The indicators have been applied as a tool to:

Stage 2 - Report on findings: This second stage included an analysis of the data, the writing of this report, and the identification of issues raised as a result of monitoring. The report is not aimed at making comparisons between cities, but at identifying issues common to the largest cities compared to the rest of New Zealand.

Stage 3 - Advocate for improvement. This stage includes identifying policy responses (for central and local government) to address issues identified in the report, and advocating for change where necessary.




The first report on quality of life in large cities of New Zealand was published in March 2001 (previous report contents here »). The report included key urban issues and findings from monitoring quality of life in Auckland, Christchurch, Manukau, North Shore, Waitakere and Wellington – the cities of New Zealand with a population size of over 150,000. Prompting the first report was concern about the growing pressures on city communities, the impacts of urbanisation, and the effects of this on the wellbeing of residents. Now, two years down the track, those concerns remain and this report – the second edition – has been prepared to assess the current situation.




Some significant events have taken place since 2001 that affect this second report. These include work on issues raised in the first report, a new Census, a new role for local government, and other monitoring reports.

Progress on Issues
Following publication of the March 2001 report, the six original cities have worked more closely with Local Government New Zealand (LGNZ) and contributed to a policy programme on urban/metropolitan issues. Those six cities comprise the large city component of the LGNZ Metro Sector Forum working under the chairmanship of Mayor Garry Moore of Christchurch, with support from the Chief Executives of the largest cities chaired by Colin Dale, Chief Executive of Manukau City Council. Through this forum, and the collective approach of the Mayors, the first report has:

The 2001 Census –
This was carried out after the March 2001 Quality of Life report. Analysis indicates significant change in the population demographics particularly impacting on larger cities. In addition to this, Statistics NZ has worked closely with the Quality of Life team on data issues and new information is now available in key demographic areas.

Local Government Act 2002
The amended Local Government Act was passed in December 2002. The Act expects local authorities to promote social, economic, environmental, and cultural wellbeing of communities, now and for the future, to facilitate sustainability. A new and critical area that will impact on local government across New Zealand is a requirement for councils to develop a ‘Long Term Council Community Plan’. It requires local authorities to focus on the community as a whole and the actions that central and local government, the private sector and community groups can collectively achieve. This will stimulate a need for councils to have a greater awareness of their communities and local conditions and issues, and call for increased activity by councils around the use of indicators and outcome measurement outlined in this report.

Monitoring Reports
In recent years, the range of indicator monitoring reports has increased, providing a reasonably comprehensive view of social, economic, environmental and cultural conditions in New Zealand.

From central government - a broad whole-of-country view across all four conditions is provided in the report ‘Monitoring Progress Toward a Sustainable New Zealand’ (Statistics New Zealand 2002); while an in-depth view of specific conditions is reported by the ministries of Social Development, Economic Development, Environment, Maori Development and Pacific Island Affairs.

From local government - an urban perspective across all four conditions is provided in some depth in this Quality of Life report; while councils in some of the larger cities provide an in-depth view of local conditions in their state of the city/wellbeing reports.
The diagram on the opposite page attempts to show the the depth and breadth of these monitoring reports and the relationship between them.

Issues and Changes
The development of this report was based on a common set of issues and concerns across the participating cities. These include a concern for the people who live in our large cities. The chapter called ‘People’ records demographic information on the basic makeup of the city populations. It sets the scene for analysis in the rest of the report.

The chapters on knowledge and skills (called Education in the 2001 report), housing and health focus on accessibility, affordability and appropriateness of education, training, health and housing matters, and the disparities between certain sections of the community regarding these key areas.

Economic development of the cities and the economic standard of living of people residing in the cities is assessed (in the 2001 report these were in one chapter called Employment and Economy). Economic concerns are based on the need for economic growth to sustain city development, and the cost of living in cities.

Population growth and economic development puts pressure on the sustainability of the environment. While the built environment is an important contributor to the way people feel about where they live, it also has a huge impact on sustainability of the natural environment. The built and natural environment are reported here in two chapters, whereas in the 2001 report they were covered in one chapter called Urban Environment.

A sense of security is fundamental to quality of life and safety features highly in people’s view of their living environment. Social connectedness (called Community Cohesion in the 2001 report), either through where people live or through being with like-minded people in groups elsewhere, is an important ingredient to quality of life and a sense of security.

People’s power to exercise their civil and political rights (called Democracy in the 2001 report), is a key factor in developing strong communities and improving quality of life. The participation of community members in the governance and decision-making of their community is one way of exercising these rights.

Information on Quality of Life Indicators »