Hamilton's Kirikiriroa Gully: Engaging with waterway social life from the ground up
The social value of waterways and gullies in new suburban development is something that is often overlooked and given limited resources to be developed. They have the potential to be intense centres of neighbourhoods and provide much needed social relief in the age of rapid urban expansion. This thesis explores the social potential of Kirikiriroa gully in Hamilton where suburban development has occurred at an alarming rate. The research extends the traditional top down masterplan design methodology used for large project sites by investigating the reverse of this, a study of life on the ground to inform the design. Using on-site analytical and design methods, the design attempts to reveal the workings of the landscape in a way that a masterplan cannot. Key to this was the identification of three important social experiential typologies within the gully system. The understanding and documentation of the relations and forces that produced these types facilitated adjustments to strategically identified sites, with the intention of intensifying the relevant social ecology of the gully at that site. This intensification is intended to influence the wider neighbourhoods and the gully system more broadly.