I have some sympathy for protecting what the agricultural/horticultural lobby would refer to as productive land, and would prefer we build cities up more than out. But to do either well infrastructure & planning is the important bit.
I generally agree with building up rather than out. That’s what they do in the rest of the world. Unfortunately kiwis seem to be allergic to living in apartments.
Actually, Italy is a good example - they have a long mountainous spine too, and range from Alpine to Coastal same as us.
Waikato is mostly just paddocks. We could easily populate it if we wanted to. Hamilton could be as big as melbourne if we managed water properly.
But we don’t know how to do infrastructure in this country.
I have some sympathy for protecting what the agricultural/horticultural lobby would refer to as productive land, and would prefer we build cities up more than out. But to do either well infrastructure & planning is the important bit.
I generally agree with building up rather than out. That’s what they do in the rest of the world. Unfortunately kiwis seem to be allergic to living in apartments.