IN TWELVE OF NEW ZEALAND’S CITIES www.qualityofl ifeproject.govt.nz I Quality of Life in Twelve of New Zealand’s Cities 2007 The twelve cities Almost 56% of the total population of New Zealand resides in the cities of Rodney, North Shore, Waitakere, Auckland, Manukau, Hamilton, Tauranga, Porirua, Hutt, Wellington, Christchurch, Dunedin. This report uses 68 indicators to identify points for action aimed at ensuring sustainable development and quality of life in those cities. Rodney Tauranga Population: 89,562 Population: 103,629 h Shore Porirua Population: 205,614 Population: 48,537 Waitakere Hutt Population: 186,444 Population: 97,710 Auckland Wellington Population: 404,655 Population: 179,466 Manukau Christchurch Population: 328,980 Population: 348,435 Hamilton Dunedin Population: 129,255 Population: 118,686 Data source: Statistics New Zealand, Census 2006 I 1 A word from the mayors Quality of life has a major infl uence on where people choose going well and where improvements are required. This enables to live and what gives them a sense of pride in their city. us to evaluate our own planning, policies and decision making and to advocate, where appropriate, to central government, City life is appealing because of its diversity. Great cities offer non-governmental agencies and the private sector to address access to a wide range of cultural experiences, job opportunities the identifi ed needs. A better quality of life for all city residents and things to see and do. An increasing challenge for us all is will come about only if we work toward common outcomes to sustain and develop the cities we have created, in order to in partnership with each other, central government and our provide people the quality of life they desire. Ensuring that the communities. qualities that make our cities unique are protected and enhanced – now and in the future – is a very important part of this. This is the third Quality of Life report which follows the fi ve yearly census. It is clear from the increased number of cities It is essential that infrastructure and services support the participating in this report that quality of life is a priority continued population growth that our cities are experiencing. commitment for metropolitan councils. To assist local authorities As more people arrive from around the world and from other with monitoring their community outcomes the indicators in the New Zealand cities, there will be increasing social and cultural report have been structured around the social/cultural, economic diversity. It is important that we not only help communities and environmental wellbeing areas identifi ed in the Local respond to this change, but also help migrants to overcome Government Act (2002). barriers so they have more opportunities to fully participate in community life. The Metropolitan Mayors would like to thank the Project Sponsor (Jim Harland), Project Manager (Kath Jamieson) and Results across the domains in this report show that urban the Quality of Life research team for their hard work in bringing New Zealand is essentially a great place to live, work and play. this third report together. The Quality of Project continues to fi ll However, we also need to acknowledge that not everyone a pivotal gap in our knowledge and understanding of how life is experiences all of the positive aspects of our cities and the gap experienced in our 12 cities. The information gathered as part between those with a better or poorer quality of life is widening of this project better enables decision makers to identify and in some instances. address issues in their communities and this in turn helps us The 2007 Quality of Life report presents a picture of life in to continually improve our residents’ quality of life. metropolitan New Zealand and allows us to identify what is Andrew Williams Bob Harvey John Banks Len Brown Mayor of North Shore Mayor of Waitakere Mayor of Auckland Mayor of Manukau Bob Simcock Kerry Prendergast Bob Parker Peter Chin Mayor of Hamilton Mayor of Wellington Mayor of Christchurch Mayor of Dunedin Stuart Crosby Jenny Brash Penny Webster David Ogden Mayor of Tauranga Mayor of Porirua Mayor of Rodney Mayor of Hutt 2 I Acknowledgements The Quality of Life Project has achieved success over the last I also want to thank staff in the three councils of Rodney, Porirua decade because of the commitment of many people in the 12 and Hutt for their continued support in the development of the participating councils to a belief in the benefi ts of collaboration 2007 report and their ongoing commitment to the objectives of to achieve better wellbeing outcomes for their cities. The project the Quality of Life Project. is only ever as strong as these working relationships. Alex Woodley, our data coordinator, has once again done a The Quality of Life Project research team deserves special superb job to collect and organise data from a wide variety of mention. Team members have over the last year put a huge sources. Alex and her team at Point