Frith
Walker 

Manager Placemaking, Panuku Development Auckland, NZ

Since 2011 Frith has worked in the field of placemaking for Auckland Council, beginning with the redevelopment of the city centre waterfront for Waterfront Auckland, and now into the wider region for Panuku.

Panuku Development Auckland is the Council-controlled organisation that delivers urban regeneration in Tāmaki Makaurau (Auckland). From our website… “We work across many neighbourhoods throughout the city – from large, long-term urban regeneration plans to small projects on specific sites – to meet the needs of the city’s long-term growth, including more types of homes that people can afford. We work alongside the locals, other parts of council and businesses to regenerate our city in ways that benefit both our local communities and Auckland as a whole. We make a profit for council, but at the same time we ensure our buildings contribute positively to their neighbourhoods.

We also manage around $3 billion of land and buildings that Auckland Council owns, which we regularly review to find smart ways to make money for our city.”

All of the urban regeneration projects that Panuku is undertaking need to reflect the people, character and needs of the area, which is why placemaking is crucial to our work.

For Panuku, placemaking is a process that fosters the creation of vital, successful places. The kind of places where people feel a strong relationship with their communities and a commitment to make things better.

Our placemaking practice has been developed over the last decade or so, initially for spaces like Silo Park on the city centre waterfront, but now across the wider Auckland region.

Through placemaking, the people of a place play a strong cooperative role in the building of their public places. We see it as an inclusive approach which can benefit all outcomes – social, commercial and everything in between.

Having spent her former life in the theatre business, as a stage manager/producer type, Frith is now very proud to be an advocate of the UN ratified New Urban Agenda global standard for urban development, and a New Zealand representative for the international network Placemaking X. As Manager, Place Making at Panuku Development Auckland she works within the Design and Place Directorate on the creation of successful public space networks, supporting the programming and activation of Auckland’s public spaces, and champions the difference a healthy public realm can make in terms of creating liveable cities. Which is just like stage managing, only outside.

Web: www.panuku.co.nz
Example Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L0hayjAtuxY