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politics

Another restructure – Should we care?

By Comment

It’s inevitable, given their political nature, that governments (local and central) are subject to “restructuring” more than most institutions. Anyone involved in architecture and urban design in Wellington will have known, for a little while now, that the urban design bits of our city council have been, and are in the middle of, such a political reshuffle. All the positions with staff with any design background (architecture, landscape architecture, industrial design) have been deleted, and staff required to apply for positions with more generic job descriptions. Well that’s my understanding at least – and apologies if I’ve got it wrong – do tell me if that’s the case! Read More

Is architecture at odds with politics?

By Comment

In a rare moment in April, I bought a copy of The Economist, but it was not the obvious architecturally related homeownership article which caught my eye – but rather it was pages 63 and 64, and an article titled: “There was a lawyer, an engineer and a politician …”Well spotted – no architect in sight.The article’s sub-title was a little more revealing: “Selection bias in politics.” Read More

Pared to the core – Local Body Councils on a Hiding to nothing

By News, RANTING

First they let him loose on the dance floor, then Super-Auckland, and now the rest of us – does this man know no humility…?

Rodney Hide is set to Tango all over Local Body law in order to reduce them to core services – such as public health and safety, and rubbish collection. Here is the official report from this morning’s Herald.co.nz article (although a fuller media account of the proposals can be found here):

The Cabinet has signed off on Mr Hide’s request for the Department of Internal Affairs to review local government law, including the removal of the requirement for councils to deliver on “community outcomes” such as social, environmental and cultural “wellbeing” which Mr Hide said pushed councils into providing services well beyond their core roles.

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“Something Awful being built” – or not as the case may be.

By RANTING

Astute venue of architectural criticism, the Capital Times (8-14th April 2009) came up trumps recently via comic strip “Jitterati”‘s social commentary. With one foul swoop (or more accurately four comic strip frames) local building, the recession, class politics, and architectural disillusionments ensued. One cultural giant was pitted against the merits of another, as the comic strip queried the relative value of stalled developer architecture (represented by the Watermark Development) and cinema (represented by the Rialto). Read More