The Wrong Side of my Car
The blog that wants to go obsolete
Let’s create urban villages, city centre edition
I have written before about the weird, lumpy population density of Auckland City. This is still the case, here is a similar map, from Census 2023 data. (I think dot maps are underrated for this sort of thing, there is no other way to bring out sheer differences in density like this)
Today I’m going to be looking at two of the areas where lots of people live on Hobson Street. That is the area I am more familiar with, and I’ve been there recently.
These areas have something in common: both of them are centred around a laneway. Or better: what could be a laneway, because both of them are currently languishing as sad little parking lanes. But there are also a few differences.
A stroll on Hobson Street, in 2025
A recurring theme around here is walking in places where you’d not normally walk as a tourist, and today we revisit Hobson Street, which is basically the origin story of this blog.
It is always interesting to see if anything changed. Is it still all just parking? Well it is not Antwerpen so it must be, right?
First, Vogel lane, which we visited back in 2018.
Uh, well, the parking lot degraded a bit — contrary to popular belief parking is not cheap, and I suspect many commercial body corporates are painfully aware of that.
But if we keep walking on Hobson Street we do find a change.
A walk to the park
This post appeared as a guest post on Greater Auckland.
This block between Hobson Street, Cook Street, Nelson Street and Wellesley Street is home to about 3,000 people on 3 hectares *1. For those who are wondering, and who like the post about Auckland at varying densities, this is what 100,000 people per km² looks like:
And this is how you walk from that block to the nearest park, Victoria Park:
It is a short 400 to 500 metres walk to either Myers Park or Victoria Park, depending on where you are. But the term ‘short’ is relative. Does it work if you’re with children? Here’s a Key Performance Indicator for this sort of walk:
It should be safe for a 5 year old child to walk from his apartment to a park, with his parent walking a few metres behind him. Without holding hands.
It’s no mystery whether the streets currently meet this KPI or not.
Apartment living: disadvantages only
A while ago I made an interactive version of the population density map on Observable, and I noticed something.
3 years later, pedestrians (and cyclists) did not gain right of passage across Cook Street
That was 3 years ago. In this post I wrote:
there’s only so much you can do before the automobiles strike back.
Nicholas Street
The CBD, at least the part where all the people of more average means live, looks like a cheap-ass dystopian B movie. Dilapidated footpaths. Huge roadways everywhere. Large buildings, often with blank façades facing the street. As a human you tend to feel like an interloper in such environments.
As a former resident of this area, I have a big pile of photos that urbanists may describe as demotivational.
Today, Nicholas Street. They’re pictures from last year but I’d be surprised (pleasantly) if anything changed by now.
The most embarrassing missing pedestrian leg, continued
I wonder if this stupid missing pedestrian leg at Lightpath is still there.
Sugartree Lane
I was in the CBD again lately. Anyone even driving by must have noticed by now the new apartment complex going up on the corner of the city centre, Sugartree. Part of this developemnt is now complete. I was curious to take a look.
The slum of Hobson Street — or not?
To great consternation of many urbanists, some people refer to the area around Hobson Street as a slum.
Now obviously… you don’t see makeshift tents over there. People have all the modern conveniences like electricity, running water and sewers. So what’s going on?
Urban or suburban?
Some people think apartments in cities are great. Even for families. Kids can play in the park. It is close to everything.
Other people think apartments are slums. Keeping kids in apartments borders on neglect.
And I fully agree with both of them.
Park or Parking?
One of the more odd features of Hobson Street is the little cluster of businesses on the corner with Victoria Street. A few restaurants and grocery shops, surrounded by large apartment towers. In between we find a handful of parking spaces (with the obligatory collection of tow-away signs).
But is parking really the best use of that space? Is that really the way to draw in as many customers as possible?
Learning how to ride a bicycle in an apartment.
What is it about kids and suburbs? Why do you have to move out of the city centre once you get those little ones?
Many theories exist. Maybe people just don’t get it. That is a popular theory amongst urbanists. And if you’re arrogant enough to actually believe that, what about you go do some proverbial stuff with yourself.
So let’s try another approach. Some empathy. A popular opinion amongst the same urbanists is that riding a bicycle is awesome. So how will that work out with kids?
Pedestrians (and cyclists) also to gain right of passage across Cook Street
Last week I was wondering what’s up with that lonely pedestrian crossing on Hobson Street, while actually the worst street of them all is Cook Street.
And what do you know? Cook Street is next, and it will get an entire pair of cycleways.
Pedestrians to gain right of passage across Hobson Street
Remember Hobson Street?
Not an easy one if you want to go across the street to the dairy.
It will, in theory, become a little bit easier, at least on one block, with AT proposing to install a new mid-block signalised crossing.
Can we upgrade “living in the CBD” to a proper living arrangement?
Well, I’ve left the building. I’m now living in the ’burbs. Like normal people.
Cottage for sale
This is the coolest auction of the year.
During my walk around Hobson Street I encountered those two little cottages between all those towers, as silent witnesses of a time when St. Matthew’s church was still dominating the skyline of Auckland. One of them is going under the hammer. They’re unique in Auckland, and not just because the somewhat surreal setting.
Terrible craftsmanship I: the most embarrassing missing pedestrian leg
I had a stroll on the Lightpath a while ago. Great. It’s always good to see some humanity in our city, especially in that area, dominated by its spaghetti junction, 6-lane one highways, and brutalist style apartment blocks.
But come out at either end and you’re right back into Auckland. Take a bow to the Rights of the Car. On the Nelson Street end you’ll find what I think is one of the more embarrassing missing pedestrian legs in Auckland.
Noise pollution, Auckland edition
Last time I told you we have a bit of a noise problem in Auckland City. Now, your first reaction may be, well duh, you’re not in the wop-wops, mate! And you’d be correct. Expecting heavenly silence 24/7 in a city centre is ridiculous.
But sometimes it’s a bit excessive. And unneccesary.
It gets interesting if someone from Belgium (and probably much of the rest of Europe) asks. It is hard to explain this to them. Because the worst sources are a bit like 91 octane fuel. You just don’t encounter them over there.
Reflections on living in an apartment for a year.
If you have been following my blog, you might know that, um…
Sigh. Who am I kidding? Nobody is following my blog.
…I have been living in the Auckland city centre for almost a year now. One of the big Sovjet-style apartment blocks along Hobson Street.
You may also know I came from the Belgian countryside. Where the idea of living in the city is a bit of a mystery. Is it really so convenient to have everything close by that you could even—gasp—ditch your car? Or is it really that dystopia of dull grey, crime, claustrophobia and terrible traffic?
The pink path
There’s a new cycle path in town. It is very pink and called Te Ara I Whiti or LightPath. The path starts at the end of Nelson Street, where it goes from what is now the only proper cycle path in this part of town, to Upper Queen Street, where you can then continue on the Grafton Gully cycle path and the NorthWestern Cycle path. It takes you right over the spaghetti junction.
