The prospects for Auckland’s liveability should be looking up following Auckland Council’s recent $32 billion, 10-year plan sign-off. The plan aims to respond to Auckland’s ongoing housing, transport and other challenges as well as new and growing ones such as Covid and the impacts from climate change.
But what’s the plan to actually measure any future improvements in this liveability? Or do we not need this now that Auckland is apparently already the most liveable city on Earth?
The Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) last month surprised everyone by awarding global pole position to Auckland – substantially on the back of its response to Covid-19. Our Covid response has made pandemic life in Auckland relatively easier, but it hasn’t had a positive influence across the things that matter most to the people who live here.
House prices are 23 percent higher than last year says the QV House Price Index. The real-time Tom Tom traffic report say traffic congestion is higher at its peaks compared to last year (outside of the lockdowns). The rate of sea-level rise around Auckland is still predicted to accelerate, causing coastline erosion. Thanks for nothing, Covid-19.
There are three internationally well-known city liveability measures: the EIU assessment, US human resources firm Mercer’s Quality of Living ranking, and culture and lifestyle publication Monocle magazine’s Quality of Life Survey.
The EIU and Mercer’s surveys both began as cost of living assessments to help companies evaluate internationally-based staff remuneration rankings. They include factors such as education and health which New Zealand cities don’t have direct responsibility for. Auckland has been consistently in the top 10 for both since the Super City was established in 2010. Monocle prioritises more idiosyncratic factors (the availability of outdoor seating and the cost of a good meal) and Auckland has typically rated in the low 20s, except for the Covid bump-up to 8th this year.
The surveys try to measure objectives factors (crime rate, transport congestion, house prices) based on the most current information. But data sources vary, collection time periods impact results and different weightings are used. EIU prioritises stability (safety) and culture/environment with a higher weighting. All have an in-built audience bias.
None of them measure what Auckland’s citizens actually value. In the 2020 New Zealand Quality of Life survey (taken from September to November 2020), only 47 percent of Aucklanders rated their quality of life as very good or excellent – the second lowest, tying with Christchurch and Tauranga, of the eight cities surveyed. Seven months after Covid-19 hit us, more Aucklanders said their quality of life had decreased this year (31%) compared to those who said it had increased (21%). Auckland had by far the highest decrease rating of any New Zealand city. EIU must not have used this piece of current information.
EIU gave Auckland a 100 percent score for education, as it said students had been able to continue to go to school. This measure appears to have neglected the nine weeks of school Auckland children missed, as well as the downward trend in New Zealand’s reading, maths and science as measured by PISA and the negative impact on thousands of international students prevented from completing their education in Auckland.
When Mercer awarded Auckland third in its 2019 ranking it said its social environment and quality of housing were top contributing factors. Mercer should have spoken to the OECD, who that year said income distribution was below average and that education, health and housing outcomes varied strongly by socio-economic background.
There are other liveability surveys. The Deutsche bank Liveability Survey (Auckland 16th out of 56 cities in 2019) and the Global Liveable and Smart Cities Index (Auckland 11th out of 78 cities in 2018). There are also a range of category-specific rankings which it is perhaps best not to feature in. The Innovation Cities Index had Auckland 110th out of 500 cities in 2019. Global tourism advisor Resonance Consulting ranked Auckland 83rd World’s Best City. The NZ Herald’s annual Project Auckland publication is a great overview of activities, opportunities and challenges but it does not specifically measure progress.
The Auckland Plan, the region’s 30-year development plan, has 33 measures to report the progress across its six broad outcomes. Its 96-page, half-time report was issued in February 2020 showing 35 percent of areas reporting progress in the right direction, 65 percent reporting mixed results or limited progress. The EIU, and the Auckland public, missed this information too.
It’s time for Auckland to establish its own scorecard that measures what its citizens value, one that the council and its partners can use to publicly track progress and a measure that is easy to understand. Auckland’s first super city mayor Len Brown set up the useful Auckland Scorecard. It had 19 measures across four broad categories: communities, economy, environment and transport. From a starting index of 100 it rose 19 percent over the five years. Mayor Brown’s vision was for Auckland to become the world’s most liveable city. Transpires he just needed a pandemic.
Most Aucklanders know how the region’s liveability is tracking. Despite Auckland’s natural beauty, dynamic culture and progress in a number of areas, we are not making adequate headway tackling Auckland’s toughest challenges of climate change action, housing affordability, traffic congestion and unequal opportunity.
Only 25 percent of Aucklanders are satisfied with the council’s performance in the most recent Citizen Insights Monitor and just 12 percent strongly agree that the council is doing its best to overcome challenges (43 percent slightly agree).
A new public measure to track Auckland’s actual liveability changes could help address these issues and further motivate the council and its agencies to be more innovative and effective on our biggest challenges.
$32 billion of investment will undoubtedly aid the region’s liveability progress. But as Auckland is not yet the most liveable city on Earth, this plan will need help.
