A decade on: reflections on the Resource Management Act 1991 and the practice of urban planning in New Zealand

The radical restructuring of New Zealand's planning system in 1991 was base d on the Resource Management Act and significant amendments to the Local Go vernment Act 1974. In this paper we report a study of urban planning in New Zealand under this new regime. Amendments to the Local Government Act were designed in large part to facilitate the administration of the Resource Ma nagement Act, the authors of which wanted to emphasise the sustainable mana gement of the biophysical environment and dramatically to limit local gover nment's involvement in urban and social planning. Ironically, the strategic planning provisions of the amended Local Government Act gave local governm ent contradictory powers. We discuss the nature of this contradiction and i ts impacts on the ways in which district planning under the Resource Manage ment Act and strategic planning under the Local Government Act have combine d to create new and unforseen approaches to urban planning and management i n New Zealand.