A cultural lifeline - the City Rail Link
This article by TRAâs Tim Gregory was originally published in Britomart Magazineâs Winter 17 issue.Â
The cultural capitals of the world have always depended on hyper-connected public transport â for Auckland, the City Rail Link has the potential to become a cultural lifeline connecting the exciting community arts and culture scenes emerging across the city. The benefits of Aucklandâs City Rail Link (CRL) are often discussed in productivity terms, and while this is immensely important for a city competing internationally, potentially the most transformative benefits of the CRL in the long term could prove to be cultural.Â
Auckland is a city regularly critiqued as lacking in culture. But with its young and diverse communities, as well as unique geography, Auckland has as much potential for a truly differentiated and compelling cultural offering as anywhere in the world. The seeds of this are spread across Auckland, from the vibrant markets of Avondale and Otara, to the arts scenes in communities as diverse as Glen Innes and Titirangi, just to name a few. However, they are isolated â for these to grow, connect and contribute to Auckland having a true sense of culture they need to be part of a connected city. It is in fact infrastructure, rather than an inherent lack of culture, that is holding us back.
Aucklandâs leaders have contemplated the CRL since the 1920âs. Meanwhile, the worldâs great cities, icons like New York and London spent the 20th Century defining themselves as cultural meccas. Not in small part thanks to their hyper-connected subway, tube, and underground systems.
In cultural terms, these transport systems enable movement and connection between the cityâs people, cultures, and ideas. When you visit or live in these cities, this is clearly evident. Culture follows connection â without it, people, their ideas, communities and cultures are isolated and their potential to bring vibrancy and life to a place is never realised.
In New York the circulation of ideas between the artistic enclaves of more affordable boroughs such as Brooklyn, and the global centre that is Manhattan, has always been facilitated by New Yorkâs Subway. American painter Jean-Michel Basquiat was one artist who moved between these locales knowing he needed to connect his art with a wider community.
Aucklandâs artists are using the improving transport system to foster our cityâs sense of culture. The build of Britomart Station that took place earlier this century was developed as a partnership between art and architecture. Michael Parekowhai worked as a fundamental part of the creative team manifesting the station and its surrounds conceptually as New Zealandâs largest wharenui featuring Parekowhaiâs Forest Rangers and The Irish Guards. At the heart ofWithin the Britomart precinct sits Chris Baileyâs âSeven Pouâ, a group of carved pou â a meeting of the modern and indigenous that grounds you in the place. For Bailey, a regular visitor to Britomart as he travels from Waiheke via the ferry, and onward to his family in West Auckland whom he visits by train â the pou symbolise Britomart the precinct as a place of converging cultures and ethnicities, where a ânew city cultureâ for Auckland is being formed.
Britomart, as the central node of the transport system, is where we all meet. As the system develops further Britomart will become a platform for connecting Aucklanders, New Zealanders, and international visitors to Aucklandâs culture â just as Manhattan was the window connecting the world with the culture of New York.
Gary Silipa, a Glen Innes-based graffiti artist, turned post-graffiti artist and gallery director, believes that with the CRL as thecan be an enabler, . Easy transit can create there is incredible opportunity to create these kind of synergies between a central cultural hubs like Britomart and cultural scenes emerging further out of the city. Silipa, through his gallery The Good, The Bad and in collaboration with Te Oro (Glenn Innesâ impressive arts centre) is helping to foster a vibrant neighbourhood arts scene in Glen Innes, , such as his including the successful Auckland Art Week event: Bradley Lane project which involved (the live painting of 15 outdoor murals around the Glen Innes Town Centre).
He wants to encourage more people to travel from the city centre and experience the emerging scene in Glen Innes: âPeople donât realise how easy it is to get here already. It is only three stops from Britomart: Orakei, Meadowbank, then Glen Innesâ. Silipa actively promotes how easy it is to get to Glen Innes on The Good, The Bad, website. It is currently a 12-minute ride each way, and with the completion of the CRL, 9 minutes will be shaved off the round journey â a 37.5% time-saving.
But the opportunity presented by the CRL goes beyond speed to destination only. There is a unique opportunity to design new stations as public spaces to exhibit Aucklandâs cultural scene (to promote it and inspire people to visit it via the network), whilst also leaving space for spontaneous culture to emerge (by legitimising buskers, street poets, and street artists).
Itâs not fanciful to think that in a few yearsâ time, a community destined for transport oriented development (TOD) and connected with much speedier travel times like Glen Innes, could become a cultural destination for Auckland. In Oakland, California, an event known as First Fridays began with a couple of galleries putting their work out for passers-by to view on a Friday evening. On Fridays to follow local food, music, and art walks were added â and today the event attracts thousands from across the Bay Area, all travelling to Oakland via the BART rail system (ridership increases by 5,000 at the local station on the night of event).
First Fridays have become the symbol of Oaklandâs economic and cultural revival. In a finally connected Auckland, the development of vibrant cultural centres across our transport network, enabled by the CRL and activated through concepts like First Fridays, can catalyse Aucklandâs cultural realisation.