description
The Auckland Metropolitan Area, or
Greater Auckland, in the North Island of New Zealand, is
the largest urban area in New Zealand. With over 1.2
million people it has almost a third of the country's
population.
It is a conurbation, made up of Auckland City (excluding
the Hauraki Gulf islands), North Shore City, and the
urban parts of Waitakere and Manukau cities, along with
Papakura District and some nearby urban parts of Rodney
and Franklin Districts. In Māori it bears the
traditional name Tāmaki Makau Rau or the transcribed
version of Auckland, Ākarana.
Auckland lies between the Hauraki Gulf of the Pacific
Ocean to the east, the low Hunua Ranges to the
south-east, the Manukau Harbour to the south-west, and
the Waitakere Ranges and smaller ranges to the west and
north-west. The central part of the urban area occupies
a narrow isthmus between the Manukau Harbour on the
Tasman Sea and the Waitemata Harbour on the Pacific
Ocean. It is one of the few cities in the world to have
harbours on two separate bodies of water.
Auckland formed a base for Governor George Grey's
operations against the Māori King Movement in the early
1860s. Grey's modus operandi involved opening up the
Waikato and King Country by building roads, most notably
Great South Road, (a large part of which now forms State
Highway 1). This enabled rapid movement, not only of
soldiers, but also civilian settlers. It also enabled
the extension of Pākehā influence and law to the South
Auckland region. Auckland grew fairly rapidly, from
1,500 in 1841 to 12,423 by 1864, with most growth
occurring in close proximity to the port area in
Commercial Bay, as well as some small developments
towards Onehunga (another port), and at a few favoured
spots beside the harbour. During the mid 19th century,
European settlement of New Zealand was predominantly in
the South Island. Auckland however gradually became the
commercial capital. Market gardens were planted on the
outskirts, while kauri tree logging and gum digging
opened up the Waitakere Ranges.
Throughout the 19th century Auckland’s intense urban
growth concentrated around the port in a very similar
manner to most other mercantile cities. At this time
Auckland experienced many of the pollution and
overcrowding problems that plagued other 19th century
cities, although as primarily a port rather than a
manufacturing centre it avoided large-scale
industrialisation, and by 1900, Auckland was the largest
New Zealand city. The overcrowding of the inner city had
by then created a strong demand for the city to expand,
which was made possible when trams appeared in New
Zealand around this time, supported by ferry services,
mostly to what would become North Shore City.
A Russian scare at the end of the 19th century had
caused coastal guns to be bought and fortifications
built, notably at Devonport and on Waiheke Island, where
they can still be seen.
The Auckland region has experienced many of the problems
related to urban sprawl development since the mid-20th
century, through both its rapid population growth and
its automobile-centred transportation system. Auckland’s
urban growth since its foundation in 1840, but
particularly since the Second World War, has created an
urban landscape that today is characterised by chronic
traffic congestion, automobile dependency, poor
air-quality, the degradation of water bodies around the
region, natural habitat loss, and spiralling
infrastructure costs. These unsustainable growth
difficulties are set to have an even greater impact on
the Auckland region in the future, with a projected
population of approximately two million by the year
2050. This population growth will mean a substantial
rise in the number of dwellings required in the Auckland
region, from the 356,000 in 1996 to around 700,000 by
2050. This substantial expected growth in Auckland led
planners in the 1990s to draft the Regional Growth
Strategy, as a way of providing the region with the
required number of dwellings to house its growing
population, but to accommodate them in a way that did
not further degrade the natural environment, economic
viability and social equity of the Auckland region. The
aim of the strategy is ‘…to ensure growth is
accommodated in a way that meets the best interests of
the inhabitants of the Auckland region’.
Auckland has a warm-temperate climate, with warm, humid
summers and mild, damp winters. January temperatures
average 21-24 °C. February can be warmer than January,
but temperatures rarely exceed 30 °C[2] July maximum
temperatures average 14-16 °C. High levels of rainfall
occur almost year-round (over 1100 mm per year),
especially in winter. Climatic conditions vary in
different parts of the city owing to geography such as
hills, land cover and distance from the sea. On 27 July
1939 Auckland received its only recorded snow fall.[3]
This is unlike some South Island cities, which may get
snow most years - Christchurch regularly gets snow down
to sea level.
As car ownership rates are very high, and emissions
controls relatively weak in New Zealand, Auckland
suffers from an elevated level of air pollution. This
can sometimes be visible as smog, especially on calm
winter days. However, the maritime local climate ensures
that most pollution is eventually dispersed, and thus
the smog levels never reach levels as seen, for example,
in Los Angeles or Mexico City. |
