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Blog

The MRCagney Blog

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Researching Integrated Planning - Evaluating planning effectiveness using discourse analysis
September 19th, 2023

In this article we reflect on the stocktake and the method we chose for evaluating a broad range of documents and processes, against how well they embodied effective ILUT planning.

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Business land gives us the business
May 24th, 2023

Give someone the business

American English

Informal

'to make difficulties for someone'

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Why we clarified our purpose
May 22nd, 2023

We're on a mission to create a world where we can all thrive without cars.

If you've known us for a while, that statement won't be a surprise for you. But if you've just discovered MRCagney, and you're considering working with us or for us, it may help to understand what makes us tick. MRCagney MD Jenson Varghese introduces the firm's purpose for the future.

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Researching Integrated Land Use and Transport Planning
April 6th, 2023

Why do development outcomes not match the vision laid out by our strategies and plans? Why do more people not have the choice to travel by alternative modes?

These are underlying questions that we delved into with a recent research project we did for Waka Kotahi on integrated land use and transport planning (ILUT) planning in New Zealand.

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BCorper_3@4x.png — Introducing B Corper @MRCagney.works
March 27th, 2023

Certified B Corps are leaders in the global movement for an inclusive, equitable, and regenerative economy. To become certified, a company must go through a rigorous assessment where governance, employee representation, and environmental impact are evaluated.

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Our B Corp Journey
March 21st, 2023

Why we all need the transport and urban planning sector to step up and walk our sustainability talk, and how B Corp can help us all be better businesses.

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Thinking more broadly around resilience
March 9th, 2023

May you live in interesting times: this saying is offered up as both a challenge and a curse and each form rings true in Aotearoa New Zealand this year. We are facing multiple challenges – what some describe as a ‘polycrisis’ – from long-term challenges like providing affordable housing at scale in ways that ease the grip of car-dependence, to the urgent need to repair damage wrought across the motu by Auckland’s recent flooding and Cyclone Gabrielle.

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Successfully Implementing Public Transport Networks - The devil is in the detail
February 23rd, 2023

MRCagney launch the white paper authored by Pippa Mitchell, Technical Director & Anthony Cross, Public Transport Specialist.

Significant work has been invested in designing public transport networks, but without the correct implementation, these networks are not used as widely and effectively as they could be.

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We need dignified, inclusive access for everyone
February 22nd, 2023

We caught up with our newest team member Darren Davis to find out more about his background, how he became involved in the transport sector, and what some of the key transport challenges facing Aotearoa are.

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Reflecting on life with a Bakfiets - Part 1
February 15th, 2023

I will never forget my first ride down a busy street in Amsterdam testing out a bakfiets. We hadn’t planned on buying a cargo bike, but I was 24 weeks pregnant, and my husband and I love riding bikes, so perhaps it was always going to be the natural progression.

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Welcome_DD_post@4x.png — MRCagney welcomes Darren Davis as a new Technical Director
January 19th, 2023

We are delighted to welcome Darren Davis to MRCagney as our Technical Director for Public Transport Planning.

As a leading transport planner in Aotearoa, Darren joins MRC to expand the services we offer to our clients in public transport planning, land use/transport integration and urban strategy.

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Development Insights – Lower Hutt housing and the removal of parking minimums
December 19th, 2022

Hutt City Council were one of the first councils in Aotearoa to remove parking minimums in September 2020. This decision, in combination with upzoning to allow medium density housing, has proven to be extremely successful in supporting more homes to be built with fewer carparks per dwelling.

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How much is “free” parking?
December 15th, 2022

I recently came across a tweet that said free on-street parking in New York City was equivalent to a subsidy of $500 billion (that billion with a ‘B’).

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Development Insights - Auckland City Centre Residential Parking
December 12th, 2022

The Auckland City Centre is changing. My research indicates the average car park per unit ratio in new private residential developments over the past decade is around 0.65. This is lower than the regional average which is slightly above 1 car park per unit as of 2022.

