Urban Renewal

I went to the bike shop yesterday to buy some bits and bobs preparatory to today’s maiden ride on my new steed. Down in the area where we stayed for our first couple of weeks, I came across this little memorial to the neighborhood’s past. 

This great wheel is all that is left of the old power plant. Now, it’s a not especially pretty jumble of apartments, hotels, and office space. There are ground floor shops and even cafes, but you get the sense that they basically serve the building tenants… there’s nowhere you’d actually make a point of going. The location is pretty good, walking distance to everything, but whoever was in charge of re-developing that area somehow missed the mark. I think the buildings might be a little too big, a little too close together, insufficiently ornamented. 

Half a mile away, the Auckland Council is hard at work reclaiming another section of the old wharves, and they’re trying to make lots of public space, etc., so hopefully the end result will be inviting and vibrant for many years.