The Auckland Central Business District (CBD), or Auckland city centre, is the geographical and economic heart of the
Auckland metropolitan area
Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The most populous urban area in the country and the fifth largest city in Oceania, Auckland has an urban population of about It ...
. It is the area in which Auckland was established in 1840, by
William Hobson
Captain William Hobson (26 September 1792 – 10 September 1842) was a British Royal Navy officer who served as the first Governor of New Zealand. He was a co-author of the Treaty of Waitangi.
Hobson was dispatched from London in July 1 ...
. It is New Zealand's leading financial hub, and the centre of the
country's economy; the GDP of the
Auckland Region
Auckland () is one of the sixteen regions of New Zealand, which takes its name from the eponymous urban area. The region encompasses the Auckland Metropolitan Area, smaller towns, rural areas, and the islands of the Hauraki Gulf. Containing ...
was $126.917 billion in the year ending March 2022.
The CBD is one of the most densely developed places in New Zealand, with many commercial and some residential developments packed into a space of only .
The area is made up of the city's largest concentration of skyscrapers and businesses. Bounded by several major motorways and by the harbour coastline in the north, it is surrounded further out by mostly
suburban
A suburb (more broadly suburban area) is an area within a metropolitan area, which may include commercial and mixed-use, that is primarily a residential area. A suburb can exist either as part of a larger city/urban area or as a separate ...
areas; it is bounded on the North by
Waitematā Harbour
Waitematā Harbour is the main access by sea to Auckland, New Zealand. For this reason it is often referred to as Auckland Harbour, despite the fact that it is one of two harbours adjoining the city. The harbour forms the northern and easter ...
, east by
Parnell, southeast by
Grafton, south by
Mount Eden
Mount Eden is a suburb in Auckland, New Zealand whose name honours George Eden, 1st Earl of Auckland. It is south of the Central Business District (CBD). Mt Eden Road winds its way around the side of Mount Eden Domain and continues to weave ba ...
, southwest by
Newton
Newton most commonly refers to:
* Isaac Newton (1642–1726/1727), English scientist
* Newton (unit), SI unit of force named after Isaac Newton
Newton may also refer to:
Arts and entertainment
* ''Newton'' (film), a 2017 Indian film
* Newton ( ...
, west by
Freemans Bay
Freemans Bay is the name of a former bay and now inner city suburb of Auckland, in the North Island of New Zealand. The bay has been filled in to a considerable extent, with the reclamation area now totally concealing the ancient shoreline. Hist ...
and northwest by
Viaduct Harbour
Viaduct Harbour, formerly known as Viaduct Basin, is a former commercial harbour on the Auckland waterfront that has been turned into a development of mostly upscale apartments, office space and restaurants. It is located on the site of a formerl ...
.
Geography
Located on the northern shore of a narrow
isthmus
An isthmus (; ; ) is a narrow piece of land connecting two larger areas across an expanse of water by which they are otherwise separated. A tombolo is an isthmus that consists of a spit or bar, and a strait is the sea counterpart of an isthmu ...
, the CBD extends from the
Auckland waterfront
The Auckland waterfront (rarely the Auckland harbourfront) is a city-side stretch of the southern Waitematā Harbour coastline in Auckland, New Zealand. Previously mostly dominated by Ports of Auckland uses, from the 2000s on it is becoming i ...
on the
Waitematā Harbour
Waitematā Harbour is the main access by sea to Auckland, New Zealand. For this reason it is often referred to as Auckland Harbour, despite the fact that it is one of two harbours adjoining the city. The harbour forms the northern and easter ...
southwards along
Queen Street and a number of other parallel-running streets. The CBD is generally considered to be bounded by the main motorways that surround all non-harbour sides, with
State Highway 1
The following highways are numbered 1.
For roads numbered A1, see list of A1 roads.
For roads numbered B1, see list of B1 roads.
For roads numbered M1, see List of M1 roads.
For roads numbered N1, see list of N1 roads.
For roads numbere ...
forming the southern and western boundaries, and State Highway 16 /
Grafton Gully
Grafton Gully is a deep (about 50 m) and very wide (about 100 m) gully running northwards towards the sea through the volcanic hills of the Auckland volcanic field in New Zealand. It divides the CBD from the suburbs of Grafton and Parnell in ...
forming the eastern boundary.
