Town Planners Urged To Take Longer View

Press, Volume CII, Issue 30062, 21 February 1963, Page 22

Town Planners Urged To Take Longer View

New Zealand’s town planners were not looking as far ahead as overseas planners, nor were they showing enough imagination in many of their town-planning and beautification schemes, said the Director of Parks in Palmerston North (Mr D. C. MacKenzie), speaking on street and highway beautification at the annual conference of the New Zealand Institute of Park Administration in Christchurch. Not enough open space was being planned in built-up areas, he said. European planners had taken advantage of war damage to introduce more apace, colour, and beauty into cities as they were rebuilt, said Mr MacKenzie. Trafficfree shopping streets with back service delivery in Germany had, in spite of the initial fears of shopkeepers, increased turnover. These streets were often up to two chains wide, and the middle was planted in a grass strip with trees, fountains, and flower beds. Large car-panks were close by. In Britain and Denmark also it was common for city services to be diverted so as not to interfere with a single group of trees. Traffic islands, too, were transformed by horticulturists into examples of beauty within the limits of traffic safety.

More co-operation was needed in New Zealand be-

tween planners and horticulturists in ail aspects of city and road beautification. “There should be a cloee co-ordination between the highway engineer and the landscape architect. With increasing numbers of vehicles on the roads, motorway beautification is becoming more and more important,” said Mr MacKenzie. “Roads should not just be ribbons of tar-sealing.” American Trends In America landscapers followed road builders and grassed the verges of the new roads, planted trees both for effect and to emphasise the route’s natural features. The trend was to leave the pountryside as natural as possible, artificial plantings being kept to a minimum, usually to cloak unsightly spots. Major motorways were being diverted from built-up areas, often to break through countryside or forests, and always with the minimum interference with the surrounding country. Special attention was given to rest spots at points such as scenic views or swimming or boating areas. Refreshment facilities were planned to blend with the area. Mr MacKenzie said that these ideas could be adapted to the New Zealand scene. In all roadside planning care must be taken to avoid interference with visibility, especially .at bends. However, trees planted around the outer sides of curves, especially trees with lightcoloured bark, often made night travel safer.