Four Cities & a Region: Integrated Transport, Land Use Planning as a Sustainable Transport Solution for the Welllington Region

Greater Wellington Regional Council is responsible for the Regional Land Transport Strategy(RLTS) for the Wellington region, comprising of four cities, numerous towns and governedby eight disparate territorial authorities. The strong central core of Wellington City and thegeographically enforced ‘Y’ formation of the transport corridor have traditionally dominatedthe region’s urban development. To date, transport and land use planning in the region havebeen undertaken independently, when research demonstrates that a combination of land use,transport, financial and regulatory planning mechanisms are required to establish a successfulsustainable transport solution. This research examines six different policy interventionscenarios, and identifies the optimal transport - land use intervention (for growth projectionsto 2026) as the densification of development around key public transport nodes. This policyintervention meets the RLTS vision of providing a balanced and sustainable transport systemthrough the increased adoption of active modes across all trip types of short duration, anincrease in public transport use for longer distance trips and an overall decrease in daily tripsby car.