How Not To Have A Weekend
Become a university student, take subjects that have exams close together, particularly on Saturday mornings.
Getting up before 9am on a Saturday should be a crime. No two ways about it. However, I did yesturday. Started the day off well - cut myself shaving (just below my nose, so it looked like I had been in a early morning bar fight... and didn't stop bleeding until about 3pm).
The exam was at 9:30 - studyed hard out, up until 10pm the night before. I was pumped. Two questions - no choices etc.
First question:
"Argue either for or against the creation of Whenuapai Air Base as Auckland’s second commercial airport. Among the issues you should address are those concerning alternative land uses, infrastructure concerns, aviation services (both airside, and groundside), possible target airlines and destinations, economic impacts, and its position within the district plan."
No worries - this is pretty close to the topic of my thesis. Wrote in favour of the Airport, the monoploy that Auckland International Airport at Mangere has, and the inability for any new entrants into the market to get a foot hold, due to AIA being Air New Zealand's hub airport (low cost airlines work on a point-to-point basis, rather than a hub - this pretty much throws any airport which is a hub out of cilter)
Second question:
"Using the provided urban form illustration (circle size represents activity/population size, with the largest circle being the CBD and the long lines are trunk and the shorter lines are feeder lines), construct an urban transportation system. Among the issues you should address are those concerning various modes, routes, various centres, land uses, and what it would take in terms of public and government support to implement your system."
Once again, no worries. A fully intergrated Transit Oriented Development system would be the best answer (similar to that in Munich or Ottawa), and car-less CBD's (similar to the tarrif you have to pay to take your car into downtown London). In contrast to the first question, where I came pretty damn close to sighting the free market as a good thing (I feel so dirty...), the second question relied greatly on municipal control, and a regulated and intergrated transport and development system.
Good times. Answered two questions in 22 pages.
Now to study for my second exam on Tuesday. I'll be hanging out for a beer come Tuesday afternoon...
Getting up before 9am on a Saturday should be a crime. No two ways about it. However, I did yesturday. Started the day off well - cut myself shaving (just below my nose, so it looked like I had been in a early morning bar fight... and didn't stop bleeding until about 3pm).
The exam was at 9:30 - studyed hard out, up until 10pm the night before. I was pumped. Two questions - no choices etc.
First question:
"Argue either for or against the creation of Whenuapai Air Base as Auckland’s second commercial airport. Among the issues you should address are those concerning alternative land uses, infrastructure concerns, aviation services (both airside, and groundside), possible target airlines and destinations, economic impacts, and its position within the district plan."
No worries - this is pretty close to the topic of my thesis. Wrote in favour of the Airport, the monoploy that Auckland International Airport at Mangere has, and the inability for any new entrants into the market to get a foot hold, due to AIA being Air New Zealand's hub airport (low cost airlines work on a point-to-point basis, rather than a hub - this pretty much throws any airport which is a hub out of cilter)
Second question:
"Using the provided urban form illustration (circle size represents activity/population size, with the largest circle being the CBD and the long lines are trunk and the shorter lines are feeder lines), construct an urban transportation system. Among the issues you should address are those concerning various modes, routes, various centres, land uses, and what it would take in terms of public and government support to implement your system."
Once again, no worries. A fully intergrated Transit Oriented Development system would be the best answer (similar to that in Munich or Ottawa), and car-less CBD's (similar to the tarrif you have to pay to take your car into downtown London). In contrast to the first question, where I came pretty damn close to sighting the free market as a good thing (I feel so dirty...), the second question relied greatly on municipal control, and a regulated and intergrated transport and development system.
Good times. Answered two questions in 22 pages.
Now to study for my second exam on Tuesday. I'll be hanging out for a beer come Tuesday afternoon...
posted by Aucklander At Large at 11:28 am
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