Revisiting Living in Paradox - A Ten Year Rearview

With mixed emotions urban designer and landscape architect Garth Falconer reflects on the ten year anniversary of the launch of his first book Living in Paradox | A history of Urban Design across kainga, towns and cities in New Zealand.

Photo credit: Peter Meecham

Originally back in 2007 the plan seemed simple.

Most of the towns and cities were really struggling across New Zealand after the demise of the welfare state. Scoffing at the shallow raft of imported design constructs served up as solutions such as New Urbanism or Smartgrowth, energetically I set off to write a fittingly authoritative volume on our unique settlement patterns.

Against our largely unwritten history this would be a useful reference and a foundation for all of us to build upon. No problem I thought, it couldn’t take longer than two or three years to have it published. 

Optimistically the aim of the work was simply to promote the understanding that design of our urban areas should be thoroughly conscious, informed by history and also critically aware of the shaping forces at play.

A paradox appeared to be a useful conceptual frame for considering the mixed-up collections of ideas and assumptions we have inherited. Indeed conjuring up the book’s title involved a word play on paradise, that oft hyped up natural image of our country which covers up the contradictory schism with our highly urbanised population.  

First of the reality checks was that publishers were not interested in taking a punt on a book with “such a marginal interest”. Their dismissive words steeled me to push on regardless.  Putting the work together then took 8 long years of hard slog, a lot of resources as well as a major distraction from my practice and my family including three young children. Arghh!

After the launch by Sir Bob Harvey and a good gathering of friends, the much anticipated reviews came in rather positively, albeit as much as critics will allow. Chris Barton in the Metro declared it was rambling in places, rich in insights in others. Matthew Bradbury intimated he was surprised that I wasn’t yet retired in my slippers instead of writing a book that was highly accessible and Marc Treib couldn’t believe a practitioner could write such a large volume. Any sense of puffery was quickly deflated at the national awards when it was passed over in favour of a slim transport study; one of the judges confiding later they didn’t read it because it was too long.

Curator’s note: For an interview Garth gave after Living In Paradox was launched, click here for Nine to Noon - Radio New Zealand. Two other book reviews from 2015 are: Paradox in Paradise by Will Harvie; and Paradoxically Urban (link to PDF) by Andreas Wesener of the School of Landscape Architecture at Lincoln University.

Too busy to read books?

Woefully a number of decision makers told me they were just too busy to read books and others politely said they read sections before bedtime. And to make matters worse you will not find it on the reading list at any of the university planning or design courses.  

Re-reading the book now as part of my ongoing therapy, there is some obvious aging of information in the latter chapters that cover recent times. However I invite you to read the first chapters on the background to settlements as I contend they remain relevant; uncovering an uncomfortable relationship with the land, from the mad capped-utopian schemes that are peppered across the country to the die-hard small town boosters and sun-belt cities on the rise. 

Further on, the growth of modern day professionalism was a worthwhile story in itself; starting with chain-carrying surveyors carving up the land, then engineers building functional infrastructure, with the lofty outsider being architecture then the rise of planners’ audacious social arrangements on the back of the Garden city movement, and the late coming of landscape architecture closely aligned with that of the environmental movement. 

The chapter on people (Movers and Shakers) shone some well deserved light on our rich whakapapa and institutional foundations for what we do. Teasingly in my presentations I would test audiences recognition of photos of these past leaders. Shame indeed to find few knew any of them.

Perhaps the trickiest area was attempting to traverse Māori relationships with urbanism and urban living. Whilst profusely exclaiming my personal shortcomings in this culturally sensitive arena, how could such a book not delve into pre-European collective village patterns, the socially engineered suburbs to counter -ulture gangs and the normalising of Iwi development corporations. 

Also there were some insights that were maybe ahead of their time, such as indicating the evolution of the sustainability concept into regenerative design. I even ventured into the dynamic global play of identity groupings.  Referring to the work of Sociologist Manuell Castells and his hometown Barcelona I had hoped for the adoption of a similar unifying “project identity” for our country going forward. Concerning to note now that his concept of a “defensive project identity”, one which is embraced by brittle factions, has become prevalent in recent years.

The chapter on the oddness of Christchurch led to intriguing investigations into its swampy location, many bold city-making projections around its “Englishness” then soberly observing  the devastation of the 2011 earthquake and the short-lived flourish of innovative ideas, such as the public post-it notes and space fillers before being scuttled by central government politicians into a half-hearted and very slow rebuild.

The book zeroed in on the recalcitrance of the Queen city aka Auckland, often outed for its short term thinking,  enamored with the shiny automobile and beset with internal segregation. On the back of a super city the hope was that it would then get its act together with its first Spatial Plan and manifest urbanity in a new model of a medium density suburb at Hobsonville Point. The Jury still remains out on our largest city’s future.

Another Paradox

Four hundred and eighty six  pages, 15 pages of references, 140,000 words and 500 images. The book weighed in at 2kg. In addition to researching and writing, I privately funded, organised and promoted the book. Even lugging heavy cases around myself it was a big financial loss maker. There is still a pile of copies behind my desk ten years later.

Was it too much of an optimistic endeavour? Should I put it all down to experience? After all said and done, I reckon that our exertions and engagement in the realm of contesting ideas is worthwhile, and the key difference between responsible designers and those consigned to carrying out instructions. 

It does continue to puzzle me why is there so much amnesia about these or similar exertions, with so much attention going into urban development and so much at stake.

Perhaps that’s just another paradox which we have to live with.

Post Script

Garth did go on to write another book, namely Harry Turbott: New Zealand’s First Landscape Architect, which came out from Blue Acres Publishing in 2020 and was reviewed that same year by Matthew Bradbury.

Garth revisited that book for LAA in 2022 in an article titled Harry Turbott and the Auckland beginnings of landscape architecture.

An inveterate writer, he has another book due to be released in 2026 tracing his great-great-great Grandfather’s experiences around early New Zealand.

Through the labours of Living In Paradox, Garth appreciates that such a study is necessarily an ongoing exercise. However there are no plans for an updated version. Instead he is happy to make copies of the book’s introduction and first chapter available, attached below, which might stimulate further reading. On this, his chosen professional field, he intends to stick to writing essays, termed by him as “forays that may annoy intransient interests”.

Lastly, for now, Garth suggests that there is assistance to be gained in dealing with urban issues by developing a better understanding of natural systems and processes, employing  a tradition of informed and aspirational thinking, working actively to  incorporate an inclusive culture, making a project of focused identity building, together with broad collaboration across all sectors and a commitment to creative resourceful action.

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Free to discerning readers:

Books, Urban Landscape, City Shaping, #LandscapeExpandedStephen Olsen