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Ensuring public access to the coast in South Pacific cities : the case of Auckland, Noumea and Port Vila. Olivier Hoffer Centre des Nouvelles Etudes sur le Pacifique University of New Caledonia. PhD in geography and urban planning (2010-2013) “When the shore is closing
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Ensuring public access to the coast in South Pacific cities: the case of Auckland, Noumea and Port Vila Olivier Hoffer Centre des Nouvelles Etudes sur le Pacifique Universityof New Caledonia
PhD in geography and urban planning (2010-2013) “When the shore is closing What governance of access and uses of the coastal interface in three South Pacific agglomerations (Auckland, Noumea and Port Vila)?”
Access to the coast: a critical concept for urbansustainability • In fastgrowingoceaniancities, urbancoasts are underincreasing pressures : residentialdevelopment, resorts, port infrastructures… • Closure of the foreshore in South Pacific cities: a paradoxical and unsustainable scenario • «Ocean’subiquity»: site (isthmus, peninsulas, indentedcoastline), landscape/ambiance, uses/way of life
Baie de Koutio Ducos peninsula Doniambo factory Grande rade Petite rade Baie de l’Orphelinat Baie des Citrons Anse Vata Photograph: O.HOFFER, 2013
Access to the coast: a critical concept for urbansustainability • Few geographicalresearches on this issue • Urbancoastunderincreasing pressures in fastgrowingoceaniancities: residentialdevelopment, resorts, port infrastructures… • Closure of the foreshore in South Pacific cities: a paradoxical and unsustainable scenario • «Ocean’subiquity»: site (isthmus, peninsula, indentedcoastline), landscape/ambiance, uses/way of life • Spatial justice issue: « The right to the shore » part of « the right to the city » (Lefebvre, Harvey, Mitchell) ?
Measuring public access to the coast • Access to the coastis not access to the sea • Scarcity of relevant methods for measuringaccess: Clark & Hilton (2003), Millward (1991, access to countryside) • Evaluating the coast’sdegree of publicity: fieldexperience, specificities of oceaniancities (customary lands…), perceptions (feeling of access)
Open Semi-open Semi-closed Closed Photographs: O.HOFFER
Doesurbanspace close the coast ? • Commonlyacceptedidea about privatization of urbanspace: « The end of public space » (Sennett, Harvey, Davis, Sorkin, Mitchell) • According to thisidea, urbancoastsshouldbe more closedthanperi-urbancoasts • According to the results of fieldwork, itdoesn’tapply in Auckland, Noumeanor Port Vila…
Doesurbanspace close the coast ? • Commonlyacceptedidea about privatization of urbanspace: « The end of public space » (Sennett, Harvey, Davis, Sorkin, Mitchell) • According to thisidea, urbancoastsshouldbe more closedthanperi-urbancoasts • According to the results of fieldwork, itdoesn’tapply to the coast in Auckland, Noumeanor Port Vila • Link betweenurbandensity/centrality and publicity of the coast • Urbangovernanceis not incompatible with the preservation or creation of public spacesalong the shore
A complexgovernance of accessdue to the diversity of actors’ strategies • Preconceptions on actors’ strategies: • public actors: regulation bodies, defence of public interest • privateactors: privatization, individualinterest • customaryactors: taboospaces, sanctuarisation, immobilism • Public actors are not alwaysregulating bodies: non- implementation of laws or planning, promote or runcoastalpropertydevelopment (KawenuCove, Parc des 5 îles…) • Privateactorscan as wellensure the openingthat the closing of the coast: NIMBY/LULU movements • Customaryactors: can manage public beaches (OkahuBay), regulate the access (Mele Beach, Honey Moon Beach), beinvolved in gatedcommunities subdivisions (Mele, Pango, Naniouni), or preventaccess on claimed land (N’Dé)