Our Changing City

The great French General Napoleon Bonaparte, was once asked if there was one single most important battle tactic. He replied "know your enemy". By that he meant, if you study your opponent's strengths and weaknesses, you will be able to devise a way to beat him in battle. Christians might say that our great strategy, and command, is "to know and love our neighbour". And so we try to know and understand our neighbours in inner-city Auckland. We try of course, to know and love the Lord our God.

 

Our Changing City; A Brief Overview of Inner-city Auckland

it is tough keeping up with all the changes …. But here is some interesting stuff….

The Big Picture – and it is getting Bigger

  • 47,000 people live in the inner-city. 5,000 lived there 20 years ago – a 924% increase

  • The City Centre population is forecast to grow by a further 30,000 over the next 10 years.

  • In 2016, the milestone of 100,000 jobs in the inner-city was passed.

  • Over 10,000 jobs have been created in the City Centre since 2012

Businesses and People Movements around the Inner-city

  • The number of people on Queen Street has doubled in the last 5 years.

  • Public transport into the city, is expected to rise from 35,000 people per hour to 60,000 by 2026

  • 50.8% of households residing in the City Centre had no motor vehicle compared to the Auckland average of 7.6%

  • Retail spending has grown by 49% and the number of cafes has increased by 41% in 6 years

  • The number of public seats has increased by 61% in 6 years (4,471 seats)

People Stuff: The Auckland Central electorate includes all of the Inner City and a bit further.

  • It is full of highly educated young adults and few people aged between 5 and 14 years old

  • 73.1% of family types are couples without children residing in the City Centre compared to the Auckland average of 35.1%

  • 3,414 Presbyterians lived in Auckland Central in 2011 31,296 ticked “Christian” and 25,080 ticked “no religion”; 1,668 Buddhists

  • 54% are couple only households with no children; Median family income $59,000

  • Home ownership is low and there is increase in high density high rise apartments.

Our Turf (Auckland Central West)

  • The total number of people resident here is 11,697 of whom 6,285 are Asian

  • Hindus: 11%; Christians: 31%; no religion: 42.9%; Buddhist: 5.8%; Muslim: 3.7%.

  • 76.1% of people were born overseas and Hindi is the second spoken language after English

Other Interesting Stuff

  • The new rail developments are revealing interesting aspects of Auckland’s past – the old tramway system that ran from 1906 to 1956, spice bottles and lots of clay pipes from a local tobacconist who operated in the 1870s