The CBD has an area of ,
similar to the
Sydney CBD
The Sydney central business district (CBD) is the historical and main commercial centre of Sydney. The CBD is Sydney's city centre, or Sydney City, and the two terms are used interchangeably. Colloquially, the CBD or city centre is often refer ...
, and twice as large as the CBDs of
Wellington
Wellington ( mi, Te Whanganui-a-Tara or ) is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the second-largest city in New Zealand by me ...
and
Christchurch
Christchurch ( ; mi, Ōtautahi) is the largest city in the South Island of New Zealand and the seat of the Canterbury Region. Christchurch lies on the South Island's east coast, just north of Banks Peninsula on Pegasus Bay. The Avon River / ...
.
[Auckland's CBD at a glance](_blank)
(CBD website of the Auckland City Council
Auckland City Council was the local government authority for Auckland City, New Zealand, from 1871 to 1 November 2010, when it and Auckland's six other city and district councils were amalgamated to form the Auckland Council. It was an elected b ...
) The CBD is to a substantial part located on
reclaimed land
Land reclamation, usually known as reclamation, and also known as land fill (not to be confused with a waste landfill), is the process of creating new Terrestrial ecoregion, land from oceans, list of seas, seas, Stream bed, riverbeds or lak ...
of the Waitematā Harbour. For a closer discussion of this aspect, see the
Commercial Bay
Commercial Bay ( mi, Onepanea) was a bay on the southern side of the Waitematā Harbour that defined the original extent of the Auckland waterfront in Auckland, New Zealand.
It was framed by two substantial headlands, Smale's Point dividing i ...
and
Auckland waterfront
The Auckland waterfront (rarely the Auckland harbourfront) is a city-side stretch of the southern Waitematā Harbour coastline in Auckland, New Zealand. Previously mostly dominated by Ports of Auckland uses, from the 2000s on it is becoming i ...
articles.
History
![Dilworth Building Another Time](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/6f/Dilworth_Building_Another_Time.jpg)
The town of Auckland was created in 1840 with the first European colonisation of the area, marked by an official ceremony on the now non-existent
Point Britomart
Point Britomart ( mi, Te Rerenga Ora Iti) was a headland in the Waitematā Harbour, in Auckland (), New Zealand. Located between Commercial Bay and Official Bay, . The initial centre of the new town was focused on what is now the corner of Shortland and Queen Streets, which was at the shoreline of Commercial Bay. From approximately their junction, the main wharf ran north off the end of Queen Street, with
Shortland Street
''Shortland Street'' is a New Zealand prime-time soap opera centring on the fictitious Shortland Street Hospital, first broadcast on TVNZ 2 on 25 May 1992. It is New Zealand's longest-running drama and soap opera, being broadcast continuously ...
leading up to Fort Britomart and Government House, around which many of the richer people built houses. Shortland Street tended to be the location of the more important businesses and most of the 'luxury' shops of the mid 19th century. The 1850s onwards saw an increasing number of businesses, and especially retail, locating further south along
Queen Street, which still to this day forms the 'spine' of the area.
In 1841, one year after the European founding, the census counted approximately 2,000 people, with "mechanics" the largest group at 250, and other groups of note being 150 agricultural labourers, 100 shopkeepers, 100 domestic servants, and 125 "upper class members".
During the remainder of the 19th century, Commercial Bay was progressively filled in, allowing a northward extension of Queen Street and the creation of Fort Street, Customs Street, and
Quay Street
Quay Street is a street in the city centre of Manchester, England. The street, designated the A34, continues Peter Street westwards towards the River Irwell and Salford. It is the northern boundary of Spinningfields, the city's business dist ...
. The part of Queen Street north of Customs Street is today referred to informally as Lower Queen Street.
As well as being the location of a great many multi-storey warehouses, initially the Lower Queen Street area also contained many manufacturing businesses, though many of these started to move to other areas such as Freeman's Bay, Newton and Parnell, especially if they took up a large area (such as timber yards) or created noise or pollution (such as brick yards or foundries). Up until the middle of the 20th century the centre of town still contained a large number of small factories including clothing manufacturers.
