Design Urban under Steve Thorne was appointed to master plan a flood-prone site at Mangawhai, North Island, New Zealand. Water management corridors were incorporated as significant community assets and designed to enhance the amenity of residential areas and provide safe and pleasant access corridors for people walking between schools, a town centre, and community facilities. These corridors and the adjacent residential areas were designed to ensure a high level of surveillance was achieved, and so improve prospects for personal safety and the perception of safety. The master plan includes a new street-oriented centre for Mangawhai which lacks a centre of substance. The new centre includes shops, commercial offices, medical suites, a new hotel and a micro-brewery.

Water management devices were designed (by others) to ensure that water entering the estuary was of a higher quality than the pre-development standard. Construction is advanced.