Auckland City


Auckland City was a city in the Auckland urban area, covering the central isthmus and most of the islands of the Hauraki Gulf. It included the Auckland CBD – a major financial and commercial centre – and a number of suburbs.
It was formerly a local authority district that was governed by Auckland City Council; it lay within the wider Auckland Region, which was governed by Auckland Regional Council. Auckland City was disestablished as a local government district on 1 November 2010, when Auckland City Council was amalgamated with other councils of the Auckland Region into the new Auckland Council. The local government district was the most populous district in the country, with a population of 450,000 at 30 June 2010. In 2009, Auckland was rated the fourth-best place to live in the world, in human resources consultancy Mercer's annual survey.

Geography

The mainland part of Auckland City occupied the Auckland isthmus, also known as the Tāmaki isthmus. The Waitematā Harbour, which opens to the Hauraki Gulf, separated North Shore City from the isthmus. The Manukau Harbour, which opens to the Tasman Sea, separated Manukau City from the isthmus. The distance between the two harbours is particularly narrow at each end of the isthmus. At the western end, the Whau River, an estuarial arm of the Waitematā Harbour, comes within two kilometres of the waters of the Manukau Harbour on the west coast and marks the beginning of the Northland Peninsula. A few kilometres to the southeast at Ōtāhuhu, the Tamaki River, an arm of the Hauraki Gulf on the east coast, comes just 1200 metres from the Manukau's waters. Being part of the Auckland volcanic field, much of the isthmus is mantled with volcanic rocks and soils, and several prominent scoria cones dot the isthmus.
Many Hauraki Gulf islands were part of Auckland City. Such islands of the inner gulf included Rangitoto, Motutapu, Browns Island, Motuihe, Rakino, Ponui and Waiheke, while the outer gulf islands included Little Barrier Island, Great Barrier and the Mokohinau Islands.

Local government

In November 1989, central government restructured local authorities throughout New Zealand. After substantial protests and legal challenges, Auckland City was merged with eight smaller local authorities to form a new Auckland City Council. The new Auckland City had double the population of the old. However, amalgamation, forced onto local authorities often against their will, was criticised to have led to less democracy and higher rates for the same services.
A further restructuring and amalgamation brought all seven councils in the area and the Auckland Regional Council into one "SuperCity", starting 1 November 2010.

Demography

Auckland City was the most populous city of New Zealand. In 2010 it was made up of 188 ethnic groups, making it New Zealand's most diverse city, and slightly more diverse than in 2007, when 185 ethnic groups had been counted. In 2010, the life expectancy was 83 years for women, and 79.6 years for men, while the average age of the population was 33.4 years, with 35.9 years for the whole country.

Economy

In the year to March 2009, Auckland City had 353,000 jobs, of which 26.3% was held by property and business services, as well as 65,655 businesses, making up 13.1% of New Zealand's businesses and 16.2% of New Zealand's jobs. Over 2009 to the month of March, Auckland City's unemployment rate increased to 5.6%, compared to the overall New Zealand unemployment rate of 4.5%. In addition the city's economic output declined by 2.4%. Gareth Stiven, the economic manager of Auckland City, stated that this was because the city's economy was heavily involved with service industries, such as banking and insurance, which were affected by financial crises. However, over the last five years of its existence, Auckland's economic growth averaged 1.4% each year, higher than the average of the region and the nation.
In 2003 three of the ten largest companies in New Zealand were headquartered in Auckland City. Many large corporations were housed within Auckland CBD, the central part of Auckland City.
Air New Zealand has its worldwide headquarters, called "The Hub", off Beaumont and Fanshawe Streets in the Western Reclamation; the airline moved there from the Auckland CBD in 2006. In September 2003 Air New Zealand was the only one of the very largest corporations in New Zealand to have its headquarters within the Auckland CBD.

Suburbs

These lists of suburbs are arranged electorally, by the wards, starting from the west.
Note: CBD - central business district
For the suburbs of the other cities within the Auckland urban area, see North Shore, Manukau, Waitakere and Papakura.

Roads

Auckland City had six sister cities and two friendship city relationships. All of these cities except Hamburg and Galway are located around the Pacific Rim.