The relocation of industries to outlying suburbs became especially pronounced in the 1950s, partly due to incentives made by council planners to create industrial areas in Penrose and Rosebank Road (amongst others) and thus rid the inner city area of noise, pollution and heavy traffic. This was mirrored by the development of suburban shopping malls (the first being
LynnMall
LynnMall is a shopping centre in New Lynn, a suburb of Auckland, New Zealand.
New Zealand's first shopping centre, LynnMall, has been servicing Auckland's western suburbs for over 50 years. Since opening in 1963, the centre has continued to evol ...
in 1963) which enticed retailers to vacate the inner city as well. Attempts by the council to halt this pattern by constructing numerous public car parking buildings met with varying success. The rise of suburban supermarket and mall shopping that was created in places such as Pakuranga from 1965 onwards has been added to by the appearance of
Big Box retailers in places such as Botany and the North Shore.
[''New Zealand Historical Atlas'' – McKinnon, Malcolm (Editor). David Bateman, 1997. Plate 75]
Residential numbers in the inner city (including the inner suburbs) were also declining in the 20th century from as early as the 1920s. In the two-mile zone surrounding the CBD, there were approximately 70,000 people in 1926, with only around 50,000 in 1966 – a change made even more marked by the development of the remainder of Auckland's population, which grew more than fourfold in the same timeframe.
In the 1990s, only a token population of around 1,400 was still residing within the CBD, though this was to grow substantially with a boom of new apartment buildings around the turn of the millennium. More recently, in the early 21st century the CBD has seen a resurgence with strong population growth. there were around 24,000 apartment units.
the CBD is growing at six times the rate of the overall region.
Characteristics
Overview
The CBD of Auckland has been the leading centre of New Zealand's business and economic development for nearly two centuries. The area of today's CBD was the site of the original European settlement of Auckland, oriented along the coastline and then Queen Street, in a southward direction. From those origins, it has grown progressively, and become much more densely built-up, now being an area of high-rise buildings mainly used for commercial and retail uses. It has the highest concentration of arts, culture and higher education institutions and venues in the country.
Some commentators have noted that the recent decades have not been kind to the aesthetics and the community values of the inner city. The demolishing of many older buildings, often the prerequisite for low-quality or uninspired new office and residential developments, is considered by them to be due to a combination of developers uninterested in long-term outcomes and Council planning direction being too weak.
In an attempt to reverse the decline of aesthetics in the CBD, previous
Auckland City Council
Auckland City Council was the local government authority for Auckland City, New Zealand, from 1871 to 1 November 2010, when it and Auckland's six other city and district councils were amalgamated to form the Auckland Council. It was an elected b ...
s and the current unitary
Auckland Council
Auckland Council ( mi, Te Kaunihera o Tāmaki Makaurau) is the local government council for the Auckland Region in New Zealand. It is a territorial authority that has the responsibilities, duties and powers of a regional council and so is ...
have instigated several urban regeneration schemes. These include the recent redevelopment of
Aotea Square
Aotea Square is a large paved public area in the CBD of Auckland, New Zealand. Officially opened in 1979 by Sir Dove-Myer Robinson next to Queen Street, it is used for open-air concerts and gatherings, and markets and political rallies.
In Nov ...
in 2010 and the upgrade of Saint Patrick's Square in 2009.
The area east of the
Britomart Transport Centre
Britomart Transport Centre, also known as Britomart railway station, is the public transport hub in the Auckland Central Business District, central business district of Auckland and the northern terminus of the North Island Main Trunk railway ...
is currently undergoing major changes, with the development of new commercial buildings, development of public spaces and restoration of several heritage buildings. Another major regeneration scheme currently underway is the redevelopment of
Wynyard Quarter
The Wynyard Quarter (historically also known as the Western Reclamation, Wynyard Point, Wynyard Wharf or Tank Farm) is a reclaimed piece of land on the Waitematā Harbour at the western edge of the Auckland waterfront, New Zealand.
It is loca ...
, which involves replacing industrial facilities covering a large portion of the CBD waterfront with residential or commercial buildings and public spaces.
The Auckland CBD is one of the few places in New Zealand that has skyscraper-sized buildings, such as the
Vero Centre
Vero may refer to: Geography
* Vero Beach, Florida, a city in the United States
* Vero, Corse-du-Sud, a commune of France in Corsica Other
* ''Véro'', a talk show on the Radio-Canada television network
* Vero (app), a social media company co-found ...
