peri-urbanisation to Pukekohe

Although urban sprawl has been largely discussed, the range of determinants for the incorporation of rural lands remain less systematised and mainly framed by transport improvements, housing shortage and land-market constraints. Because of that, measures to tackle impacts of sprawl are lacking considering determinants operate as interlinked and somehow embedded within planning policies and regulations. Additionally, some of them rely on rural forces, landowners’ interests and rural plans outside urban boundaries that influence land-use changes of peri-urban areas. This research explore the extent to which determinants of sprawl are embedded within planning and policy regulations in Auckland. Further, the research explores the extent to which sprawl in Auckland is influenced by rural forces – namely the growth and development of Pukekohe, a rural village located 50km from the Auckland’s CBD – in which key regulations of control provide enough flexibility to incorporate agriculturally productive lands. This paper discusses these interlinked determinants – moreover the manifestation of sprawl in Auckland that has arisen in the light of the growth and development on Pukekohe – to demonstrate that many of them are indeed supported by planning frameworks of control that finally stimulate further suburbanisation. The paper concludes that planning tools for controlling urban sprawl are still partial in their capability to manage dispersed suburbanisation and to integrate the complex spectrum of both rural and environmental forces that define the character of peri-urban lands.