Urbanist Julie Stout on good design and how Nelson’s CBD can reach its potential – Medical Marijuana Program Connection

When architect Julie Stout returned to live in Auckland after 25 years away, she was dismayed at how run down the city looked.

Queen St was full of $2 shops and its prize asset, the waterfront, was cut off by the Ports of Auckland’s “big red fence”.

Stout was at the forefront of civic action in the early 2000s to promote a better built environment in central Auckland, and later was part of a successful civic and legal campaign to stop the port expansion further into the Waitematā Harbour. Fast forward 20 years, and the Auckland city waterfront is at last living up to some of its potential as a thriving destination for people, rather than carparks and tank farms.

As Nelson grapples with issues in its CBD, Stout accepted a suggestion from friend Pic Picot to share her experiences at the new What If Whakatū Nelson ideas hub and look at how Nelson could live up to its own potential.

She told a packed lunchtime audience at the Hardy St hub on Friday that she was an urbanist, which to her meant having an understanding of planning and how we live in cities.

Good design was a key element but for it to take shape, it needed political leadership and, most importantly, a public conversation about what people…