,
Commercial Bay (skyscraper),
ANZ Centre
The ANZ Centre is an office skyscraper in Auckland, New Zealand. Located at 23 Albert Street, the tower stands at in height and has 35 levels of office space, with a total of floor space.
It was formerly known as the Coopers & Lybrand Tower a ...
or the
Metropolis
A metropolis () is a large city or conurbation which is a significant economic, political, and cultural center for a country or region, and an important hub for regional or international connections, commerce, and communications.
A big c ...
, with the
Sky Tower Sky Tower, SkyTower, Skytower, or Sky Towers may refer to:
Buildings In Asia
* Higashiyama Sky Tower, Nagoya, Japan
* Marina Sky Towers in Dubai, UAE
* Sky Tower (Abu Dhabi) in Abu Dhabi, UAE
* in Kowloon, Hong Kong
* in Dubai, UAE
* Sky Tower ...
rising above them.
Population
Residential high-density buildings constructed within the last decade have helped to increase the population living in the CBD to around 54,620
(2018 estimate) from an earlier 21,390 (2006 estimate),
all being growth from only 1,400 in 1991.
[About the CBD](_blank)
(CBD website of the Auckland City Council
Auckland City Council was the local government authority for Auckland City, New Zealand, from 1871 to 1 November 2010, when it and Auckland's six other city and district councils were amalgamated to form the Auckland Council. It was an elected b ...
) Much of this growth has been driven by
immigration to New Zealand
Migration to New Zealand began with Polynesian settlement in New Zealand, then uninhabited, about 1250 to 1280. European migration provided a major influx following the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi in 1840. Subsequent immigration has be ...
, particularly from Asia, and the CBD is the area in New Zealand with the highest percentage share (32%) of the Asian ethnic group in New Zealand. Also striking is the high number of students (both tertiary education and overseas students studying English in one of the many institutes), making up 27% of all residents (2001 Census) and contributing to the relative youth of the city residents.
With increasing population, available services have also changed – from only about one
superette
A superette is an alternative name for a compact supermarket or "mini-mart".
Etymology
In French, the ''ette'' ending conveys the idea of a smaller version of a supermarket ('). However, supermarket has been shortened to ''super'' - leaving ...
in the early 2000s, this has ballooned to one supermarket and 38 superettes by 2011. In early 2012, two major supermarket chains opened a branch in the city centre, with Countdown opening on Victoria Street in January and New World opening a branch on Queen Street in early March. However, the population remains highly focused on ethnically diverse, mostly young and childless residents.
[
According to an in-depth study of security perception in the Auckland CBD undertaken in 2005, most visitors and locals feel safe visiting and living in the CBD. Police and the Council have in part ascribed these positive feelings to over a dozen safety initiatives undertaken by authorities (from alcohol bans in parts of the CBD to ]CCTV
Closed-circuit television (CCTV), also known as video surveillance, is the use of video cameras to transmit a signal to a specific place, on a limited set of monitors. It differs from broadcast television in that the signal is not openly t ...
surveillance and street lighting measures). However, in spite of the general perception of the CBD being safe, there was a feeling that crime had risen somewhat in the last five years (whereas in fact numbers had declined). This was considered to be mostly due to a media-driven public image.
Economy
With 8,500 businesses, the CBD accounts for 18% of all businesses in Auckland City, with the largest being Ports of Auckland
Ports of Auckland Limited (POAL), the successor to the Auckland Harbour Board, is the Auckland Council-owned company administering Auckland's commercial freight and cruise ship harbour facilities. As the company operates all of the associated fa ...
, and the largest employment sectors being financial services, business and ICT
ICT may refer to:
Sciences and technology
* Information and communications technology
* Image Constraint Token, in video processing
* Immunochromatographic test, a rapid immunoassay used to detect diseases such as anthrax
* In-circuit test, in ...
services. The CBD is also the largest employment centre in New Zealand, with around 65,000 jobs, representing 13% of the regional workforce, and 25% of the Auckland City workforce. Around 73,000 people enter the CBD every morning between 7 am and 9 am, 60% of these by car, while the total 'turnover' is around 270,000 people per day. In 2003 many large corporations were housed in the Auckland CBD. During the same year, an Auckland City report stated that the Auckland CBD, compared to several central business district
A central business district (CBD) is the commercial and business centre of a city. It contains commercial space and offices, and in larger cities will often be described as a financial district. Geographically, it often coincides with the "city ...
s in Australia, had "a broader and more dominant role in its regional economy" compared to the economies of the Australian central business districts.[The Economy of Auckland’s Central Business District]
." City of Auckland. September 2003. Executive Summary (5/77). Retrieved on 7 September 2009.