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Introducing the Induced demand calculator
November 30th, 2022

Building new roads creates more space to drive, and results in more people driving. But how much more road creates how much more driving?
Supporting public conversations about reducing transport emissions is important to MRCagney. Simple visualisations of complex transport systems are essential for keeping these conversations centred around evidence.
Today we are excited to introduce our latest visualisation, the Induced Demand Calculator.

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Transport2035 - Or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Assumptions
November 21st, 2022

Predicting the future isn’t easy. Modelling complex systems isn’t quick. Yet tackling the climate emergency requires decisive action based on an uncertain future. How can we resolve this paradox together?

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Transport 2035: Insights from a transport planner
November 9th, 2022

Transport 2035 was developed by MRCagney and Waka Kotahi NZ Transport Agency. It’s a tool to help people understand the range of options we have for slashing transport emissions in Aotearoa New Zealand.

Three things came to mind when I had a go with the tool...

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Accessible public transport: the whole of journey approach
November 7th, 2022

Access to public transport is a complex issue. For many disabled people, the extra effort they must exert to make a journey can mean public transport is not an accessible option. There are lots of little things which can go wrong, and having multiple agencies manage distinct parts of a journey only adds to the complexity.

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How to talk about urban transport
November 1st, 2022

Big changes are needed in our cities so people can travel in ways that are better for the environment, better for our health, and that enable everybody to move about easily, including people who can't drive or can’t afford a car. Building support for these changes depends on how we talk about them.

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Why we don’t get nice things from transport in Aotearoa
September 10th, 2022

Over the last year I’ve been hosting Transportation Group ‘Chair’s Conversations’ to explore why we don’t get better outcomes from transport.

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Density Done Well
August 29th, 2022

“These are just future slums” is a common response to articles these days regarding medium or high-density housing. While these comments are far from the truth, they often stem from genuine concerns from residents about the change that could occur in their neighborhood.

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Why density is critical for our future
June 29th, 2022

The past two years have seen a significant shift in central government policy to intervene in land supply for intensification with the National Policy Statement on Urban Development (NPS-UD) and the Medium Density Residential Standards. While media discussion around these changes has focused on housing affordability, these moves are essential for many other reasons. We should view enabling density as an opportunity to improve our town and cities.

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Te Huia - A review and an eye to the future
April 1st, 2022

This week I had the pleasure of using Te Huia train service from Tāmaki Makaurau down to Kirikiriroa. Here is my review.

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A love letter to Hamilton East
October 21st, 2021

Hamilton East is my favourite suburb in the whole world. No competition. I love the iconic 1940s weatherboard houses, the mature trees, the winding streets, and the huge gardens. My ultimate fantasy is to live in a cottage in Hamilton East with a flock of chickens, where I can walk from my vege garden to Hayes Common for a coffee and bike across the bridge to get to work (this fantasy gets better if the pedestrian bridge ever gets built).

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“Gender diversity” shouldn’t be code for “women”
September 26th, 2021

Gender equity initiatives in the transport sector currently focus on the differences in how men and women use the transport system and promote equity between men and women. This isn't radical and it's not going to solve our equity issues. Instead, I ask that we focus on challenging the gender binary in our profession and create a transport system that is genuinely universally accessible.

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Road pricing: a boost for Auckland’s transit?
September 15th, 2021

The idea of a road pricing for Auckland was in the news last week as the select committee reported back on its inquiry into the Congestion Question report. In this post I’ve looked into how the Auckland public transport network might look like if road pricing was implemented and the revenue was used to boost alternatives to driving.

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Novelty mugs and New Zealand’s problem with public open space
September 15th, 2021

How does the layout of our cities affect access to public open space? Do we have enough parkland to go around?

