Feeling amenable
Tony Milne of Rough Milne Mitchell Landscape Architects on the meaning and mystery of amenity.
I write this from our Nelson studio to the sound of an atmospheric river raining down on the roof above. Atmospheric river is a term new to my lexicon. I have recently learned such phenomena are “relatively long, narrow regions in the atmosphere (five times longer than they are wide) – like rivers of water in the sky, bucketing rain onto your head”. Colloquially, and to most, a downpour.
A slightly strange segue into the concept of amenity, which is possibly a new term for some of you. It’s a construct not necessarily long and narrow; rather wide, braided and entangled. Amenity is a term I continue
to wrestle with; it mostly has me in a Half Nelson. However, it’s a term I find interesting and worthy of a few words.
As landscape architects, not only do we design, but some of us also undertake landscape assessments for resource consents and plan changes.
Such projects can be very wide-ranging. One minute, we may be assessing the landscape effects of a solar farm; the next, a new town or even a Colonel Sanders bucket sign! For the past 34 years this has been under the statutory framework of the Resource Management Act (RMA). One of the things that is often considered in a landscape assessment are amenity values.
So, in this context, what is amenity? (Not to be confused with amenities – a good, clean one of which we all appreciate.) Amenity values are defined in the RMA as: “Those natural or physical qualities and characteristics of an area that contribute to people’s appreciation of its pleasantness, aesthetic coherence, and cultural and recreational attributes.”
That all seems straightforward enough. But as a learned family member pointed out to me, considering “people’s appreciation” is fraught because as soon as the idea of individual judgement is introduced to an objective conceptual framework, it collapses from the inside. A good point.
Our definitions of amenity are very much shaped by cultural values, traditions and societal structures. We all appreciate different things for different reasons. Astrid from Norway, who has an infinity with sustainability and cycle infrastructure, may view the under-construction Kawarau Gorge Trail quite differently from a herpetologist. Eric, the structural engineer specialising in cantilevered structures, may be more appreciative than anyone.
To unpick amenity, one must identify landscape values first. Importantly, landscape values exist in all landscapes. The places where we mostly live our lives have values to those who live in them and pass through them. It is then an explanation as to how such landscape values contribute to amenity values. That is probably the crux of making sense of the rather amorphous term “amenity values”.
Recently the coalition government announced new planning legislation that would see two new acts – a Planning Act and a Natural Environment Act – replace the RMA. As far as amenity values go, I wonder if they will be swept away in the torrent the equivalent of an atmospheric river. I imagine this will render some aghast, others excited, and the majority indifferent.