The CBD remains attractive to shops, partially due to the very high pedestrian numbers on the main shopping streets like Queen Street, where footfalls are estimated to be up to 10 times as high as on Broadway in Newmarket, seen as Queen Street's closest rival.[
Auckland CBD has a higher share of employment in large firms than other areas in Auckland. Over half of the large firms in Auckland CBD are in office-based sectors (such as property and business services and finance and insurance) and are in the Downtown and Waterfront areas of the CBD. In 2004 Auckland CBD had 72,540 employees and 9125 businesses. 2006 Auckland CBD had 78,444 employees and 9,461 businesses.
]
Air New Zealand
Air New Zealand Limited () is the flag carrier airline of New Zealand. Based in Auckland, the airline operates scheduled passenger flights to 20 domestic and 30 international destinations in 18 countries, primarily around and within the Pacific ...
was formerly headquartered in Auckland CBD. In 2006, from late September to early October, the airline moved employees out of the four buildings it occupied in Auckland CBD and relocated them to the new headquarters in the Wynyard Quarter
The Wynyard Quarter (historically also known as the Western Reclamation, Wynyard Point, Wynyard Wharf or Tank Farm) is a reclaimed piece of land on the Waitematā Harbour at the western edge of the Auckland waterfront, New Zealand.
It is loca ...
.[Gibson, Anne.]
Air NZ readies for headquarters shift
. ''The New Zealand Herald
''The New Zealand Herald'' is a daily newspaper published in Auckland, New Zealand, owned by New Zealand Media and Entertainment, and considered a newspaper of record for New Zealand. It has the largest newspaper circulation of all newspapers ...
''. 14 August 2006. Retrieved on 26 August 2009. 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.
Retail
The CBD's main shopping mall, Commercial Bay
Commercial Bay ( mi, Onepanea) was a bay on the southern side of the Waitematā Harbour that defined the original extent of the Auckland waterfront in Auckland, New Zealand.
It was framed by two substantial headlands, Smale's Point dividing i ...
, opened in 2020. It features 18,000 m2 of lettable real estate space, made up of 120 shops including H&M.
The Atrium on Elliott has 736 carparks and 23 stores, including The Warehouse
The Warehouse Group (TWG) was founded by Stephen Tindall in 1982, and is the largest retail group operating in New Zealand. It is a corporate group that consists of The Warehouse, Warehouse Stationery, Torpedo7, Noel Leeming, 1-day and TheMark ...
, Rebel Sport
Rebel (formerly Rebel Sport) is an Australian sport equipment and related apparel chain.
History
Rebel Sport was established in 1985 with its first store in Bankstown. After being listed on the Australian Securities Exchange in 1993, it was p ...
and the Elliott Stables Foodcourt.
The Victoria Park Market
Victoria Park Market is a cluster of galleries, workshops, studios, offices, restaurants and retail shops as well as a gym and Pilates Studio in Auckland, New Zealand. The precinct is housed in a former waste depot and incinerator complex. It ...
was established as a shopping centre in an unused heritage building in 1983. It was extensively renovated between 2008 and 2013. The centre currently features 74 stores, and 194 carparks.
Museums and galleries
Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki
Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki is the principal public gallery in Auckland, New Zealand. It has the most extensive collection of national and international art in New Zealand and frequently hosts travelling international exhibitions.
Set be ...
has been operating in Auckland CBD in 1888.
Since then, several other galleries have also opened in the CBD. Artspace Aotearoa
Artspace Aotearoa (previously known as Artspace NZ) is an art gallery in Auckland, New Zealand. It is located on Karangahape Road in Newton. The gallery was founded in 1987, and focuses on contemporary New Zealand and overseas art.
