Weekly insights on how to perform when it matters | High-stakes decisions. Real situations. No BS. | 👇JOIN +2k readers 👇
New Zealand Wants European Public Transport. Without European Cities.
|
After a wisdom toothache, the one thing I most look forward to ending is an election campaign. New Zealand has a fascinating relationship with infrastructure. We want everything. European-quality public transport. Affordable housing. Less traffic. Lower emissions. And, of course, lower taxes. Beautiful. There's just one small problem. We don't want density. Everybody wants trains. Modern stations. Frequent services. Maybe even a metro. Like London. Or Paris. Or Madrid. But please, no apartments near my house. No taller buildings. No additional neighbours. We want the infrastructure of Barcelona. With the population density of a golf course. Excellent strategy. Designed for success… And then we wonder why we can't afford it. Because I don’t know if you realises… but public transport needs passengers. Lots of them. Especially if you have any aspirations to a minimum of cost recovery. Not people scattered across hundreds of square kilometres of detached houses, each with two cars. So we get buses. More buses. And then some more buses. My four-year-old son already has an opinion. Ask him what he'd prefer. A train? Absolutely. A ferry? Yes, please. A bus? Apparently, even the ferry wins. Meanwhile, New Zealand takes enormous pride in being green. Sustainable. Environmentally conscious. Wonderful. We want to save the planet. Just don't build an apartment next door. And then comes the latest infrastructure surprise. Auckland Council recently warned about 50,000–60,000 homes proposed outside its anticipated infrastructure plans. Potentially NZ$3 billion in additional council infrastructure costs. Before water, wastewater and other expenses. Three billion. Apparently, approving houses doesn't automatically create roads. Or pipes. Or public transport. Who knew? In the meantime, we've invested billions in the City Rail Link. And can you imagine what would make that investment considerably more valuable? Yes. That’s it. More people living and working near stations. Using existing infrastructure. Supporting local businesses. Reducing infrastructure costs per resident. In other words... Density. This is an issue about choices. And the consequences of refusing to make them. We want low-density suburbs. World-class public transport. And low infrastructure costs. All three. Everywhere. Simultaneously. Sorry. That's not urban planning. That's believing in Santa Claus. And even my four-year-old is starting to have questions about that. If you want to know more… click below.
PD 1: If you liked this email, don't keep it in secret and forward it to a friend. They will thank you enormously one day. PD 2: If somebody has sent you this email and you want to receive emails like this yourself, visit vicentevalencia.com PD 3: If you want unsubscribe, click the link below. |
Vicente Valencia
Weekly insights on how to perform when it matters | High-stakes decisions. Real situations. No BS. | 👇JOIN +2k readers 👇
There was a time when managing a project meant managing a project. You know. Cost. Time. Quality. Safety. The usual boring stuff. Then someone discovered KPIs. Key Performance Indicators. Beautiful invention by consultants paid by the slide. And who have never actually managed a project. They design 47 KPIs. Each with a definition. A formula. A weighting. A threshold. And a 93-page document explaining how they work. Or how they're supposed to work… Of course, nobody really knows… but they...
A helicopter is a jodidamente difficult machine. To fly one, you must coordinate several controls simultaneously. Get one wrong, and things become… let’s say unpleasant. Get several wrong, and your career as a pilot may be short. First, you learn to take off. Then to fly. Then to fly at night. Then in formation. Then, perhaps, in combat. And only after mastering all that might someone reasonably ask you to land on a moving aircraft carrier. In the middle of a storm. At night. Now, imagine the...
Imagine two houses. The first has a beautiful kitchen. Italian marble. Designer bathrooms. And a motorway running 20 metres from the bedroom. The second has an ugly kitchen. Terrible paint. And bathrooms that haven't been touched since 1987. But it's in a fantastic location. Which one would you buy? Unless you have a particular affection for motorway noise, probably the second. Applying the following concept is where you make the money. You can replace a kitchen. You can repaint the walls....