Building Cities Better Webinar

The City Rail project underway in central Auckland will be transformational for the city’s mobility and bring other positive development opportunities. But the construction activity has been devastating for many businesses in the area, and hugely disruptive for city residents and users.
 
With the New Zealand government now planning light rail for Auckland, we must ensure that a more thoughtful approach to managing the downside impacts of construction forms part of the light rail project’s design – including proactive mitigation strategies.
 
The Committee for Auckland together with Auckland’s central business association Heart of the City invite you to join us for a webinar to hear how to build better in our cities and to deal more appropriately with the impact.

RSVP here

The Panel

Auckland Unlimited CEO and new Committee for Auckland board member, Nick Hill, will MC the discussion. Our panel includes experts who will draw on Auckland, Sydney and Los Angeles’ experiences.   

Viv Beck is CEO of Heart of the City, Auckland's city centre business association. Viv has seen first-hand the impact of City Rail Link construction and has championed the need for a hardship fund for impacted businesses, and early planning and provision for this issue with future large-scale projects.  Viv will share insights on this and better ways of operating.


Rick Mitry is a partner at Mitry Lawyers in Sydney. Rick leads the major class action against the New South Wales government to gain compensation for the Sydney light rail project. He has a wealth of information and research on the impacts the project has had on businesses and residents and will provide an insight into what can happen if governments don’t proactively plan effective strategies for these projects.


Dr Rosalie Singerman Ray is an assistant professor of Geography. Her research focuses on transit governance and managing a just transition to sustainable transport. She has a PhD in Urban Planning from Columbia University and she studied the impact of Los Angeles’ metro rail extension. This research concluded that mitigation programmes should be standard practice when building new transit routes. She previously worked as an economist for the US Department of Transportation. 

RSVP here