It should no ...
opened in 1987. Gus Fisher Gallery
Gus Fisher Gallery is a contemporary art gallery in Auckland, New Zealand. It is located in the Kenneth Myers Centre, a historic building restored in 2000 with the help of the gallery's patron, Gus Fisher (1920–2010). The gallery exhibits a reg ...
opened in 2001. St Paul St Gallery opened in 2004.
The Dalmatian Archives and Museum, opened in 1989, features the history of Croatian New Zealanders
Croatian New Zealanders refers to New Zealand citizens of Croatian descent. It is estimated that over 100,000 New Zealanders have Croatian ancestry. There are 2,550 people who declared their nationality as Croats in the 2006 New Zealand census. T ...
.
The New Zealand Maritime Museum
The New Zealand Maritime Museum Hui Te Ananui A Tangaroa is a maritime museum in Auckland, New Zealand. It is located on Hobson Wharf, adjacent to the Viaduct Harbour in central Auckland. It houses exhibitions spanning New Zealand's maritime hist ...
, opened in 1993, features the maritime history of the Waitematā Harbour
Waitematā Harbour is the main access by sea to Auckland, New Zealand. For this reason it is often referred to as Auckland Harbour, despite the fact that it is one of two harbours adjoining the city. The harbour forms the northern and easter ...
.
Education
There are significant educational institutions located in the Auckland CBD, notably the University of Auckland
, mottoeng = By natural ability and hard work
, established = 1883; years ago
, endowment = NZD $293 million (31 December 2021)
, budget = NZD $1.281 billion (31 December 2021)
, chancellor = Cecilia Tarrant
, vice_chancellor = Dawn F ...
and the Auckland University of Technology
Auckland University of Technology (AUT) ( mi, Te Wānanga Aronui o Tāmaki Makau Rau) is a university in New Zealand, formed on 1 January 2000 when a former technical college (originally established in 1895) was granted university status. AUT ...
. The CBD also has many of the English language schools for non-native English speakers which form a significant part of Auckland's education business.
The Ministry of Education
An education ministry is a national or subnational government agency politically responsible for education. Various other names are commonly used to identify such agencies, such as Ministry of Education, Department of Education, and Ministry of Pub ...
operates state-operated schools throughout the area. Private secondary schools within the CBD include ACG New Zealand International College
UP International College Auckland is a private school in Auckland, New Zealand, which provides pathways to tertiary study for international students. It has premises in Auckland City, in the central business district. The school has been restruc ...
, ACG Senior College
ACG Senior College was a specialist, pre-university high school and part of ACG Education (formerly known as Academic Colleges Group) New Zealand.
Previously located in the learning quarter of central Auckland, opposite the Central Library an ...
, and Auckland International College
Auckland International College is an independent coeducational secondary school in Auckland, New Zealand. It adopts the IB Diploma Programme as its sole curriculum plus a Preparation Year Programme for the course (Year 11). The school runs with ...
.
Transport
The CBD, with its substantial employment, and increasing number of residents, contains the main public transport hubs of the city. These services are concentrated around the Britomart Transport Centre
Britomart Transport Centre, also known as Britomart railway station, is the public transport hub in the Auckland Central Business District, central business district of Auckland and the northern terminus of the North Island Main Trunk railway ...
(rail and buses) and the nearby Auckland Ferry Terminal
The Auckland Ferry Terminal, also called the Downtown Ferry Terminal, is the hub of the Auckland ferry network, which connects the Auckland CBD with suburbs in North Shore, West Auckland, and South Auckland, and islands in the Hauraki Gulf. Th ...
, both near the Auckland waterfront
The Auckland waterfront (rarely the Auckland harbourfront) is a city-side stretch of the southern Waitematā Harbour coastline in Auckland, New Zealand. Previously mostly dominated by Ports of Auckland uses, from the 2000s on it is becoming i ...
. Many bus services travel the length of the CBD along the main streets, in particular via the bus lanes on Albert Street and the Central Connector bus priority
Bus priority or transit signal priority (TSP) is a name for various techniques to improve service and reduce delay for public transport, mass transit vehicles at intersections (or junctions) controlled by traffic signals. TSP techniques are most ...
route. In 2010, around 33,000 people entered the CBD via public transport every day.
