Auckland

New Zealand COUNTRY

1,606,564 CITY POPULATION

Mayor-Council GOVERNMENT TYPE

Introduction

Auckland is a city in the North Island of New Zealand. The most populous urban area in the country, it is located in the Auckland Region—the area governed by Auckland Council—which includes outlying rural areas and the islands of the Hauraki Gulf, resulting in a total population of 1,618,400. Auckland is a diverse, multicultural and cosmopolitan city, home to the largest Polynesian population in the world. The Māori-language name for Auckland is Tāmaki Makaurau, meaning "Tāmaki desired by many", in reference to the desirability of its natural resources and geography.

It was established in 1840 by Governor William Hobson as the capital of the colonial government and was named for George Eden, Earl of Auckland, British first lord of the Admiralty and later governor-general of India. The most-extensive urban area in New Zealand, Auckland also has the country’s greatest concentration of indigenous Maori and has large numbers of Polynesians from other islands in the South Pacific.

Data and facts

Auckland is frequently ranked within the world’s top 20 most “liveable cities.”
The city centre comprises 433 hectares that closely correspond to Statistics NZ’s Census unit areas; Auckland Central West, Auckland Central East & Auckland Harbourside.
Auckland City Centre represents New Zealand’s highest population density at approximately 12,000 people per Km². The densest SA2 (Hobson Ridge Central) has 91,000 per Km².
The average daily maximum temperature is 23.7 °C (74.7 °F) in February and 14.7 °C (58.5 °F) in July. The absolute maximum recorded temperature is 34.4 °C (93.9 °F) on 12 February 2009, while the absolute minimum is −3.9 °C (25.0 °F), although there is also an unofficial low of −5.7 °C (21.7 °F) recorded at Riverhead Forest in June 1936.
Although Auckland city center comprises only 0.8 percent of the overall area of Auckland, it contributes 7.4% of NZ and 20% of Auckland GDP. City Centre GDP was $16B (2016).
There are over 50 volcanoes in the city of Auckland but these volcanoes are not expected to erupt again in this area. The volcanoes originated from a magma source which is located 100-kilometers under the city and has provided the city with some truly remarkable landscapes.
Auckland has the largest Polynesian population in the whole world.
Auckland boasts one of the tallest man-made structures in the Southern Hemisphere. Standing at 328 meters tall, on the corner of Victoria and Federal Streets, the Sky Tower offers crystal-clear views of Auckland for 80 kilometers in every direction. The tower is the tallest man-made structure in New Zealand and among the tallest in the Southern Hemisphere. Enjoy dinner with a view in one of the tower’s sleek restaurants including The Sugar Club and Orbit Dining.
The outer lanes on the Harbour Bridge were not part of the original structure. Japanese engineers invented a way to clip them on when the bridge needed widening. Some refer to the lanes as the "Nippon Clip ons"

Administration

Auckland City Council was the local government authority for Auckland City, New Zealand, from 1871 to 1 November 2010, when it and Auckland's six other city and district councils were amalgamated to form the Auckland Council. It was an elected body representing the 404,658 residents (2006 census) of the city, which included some of the Hauraki Gulf islands, such as Waiheke Island and Great Barrier Island. It was chaired by the Mayor of Auckland City.

Economy

Auckland is New Zealand's economic powerhouse, contributing 38% of the nation's GDP – an innovative, globally connected city in a country ranked first in the world for ease of doing business. Auckland is the major economic and financial center of New Zealand. It has an advanced market economy with strengths in finance, commerce, and tourism. Most major international corporations have an Auckland office; the most expensive office space is around lower Queen Street and the Viaduct Basin in the Auckland CBD, where many financial and business services are located, which make up a large percentage of the CBD economy. The largest commercial and industrial areas of the Auckland Region are Auckland CBD and the western parts of Manukau, mostly bordering the Manukau Harbour and the Tamaki River estuary. Auckland is classified by the Globalization and World Cities Research Network as a Beta + world city because of its importance in commerce, the arts, and education.

