Big city life? Challenges and trade-offs for Auckland city

Auckland is on the move. Economic growth is outpacing most regions and people continue to flow into the city. This is putting pressure on the shape of Auckland city and the form of housing and transport infrastructure. So it's not surprising that Auckland is revising its planning for the city. We were asked by three clients, Treasury, the Ministry of Transport and the Reserve Bank of New Zealand to:

•  Help inform debate by comparing Auckland to Australian cities, leveraging existing work.
• Use a simple economic structure as a starting point to illuminate the trade-offs from improving transport infrastructure, lifting construction productivity and extending the urban limit.
• Identify touch points for future specialised study likely to provide the most impact.