Research Ltd have helped to effort into the preparation of the 2007 report. I especially want edit the report and pull it together. They have also checked our to thank the dedicated team of writers who prepared the data for accuracy and have worked tirelessly behind the scenes chapters. The people mentioned below have spent many hours to ensure we have access to the best available information. making sense of large volumes of data and have worked to very Thanks also to the wide range of data providers who have tight deadlines: contributed information for the report, including government Trudi Fava and Claire Gomas, departments, councils and other agencies. We recognise contractors working on behalf of Auckland City Council our information demands have at times been huge and your willingness to help where you can is genuinely appreciated. Pippa Berry-Cope, Hamilton City Council We are also grateful to the input of many people who gave Gavin Armstrong, Wellington City Council feedback on and peer reviewed chapter drafts. Your expert David Hay and Tu Van Nguyen, Manukau City Council advice has improved signifi cantly the quality of the fi nal report. A list of people and organisations consulted is included at the I also want to thank the peer reviewers and the writers of the end of this report. supporting sections of the report: Finally, I want to thank the Metropolitan Sector Group Chief Andrea Howard, Dunedin City Council Executives Forum for their continued support. I especially want Regan Solomon, Waitakere City Council to thank Jim Harland, our Project Sponsor, for his unswerving commitment to the work and outcomes of the Quality of Alex Woodley, Point Research Life Project and his belief in the research team. Jim and his I also want to thank Vivian Ip (Auckland City Council), Paul colleagues have always appreciated the value of collaboration Gower and Mark Brougham (Hamilton City Council), Tracilee and are committed to making resources available to the project. Linders (North Shore City Council) and Adele Hadfi eld (Tauranga This support is critical to ensuring the success of a project of City Council) for their input into the development of the report. this nature. I especially want to acknowledge Andrea Howard and Gavin Armstrong for their considerable assistance in dealing with the day to day administrative matters of keeping a project of this size delivering excellent results. They have been a particular help in the preparation of the Quality of Life Survey 2006, website redevelopment, budget management and report editing and development. Without their continued support my job would be much harder. Kath Jamieson, Principal Research Adviser, Christchurch City Council Project Manager I 3 Contents Executive summary 4 Introduction 7 Key results 11 • One: People 15 • Two: Knowledge and skills 32 • Three: Health 47 • Four: Safety 77 • Five: Housing 99 • Six: Social connectedness 122 • Seven: Civil and political rights 143 • Eight: Economic standard of living 157 • Nine: Economic development 173 • Ten: Natural environment 190 • Eleven: Built environment 215 Conclusions 230 Data collection 234 Consultation and contributions 236 Defi nitions 237 Index of tables and graphs 238 4 I Executive summary Overview Background The Quality of Life report provides a comprehensive assessment This is the third report on the quality of life in our cities. These of quality of life in 12 New Zealand cities. reports are part of the Quality of Life Project, a multi-council initiative that emerged in response to the growing pressure on The purpose of the report is to provide information that urban communities, concern about the impact of urbanisation contributes to the understanding of social, economic and and the effects on the wellbeing of urban residents. It started environmental conditions which can be used to describe and with six councils in 1999 and has since expanded to include quantify the quality of life of those living in New Zealand’s major 12 territorial local authorities. urban areas. The key purpose of the Project is to: The 12 territorial local authorities covered in this report are: • Rodney • Tauranga • Provide information to decision-makers to improve the quality of life in major New Zealand urban areas. • North Shore • Hamilton • Waitakere • Porirua Objectives of the Project include: • Auckland • Hutt • Consistency of indicator use and monitoring methods among • Manukau • Wellington participating cities • Christchurch • Dunedin • Provision of data to support advocacy on urban issues These local authorities are either urban in nature or are facing • Raising the profi le of urban issues within central government high growth on the fringe of urban areas. • Collaborative working of bigger cities to monitor and address quality of life issues. Monitoring across the cities enables participating councils to develop a consistent set of indicators, identify urban issues and trends, and provide a platform to develop comprehensive responses to these.