Peter GilderdalePeter Gilderdale

Peter Gilderdale is a senior lecturer in Communication Design at AUT.

The design overhaul of the Auckland bus network may be bold, but is it good?

by

In their pursuit of an abstracted planning perfection, the designers have seemingly been prepared to sacrifice some people’s experience for the sake of a cleaner looking system, argues miffed North Shore bus user and design lecturer Peter Gilderdale When a huge new public transport initiative rolls out, as it did recently on the North Shore, … Read more

The university library row reveals a seismic shift in NZ’s middle class

by

Grey Lynn arts lovers just don’t get it. The debate over plans to close libraries at the University of Auckland lays bare a battle for the middle classes, writes design historian Peter Gilderdale. If one were to look for a watershed moment in New Zealand cultural history, Auckland University’s decision to axe specialist libraries in Art, Architecture, … Read more

Educational doping: how our school system encourages fake achievement

by

Following an outcry, the NZQA has agreed to a review of its policy of publishing exemplar answers that students have been memorising and reproducing. It’s all part of a larger problem, writes AUT lecturer Peter Gilderdale, of ‘academic obedience’ over actual learning. Think of a place where doping is both prevalent and systemic in a … Read more