Midblock: Reimagining the role of the underutilized suburban midblock section

Our society’s inclination towards larger homes upon individually owned land titles has produced vast suburban sprawl, attributing a great deal of societal division and infrastructural strain. A feature exacerbating the situation in Papamoa’s suburban development is the inadvertent creation of midblock sections, primarily due to a lack of development foresight. Due to the rapid conversion of certain rural plots’ land-use from orchards to residential development and the stagnation of others, a mismatch of land sizes, shapes and orientations were left to be developed upon. These underutilised spaces often remain as untenanted interstitial spaces despite a dramatic regional population growth, a record low national home ownership and growing demand for housing from the Auckland market.  This thesis examines the complexities of the midblock and the difficult New Zealand social and historical contexts that disrupt their development. It investigates how architects can use these conditions, as well as the spatial contexts of their locale, to inform design principles that can be used to integrate midblock designs into the suburban grain. Design within this research, thus, seeks to test these strategies as well as the development potential of these sites through investigating the efficacy of various alternative programmes. Furthermore, this research explores the potential of small scale public participatory consultation with local residents as a catalyst for architectural processes and design evaluation in analysing the appropriateness of midblock development strategies. It argues that participatory design consultation is a substantial tool for architects in both aligning development with local communities and critically analysing the effectiveness of design within the context of the midblock.