Expansion of Lifestyle Blocks in Peri-Urban New Zealand: A Review of the Implications for Environmental Management and Landscape Design

Simple item page
dc.citation.issue7
dc.citation.volume14
dc.contributor.authorXie H
dc.contributor.authorPearson D
dc.contributor.authorMcLaren SJ
dc.contributor.authorHorne D
dc.date.accessioned2025-08-15T02:58:27Z
dc.date.available2025-08-15T02:58:27Z
dc.date.issued2025-07-11
dc.description.abstractLifestyle blocks (LBs) are small rural holdings primarily used for residential and recreational purposes rather than commercial farming. Despite the rapid expansion of LBs over the last 25 years, which has been driven by lifestyle amenity preference and land subdivision incentives, their environmental performance remains understudied. This is the case even though their proliferation is leading to an irreversible loss of highly productive soils and accelerating land fragmentation in peri-urban areas. Through undertaking a systematic literature review of relevant studies on LBs in New Zealand and comparable international contexts, this paper aims to quantify existing knowledge and suggest future research needs and management strategies. It focuses on the environmental implications of LB activities in relation to water consumption, food production, energy use, and biodiversity protection. The results indicate that variation in land use practices and environmental awareness among LB owners leads to differing environmental outcomes. LBs offer opportunities for biodiversity conservation and small-scale food production through sustainable practices, while also presenting environmental challenges related to resource consumption, greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, and loss of productive land for commercial agriculture. Targeted landscape design could help mitigate the environmental pressures associated with these properties while enhancing their potential to deliver ecological and sustainability benefits. The review highlights the need for further evaluation of the environmental sustainability of LBs and emphasises the importance of property design and adaptable planning policies and strategies that balance environmental sustainability, land productivity, and lifestyle owners’ aspirations. It underscores the potential for LBs to contribute positively to environmental management while addressing associated challenges, providing valuable insights for ecological conservation and sustainable land use planning.
dc.description.confidentialfalse
dc.edition.editionJuly 2025
dc.identifier.citationXie H, Pearson D, McLaren SJ, Horne D. (2025). Expansion of Lifestyle Blocks in Peri-Urban New Zealand: A Review of the Implications for Environmental Management and Landscape Design. Land. 14. 7.
dc.identifier.doi10.3390/land14071447
dc.identifier.eissn2073-445X
dc.identifier.elements-typejournal-article
dc.identifier.number1447
dc.identifier.urihttps://mro.massey.ac.nz/handle/10179/73366
dc.languageEnglish
dc.publisherMDPI (Basel, Switzerland)
dc.publisher.urihttps://www.mdpi.com/2073-445X/14/7/1447
dc.relation.isPartOfLand
dc.rights(c) 2025 The Author/s
dc.rightsCC BY 4.0
dc.rights.urihttps://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
dc.subjectbiodiversity conservation
dc.subjectenvironmental sustainability
dc.subjectgreenhouse gas (GHG) emission
dc.subjecthighly productive land;
dc.subjectland use change
dc.subjectlandscape strategy
dc.subjectsmallholding
dc.titleExpansion of Lifestyle Blocks in Peri-Urban New Zealand: A Review of the Implications for Environmental Management and Landscape Design
dc.typeJournal article
pubs.elements-id502643
pubs.organisational-groupOther
Files
Original bundle
Now showing 1 - 1 of 1
Thumbnail Image
Name:
502643 PDF.pdf
Size:
3.45 MB
Format:
Adobe Portable Document Format
Description:
Published version.pdf
Download
License bundle
Now showing 1 - 1 of 1
Thumbnail Image
Name:
license.txt
Size:
9.22 KB
Format:
Plain Text
Description:
Download
Collections
Journal Articles