Historically, much of the transport to and around the CBD post-1950s was by private vehicles, partly because the CBD provides numerous parking buildings and parking spaces associated with office buildings, and is almost totally surrounded (and easily accessible) by motorways.
Auckland Council
Auckland Council ( mi, Te Kaunihera o Tāmaki Makaurau) is the local government council for the Auckland Region in New Zealand. It is a territorial authority that has the responsibilities, duties and powers of a regional council and so is ...
has begun the construction phase of the City Rail Link
The City Rail Link (CRL) is a rail project currently under construction in Auckland, New Zealand. The project consists of a 3.5 km long double-track rail tunnel underneath Auckland's city centre, between Britomart Transport Centre and M ...
. Once completed, it will connect the Britomart transport hub more directly to the Western Line in the vicinity of Mount Eden Train Station
Maungawhau railway station, commonly known as Mount Eden railway station, is a Western Line station of the Auckland railway network in the Auckland suburb of Mount Eden in New Zealand. The station is has been closed since 2020 and is currentl ...
by way of a tunnel running under the CBD. Two new stations will be constructed, one named Aotea in Aotea Square
Aotea Square is a large paved public area in the CBD of Auckland, New Zealand. Officially opened in 1979 by Sir Dove-Myer Robinson next to Queen Street, it is used for open-air concerts and gatherings, and markets and political rallies.
In Nov ...
and one named Karangahape on Karangahape Road
Karangahape Road (commonly known as K' Road) is one of the main streets in the central business district (CBD) of Auckland, New Zealand. The massive expansion of motorways through the nearby inner city area – and subsequent flight of resident ...
, and the existing stations at each end of the link, Britomart and Mount Eden, will receive substantial upgrades.
The main street of the CBD is Queen Street, which was upgraded between 2006 and 2008 to modernise it and make it more pedestrian friendly.
In 2009, the former Auckland City Council proposed the redevelopment of several CBD streets into shared space
Shared space is an urban design approach that minimises the segregation between modes of road user. This is done by removing features such as kerbs, road surface markings, traffic signs, and traffic lights. Hans Monderman and others have sugg ...
s, with the goal of improving pedestrian and cyclist amenity by slowing down vehicle traffic while retaining the possibility for car access – compared to a pedestrian mall
Pedestrian zones (also known as auto-free zones and car-free zones, as pedestrian precincts in British English, and as pedestrian malls in the United States and Australia) are areas of a city or town reserved for pedestrian-only use and in whi ...
which allows no motor vehicles. Auckland Council is continuing this project. Darby Street, Lorne Street, Fort Street, Jean Batten Place, and Fort Lane have been converted into shared spaces since 2011. The portion of Federal Street between Wellesley Street West and Victoria Street West has also been made shared space.
See also
*Auckland isthmus
The Auckland isthmus, also known as the Tāmaki isthmus, is a narrow stretch of land on the North Island of New Zealand in the Auckland Region, and the location of the central suburbs of the city of Auckland, including the CBD. The isthmus ...
*Auckland City
Auckland City was a territorial authority with city status covering the central isthmus of the urban area of Auckland, New Zealand. It was governed by the Auckland City Council from 1989 to 2010, and as a territory within the wider Auckland R ...
*Auckland waterfront
The Auckland waterfront (rarely the Auckland harbourfront) is a city-side stretch of the southern Waitematā Harbour coastline in Auckland, New Zealand. Previously mostly dominated by Ports of Auckland uses, from the 2000s on it is becoming i ...
*Karangahape Road
Karangahape Road (commonly known as K' Road) is one of the main streets in the central business district (CBD) of Auckland, New Zealand. The massive expansion of motorways through the nearby inner city area – and subsequent flight of resident ...
, a street which forms the southern boundary of the CBD.
* Queen Street, the main north–south street in the CBD.
Illustrations
References
External links
CBD Community E-News
held in Auckland Libraries
Auckland Libraries is the public library system for the Auckland Region of New Zealand. It was created when the seven separate councils in the Auckland region merged in 2010. It is currently the largest public-library network in the Southern He ...
' heritage collections
{{DEFAULTSORT:Auckland Cbd
Auckland CBD
Suburbs of Auckland
Central business districts in New Zealand
Economy of Auckland
Populated places around the Waitematā Harbour
Waitematā Local Board Area