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We should allow three storeys EVERYWHERE
September 9th, 2021

We should allow three storeys to be built everywhere and by everywhere, I mean everywhere! Your place, your Nan's house, Jacinda’s house, everywhere! Think of any site in urban Tāmaki Makaurau-Auckland and my answer to you will be yes, we should allow at least 3 storeys to be built there.

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Sex(uality) in the city: Planning for queerer public space
August 19th, 2021

In the spirit of Eleanor Mohammed’s NZPI 2021 conference address which called on planners to hear different ideas and distinct voices, I write from my perspective as both a Pākehā queer femme and a planner to consider how planners can make public spaces safer for queer communities.

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Until we measure exclusion we won’t get inclusive transport
July 26th, 2021

A recent article "Just build a ramp" got me thinking about how we provide for accessibility. The world didn't evolve with ramps and other universal design accommodations in place by default, so we relied on decades of advocacy and incremental enlightenment to develop transportation design codes that provide for inclusion.

Unfortunately for disabled people and our future selves - over half of us will be disabled by age 65 if we are fortunate enough to live that long- the world is not inclusive yet. So how can we accelerate progress?

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Pedestrian Street Christchurch — Reimagining pedestrian cut throughs and pedestrian streets
July 8th, 2021

If you know your neighbourhood like the back of your hand, you know where the pedestrian cut throughs are. You also know which ones feel scary, and which ones you would avoid. Why is this? If a cut through is put in place to improve access, shouldn’t it be inviting, safe, and functional? As our cities change, we have an opportunity to improve the humble cut through, fundamentally changing the role that space plays.

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Equity in Auckland’s Transport System: LGBTQI+ Communities
July 8th, 2021

Queer people love the bus. I’m not sure how a love for cramming into the so called ‘loser cruiser’ with 40-odd strangers made it into queer culture, but somehow it did.

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Improving walkability to rapid transit
July 8th, 2021

How far are you willing to walk to access your nearest public transport stop? How much extra distance are you covering, because the most direct link isn’t there? Maybe this infuriates you every day, or maybe you’ve never considered it. Either way, this small question has huge implications for how many people can access our public transport network.

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A shuttle for the Onehunga Branch Line?
May 13th, 2021

This post from Nicolas Reid, our Principal Public Transport Planner, was originally posted on LinkedIn.

This article explains the constraints of the Onehunga Branch Line and raises the question of the trade off between higher frequencies but requiring a transfer or lower frequency but a one seat journey to Britomart.

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The Auckland Harbour Bridge clip-ons, planning disaster… or best practice?
May 13th, 2021

This post from Nicolas Reid, our Principal Public Transport Planner, was originally posted on LinkedIn.

This article covers the history of the Auckland Harbour Bridge and outlines the benefits of the staged expansion.

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A interim option for an Auckland Harbour Bridge footpath and cycleway?

April 21st, 2021

This post from Nicolas Reid, our Principal Public Transport Planner, was originally posted on LinkedIn.

This article outlines a potential option to add separate walking and cycling paths to the Auckland Harbour Bridge, as an 'minimum standard' interim until a new bridge can be built.

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Queer language tips for planners and researchers
February 1st, 2021

But I thought “queer” was derogatory?!

If you want to begin engaging with queer or LGBTQIA+ communities but are anxious about using the wrong language, this compilation is for you. I’ve included resources which provide you with an introduction to terms you might hear in your engagement and places you can go for in-depth exploration of different identities.

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Introducing Transport2030.org
May 11th, 2020

I’ve been working from home now for 6 weeks. Even though I did work at home a little before lock-down, it was by choice and a chance for quiet work than for any other reason. Working from home is one thing but being at home trying to work is something else as I'm sure many of us have discovered.

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MRCNZ15: Milestones
May 6th, 2019

Last year we celebrated 15 years of MRCagney in New Zealand. As part of that we looked back on some of our favourite and most influential projects.

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Auckland northern busway — MRCNZ: The Northern Busway
February 19th, 2019

This set of blogs celebrates our 15th birthday, but in 2018 there was another anniversary close to our heart.

