What if neighbourhoods were designed so that people could live sustainability with minimal effort? What can Aotearoa New Zealand learn from successful models both here and worldwide? To increase understanding of the relationship between urban form and emissions, this online mapping tool helps with visualisation of transport patterns and emissions. This tool is designed for a laptop or desktop machine, rather than a mobile device.

About the Visualisation
The tool itself currently has two key views: one is the emissions scenario visualisation; the other is the trends in travel mode. There are several tabs; Auckland, Hamilton, Wellington, Christchurch, Oamaru and Queenstown which show the patterns for both emissions and transport in these places.
About the Emission Scenario Controller
The ‘emissions’ tab allows us to visualise how emissions change the overall flows of vehicles for each of the areas listed above. We can do this using the ‘Scenario Controller’. The baseline data is automatically loaded into the visualisation in the background map. Select any category to determine how shifts in the fuel type of vehicles will shift the CO2 footprint of the area of interest. In the example below we shift Hybrid to make up ¾ of the vehicle fleet and show that there would be a 44.91% reduction in total carbon emissions even with the same VKT


To see details about the emissions and VKT of each neighbourhood you can click on the neighbourhood. The info box below shows the emissions for one SA1 neighbourhood in the current scenario.

The visualisation can be controlled using the instructions in the screenshot below. Click on the ‘question mark’ icon, see the icon here to bring up the navigation instructions, which are shown below.

About the Mode Share Visualiser
The mode share tab visualises the transport patterns from the 2018 census for each of the cities and localities listed above. There are active transport (e.g. Walking and Cycling), public transport (e.g. bus), Drive, Passenger and other categories to select to help you understand the most recent travel trends in the region of interest. The data is focused on travel to work. There is a box in the top right-hand corner of the window to allow users to query the origin and destination data of where residents have come from and to work. Once an area is selected (e.g. Christchurch Central), it is possible to query Incoming, Outgoing or internal commuters for that area. Selecting a particular area, by clicking on any of the circles, will display the trip data. For example, 6,825 incoming commuters, 9 outgoing and 18 internal commuters for Christchurch Central.
Note: it is this data that has formed the basis of the ‘mode shift’ scenarios developed as part of the project.


About the Carbon Neutral Neighbourhood team
The Carbon Neutral Neighbourhood project is led by an interdisciplinary team at Te Whare Wānanga o Waitaha | University of Canterbury. The team has analysed international examples of well-functioning cities, towns and neighbourhoods that have low greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. We have put all these case studies together into digestible reports. See link here: https://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.4410167 By providing accessible and actionable lessons, this knowledge will support planners to meet GHG emissions reduction goals. It aims to enable developing and retrofitting more sustainable, healthy, accessible, and resilient cities, towns and neighbourhoods across Aotearoa New Zealand.
Working Papers
Campbell M, Conrow L, Logan T, Kingham S International Case Studies Report for in Greenhouse Gas Emissions Reductions: A Selected Portfolio of International Examples of Greenhouse Gas Emission Reduction Exemplars. (October 31, 2022). Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=4410167 or https://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.4410167.
And
Campbell M, Conrow L, Logan T, Kingham S Working paper: Lessons learned on how to design Aotearoa New Zealand’s urban centres to better enable low(er) carbon living. (March 1, 2023). Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=4486347 or https://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.4486347.
And
Campbell, Malcolm Working paper: "Up" vs "Out". Carbon emission scenario planning in Aotearoa New Zealand's urban centres (March 29, 2024). Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=4887672 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.4887672.
And
Campbell, Malcolm Working paper: Scenarios for carbon-neutral neighbourhoods in Aotearoa New Zealand's urban centres. Sprawl or Densify? (November 11, 2024). Available at SSRN: https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=5067893.