Kāinga Ora Sustainable Transport Outcomes

The Kāinga Ora – Homes and Communities Act 2019 mandated Kāinga Ora to deliver a range of outcomes for New Zealanders including good quality housing and also access to jobs, amenities, and services. MRCagney was brought in to prepare a national sustainable transport strategy in response to this mandate. Given the scale of the development being undertaken this is a once in a generation opportunity to improve the lives of thousands of New Zealanders. This provides a unique opportunity to shape choices, trial solutions, and collaborate across the urban development and transport sectors.

The project focus was to help ensure that the Kāinga Ora large-scale development areas become thriving communities with a diversity of transport choices, integrated with land-use decisions, that support people and their wellbeing. Drawing on international best practice and existing local and national strategies the work involved collaborative workshops with a wide range of stakeholders to ensure strategic alignment. Starting with a blank slate, stakeholders were asked

• Describe what you think a thriving, inclusive and sustainable community looks like?
• What are some of the processes and knowledge gaps you encounter when you are involved in developing sustainable projects/developments?

A key aim was to develop a document that would support practical implementation to achieve Kāinga Ora’s broader goals. It was structured around three outcomes:

1. Inclusive and Accessible Communities
2. Safe and Healthy Communities
3. Sustainable and Resilient Communities and Neighbourhoods

For each outcome a series of goals were identified, the benefits of achieving or consequences of not achieving each goal outlined and targets set to measure progress.  The resulting document was aspirational with the stated purpose to - place sustainable transport principles at the core of Kainga Ora's work, ensuring that active and public transport modes are truly viable for everyone.

It is exciting to see this document has now been formally approved by the Kāinga Ora board and was publicly launched as the Sustainable-Transport-Outcomes in June 2022.