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Women in urbanism on bikes — MRCNZ15: Women in Urbanism Aotearoa
February 7th, 2019

Today for MRCNZ15 Emma Mcinnes writes about Women in Urbanism Aotearoa, and organisation we are proud to support.

MRCagney, the company I work for, is celebrating 15 years in Aotearoa. As part of this, we have been asked to choose some of our favourite MRCagney projects and initiatives. Our cities, communities and families are important to us as a company, and to me personally. I am proud to say Women in Urbanism Aotearoa is one the community initiatives MRCagney has helped to get off the ground.

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Rethinking parking — MRCNZ15: Rethinking Parking
October 30th, 2018

In our first blog on parking (an issue close to our hearts) Anthony writes about two groundbreaking city-shaping parking projects in Auckland we have worked on.

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Current busway scheme — MRCNZ15: AMETI
October 18th, 2018

As we look back on our favourite or most influential projects over the past 15 years #MRCNZ15, Luke Chistensen looks at AMETI and bus rapid transit to East Auckland.

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NZLVM rural urban polygons — MRCNZ15: The New Zealand Land Value Model
October 11th, 2018

Phil Donovan and Peter Nunns write this week's entry in the MRCNZ15 project- The New Zealand Land Value Model

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Local Path Design — MRCNZ15: Local Path Design Guide
September 27th, 2018

Today's lookback for our 15th anniversary comes from Lukas Adam, who is writing about the Local Path Design Guide, which we worked on with Resilio Studio and you can check out in full here.

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Affordability map — MRCNZ15: The Affordability Map
September 18th, 2018

In this weeks article celebrating the 15th anniversary of MRC in New Zealand, Alex Raichev writes about The Affordability map, which you can try for yourself here.

One of my favorite projects that I’ve worked on at MRCagney is Affordability in New Zealand, also known as the Affordability Map, a public education tool illustrating the spatial nature of affordability and how big a role transport plays in it. It combines analysis, visualization, open source software development, and public education, all things I enjoy.

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EBT — MRCNZ15: Electric Vehicles
September 12th, 2018

Todays #MRCNZ15 celebration comes from Alex Raichev and Danielle Gatland, who are looking back on three of our projects focussed electric vehicles :

One of the joys of working at MRCagney is the variety of topical projects that come our way. In this post we describe three such projects concerning electric vehicles.

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Walking and cycling — MRCNZ15: Researching Autonomous Vehicles
September 1st, 2018

This week as part of our 15th anniversary in New Zealand celebrations, Danielle Gatland looks back at last years Autonomous Vehicles Research Report, now including GIFs.

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Auckland cycling — MRCNZ15: The Auckland Cycling Investment Programme (In Gifs)
August 30th, 2018

For this week's #MRCNZ15 we have two exciting entries on the Auckland Cycling Investment Programme. Click here for Karl Bakers in depth look at the business case.

For another perspective on the project, Emma McInnes has summarised the report in GIF’s.

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Who are we building for — MRCNZ15: Making a case for future investment in Auckland cycling
August 28th, 2018

For our 15th anniversary celebrations Karl Baker writes about creating the Auckland Transport Cycling Business Case. Check back on Thursday for another perspective on the project…

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MRCNZ15: The New Network Schematic
August 24th, 2018

Continuing our look back on the New Network, Nic Reid details how we tackled the problem of communicating the many benefits of the revolutionary integrated network to the public.

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MRCNZ15: The New Network
August 21st, 2018

Our first entry looking back at 15 years of MRCagney in Aotearoa. Jenson introduces a presentation by Anthony Cross, Auckland Transport’s Network Development Manager (Public Transport), looking back on the New Network for Auckland.

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Announcing MRCNZ15
June 7th, 2018

It's the 15th anniversary of our Auckland office, so we are having a trip down memory lane. Regional Manager Jenson Varghese explains all in the video below.

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