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Special Housing areas (SHAs) of Belmont comprises 90 hectares of elite and prime land on the western side of Pukekohe in the Franklin District, south of Auckland (Auckland City Council, 2014).

• Monoculture practices and low-biodiversity areas

• Limited access to green infrastructure and nature

• Limited on-site water resources

• Limited water infrastructure for irrigation and future residential areas

• Potential landforms to use in design of a storm and grey water system

Nature & water management

Community & people• Limited access to the community

• No existing training and education for small-scale gardening

• Only limited land for human-scale farmland in the local community;

the over-scaling of farmland in Belmont actually separates people from

farmland.

• Terrible environment (dust and noise) in farmland, unfit for an urban

environment and local community

Organic waste management

Leisure & recreation• Limited road connections from north to south

• Single land function: producing food

• No existing social place in the farmland

• Limited access to open space

• No existing composting in use to support small-scale gardens in the

surrounding community

Market• The main food resource for local customers is three supermarkets and

one farmers’ market located at the Pukekohe town centre.

• The main food resource for local retail is from large-scale industrial farms.

• There is no economic environment for small-scale growers.

• The farmers’ market, as a social place, is not in walking distance for the

future local community of Belmont.

Water flow

Land cover capability

Vegetation

Notable tree

Aspect

Slope

Hill shade

Elevation

Open spaces, farmland and cycling lane in Pukekohe

Green/blue/road infrastructure and farmland in Belmont and its surrounding areas

The settlements, retails and farmland in BelmontThe map of land cover capability in Auckland

Pukekohe map

The overview of Belmont

Master Project: A

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SITE LOCATION CONTEXT ANALYSIS LANDSCAPE ANALYSIS KEY FINDINGS

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The agrarian precinct, as part of the green, blue and leisure infrastructure of Pukekohe, will be a cross-town open space running continuously through the built urban environment,

connecting all kinds of existing urban open spaces and, eventually, the surrounding rural area. At the early stage, the existing open spaces, market gardens, cycling lanes and potential

locations for producing food within the Rural-Urban Boundary need to be identified. The agrarian precinct, by integrating the productive elements within the open spaces and by allowing

circulation, will provide the local community with food, leisure, accessibility and biodiversity.

Agrarian Precinct in PukekoheNew location for producing food in the local park

Productive Wicking Bed in the Street

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A system-based design philosophy is required in order to develop a farming-centered residential area that is environmentally, economically and socially sustainable. Rather than an approach of dealing

with disparate problems, a system approach is based on an understanding of the relational, patterned and contextual complexity of the system. As we know, all the elements in the system, positive or

negative, interact with and rely on one another with specific relationships or connections, because they are all parts of the system. Neighbourhood and agriculture are two independent systems, self-

reliant and responsible to each other, but when they are integrated into one, new connections between the elements will be formed. To this end, understanding and creating connections between

agriculture and neighbourhood will be the key to designing farming-centered residential development in the SHA of Belmont.

Agrihood

DESIGN CONCEPT CONNECTION: AGRARIAN PRECINCT

Agrarian Precinct in Agrihood

Water management in Agrihood

Circulation in Agrihood

Check dams are used for slowing down water flow and storing rain water for irrigation. Instead of the using artificial fertilisers and monoculture, polyculture and biodiverse planting, with green mulch, will be widely used for growing food in the agrarian precinct.

Bioswales are used for cleaning stromwater and graywater from local households. During the rainy season, overflow from either side is collected in a water channel, and when the dry season is coming, this water is used to recharge to the main farmland in the agrarian precinct.

Whangapouri Stream Park in agrarian precinct

Stromwater management

Graywater management

Composting hub in agrarian precinct

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ACCESS TO WATER MANAGEMENT

ACCESS TO LEISURE $ RECREATION ACCESS TO ORGANIC WASTE MANAGEMENT

The framework of agrarian community is based on its components: agrarian living blocks, each of which will incorporate and intensify different agricultural activities over one acre of land across the transect, from simple window boxes to community gardens and larger-scale farming cooperatives, cultivating a variety of associated economic, environmental and social benefits from a neighbourhood's centre to its rural edge. A variety of agrarian living blocks will blend the edges of rural and urban, so that large-scale farmland is not directly attached to high-density living blocks; in addition, a corrugated edge will improve the interaction between agriculture and community and the engagement in of productive activity of all members of the community.

Agrarian community introduces agriculture back to modern life and provides choice of lifestyle in transect-based blocks. Basically, there will be four types of agrarian living block: living farming, single housing, mixed housing and live-working blocks.

Agrarian community in AgrihoodProductive elements in Agrihood

Children's playground in market placeEdge of agrarian community

Private/public land in agrarian community

Land use in agrarian community

Live-working Block10-15 Dwellings/ Acre 1/8 Acre farmland

Mix-Housing Block10-15 Dwellings/ Acre 1/8 Acre farmland

Living Farming Block4 Dwellings/ Acre 1/2 Acre farmland

Single-Housing Block5-10 Dwellings/ Acre 1/4 Acre farmland

The size of housing areas & Infrastructures: 42.1ha•Open Spaces: 23.4ha•The size of agricultural land :•Agrarian Precinct: 6ha•Working Farm: 4.5ha•Agrarian Community: 14ha

Concept of agrarian Living Blocks

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AGRARIAN LIVING BLOCK

ACCESS TO MARKET

INTEGRATION: AGRARIAN COMMUNITY

ACCESS TO PEOPLE & COMMUNITY

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