Infrastructure

Auckland's infrastructure needs to keep up with the pace and scale of growth. Investment in infrastructure has long-term consequences for Auckland's future and will shape how well it functions for future generations.

The population and economic growth expected in Auckland over the next 30 years presents a number of infrastructure-related challenges and opportunities, including:

coordinating investment and planning to enable growth
improving the performance of Auckland's infrastructure
creating resilient infrastructure networks.

Significant investment by the central government, council and the private sector is needed to respond to these challenges. It is crucial that this investment is coordinated and aligned with growth, in order to minimize the costs of under-used assets, increase Auckland's productivity and achieve better environmental outcomes. If not managed carefully, the size of infrastructure investment required may have significant financial implications for infrastructure providers. Ensuring that infrastructure networks have sufficient capacity to service growth is critical. The sequencing of future urban and development areas influences the timing of investment in the strategic networks needed to service these areas. Further investment in local infrastructure will be needed as these areas grow. This will require alignment between the expansion of strategic water and transport networks, and investment in local infrastructure, particularly to service development areas and future urban areas.

Technology

Auckland has a thriving technology sector, driven by a renowned innovation pedigree and collaboration with top global talent. Auckland is New Zealand’s tech powerhouse. It accounts for over half of the sector GDP, employs over 68,000 people, and contributes nearly NZ$10 billion to the region’s economy. Competitive in fintech, health IT, digital and creative technologies, Auckland is also home to established manufacturers in the biotech, robotics, precision engineering, and marine industries. Powered by an advanced digital infrastructure, the sector has a highly skilled workforce, world-class innovation hubs, a business-friendly environment and competitive wages.

Smart City

Auckland, New Zealand has secured national recognition at the 2019 Economic Development New Zealand (EDNZ) awards for creating innovations that help solve complex city-scale problems.

As reported, Mayor Phil Goff says Auckland Council and its economic development agency are leading the charge on how a city can be smarter about tackling urban challenges.

Powered by GridAKL Innovation Labs, It won the EDNZ Best Practice Award for Innovation. It is a joint initiative between GridAKL and Innovate Auckland, the respective innovation teams from Auckland Tourism, Events and Economic Development (ATEED) and Auckland Council. It is a fabulous example of an economic development agency fulfilling its role as an instigator of long-term systemic change where there is market failure, in this case in the innovation ecosystem.

It is vital to notice that The Innovate Auckland partnership is delivering impressive public benefits, in addition to the private benefit of the companies who are engaged in GridAKL programmes. Together they work on delivering collaborative opportunities for government, businesses, academia and communities. They address Auckland’s complex urban, economic, and sustainability challenges.

Major projects are tackling the following issues

Auckland’s real-time swimming conditions and water quality SafeSwim website
How to use city-wide data better in decision-making and safeguard Aucklanders’ data and privacy in the Smarter Cities project
Technological and sustainability improvements to farming and food production practices
Climate action planning

Some of these solutions, such as Go with Tourism and SafeSwim, are now being adopted beyond Auckland and New Zealand borders.

Auckland Go with Tourism

Go with Tourism earned a commendation in the Best Practice Award for Innovation. It is a game-changing job matching platform that is now being rolled out nationally.

It was developed in partnership with Tourism Industry Aotearoa (TIA) in response to a sector experiencing significant skills shortages.

There is an estimated 40,000 new tourism workers needed by 2025.

Go with Tourism was a key project to emerge from Auckland’s Destination AKL 2025 visitor economy strategy, which launched in 2018.

The initiative has since secured NZ$ 5.2 million from the Government’s new International Visitor Conservation and Tourism Levy (IVL) to expand the platform into a wider national programme of activity in order to build the nationwide tourism workforce.

It has created significant outcomes for both jobseekers and tourism employers.

The New Zealand visitor sector should be thankful for the leadership ATEED has demonstrated to address New Zealand’s growing skills shortages and the opportunities created for young people wanting to find a sustainable career pathway, and therefore improve the quality of their lives.