UNDIE 500 – and how planners could do it better!

Abstract

Most New Zealanders are familiar with the cultural affair that is the ‘Undie 500’, mainly because of the events that unfold as a result of main attractions. Images of riot police, burning couches and drunken behaviour are normally the first that flash to mind. For those that aren’t aware, or thought it was just about the couch burning and mob scenes, the Undie 500 is actually a yearly tradition (when allowed to run) that is well entrenched into the student culture of Canterbury and Otago Universities. Originally the Undie 500 was a convoy of vehicles that travelled to Dunedin in support of the Canterbury team in the Marlowe Cup Rugby match which was played between the Canterbury Engineers XV and Otago Surveyors XV. It came into its own after the suggestion to purchase a vehicle for under $500 come into effect.(ODT,2011). The decorated vans then proceed to Dunedin and, like any good road trip, had toilet and refreshment breaks en-route - they just happened to be at the many pubs along the way. Despite having been run since the early 1980s by ENSOC (The University of Canterbury Engineering Society), the event has only been heavily documented in the years that violent scenes unfolded in North Dunedin streets.