Ron Carter: Unite to find reasons for Aucklanders to love their city

Opinion

There's a telling point in the most recent Quality of Life survey when New Zealanders all over the country were asked if they felt pride in their city or local area.

Overall, nearly two-thirds of the 8150 New Zealanders surveyed said they felt proud of where they lived.

But, with the exception of North Shore City, least proud among all respondents were people living in the Auckland region.

We do not need to delve deep to find a list of reasons not to love Auckland - traffic congestion, poorly co-ordinated infrastructure development, a seeming inability for the authorities to make decisions, mediocre urban design, social inequity and crime are just a few.

Yet hundreds of people still flock to Auckland every week to pursue a new life here. It is not difficult to see why.

Auckland is a diverse, cosmopolitan little city. It has a skilled population base that is large enough to sustain specialised business and employment opportunities. Auckland is well-linked to the rest of the world. It has some of the world's best education and research facilities. All this and two stunning harbours, green space and beautiful beaches.

Auckland's attributes are recognised in the Mercer Worldwide Quality of Living Survey, which ranked Auckland fourth equal with Vancouver out of 215 cities for liveability.

But Auckland could be better still. This city has not truly realised its full potential - something the Royal Commission on Auckland Governance states unequivocally.

In having one Auckland Council to govern the 1.3 million people that make this region home, we have the opportunity to build a truly world-class city.

We already have the world-class skills and talent here - we just need the first-rate governance that will provide us with a truly first-class standard of living that should be expected not just by every Aucklander, but every New Zealander.

New Zealand is among a small group of countries where the majority of its Gross Domestic Product is earned by the biggest city. Auckland is part of an even smaller group where the major earner is not the capital.

This makes Auckland's performance particularly vital for New Zealand. In 78 cities with populations over 1.5 million, most have higher GDP per capita than their national average.

With an effective single council, Auckland can make a significant contribution to New Zealand's economic climb back to the top tiers of the OECD. For too long, Auckland has been riven by disunity, petty squabbling and patch protection.

The region functions satisfactorily in many measures at the local level. But when you look at the things that concern community as a whole - law and order, social equality, infrastructure development - Auckland as a region has not functioned well at all.

Central and local government's annual social wellbeing spend for Auckland runs into the vicinity of $12 billion every year. And the worse we perform as a region, the more serious the effects on those in our community who can least afford to suffer.

The big issues that plague the region have to be addressed and delivered at a regional level, not to pockets of the community based on geographic boundaries.

Change is needed in order for Auckland to take the giant leap forward. The potential has not been realised because people are still thinking about the individual elements of their city, as opposed to the city as a whole.

There have been instances where the councils have shown that they can work together. But getting to that point of agreement has taken an unacceptably long time.

Delays to decision-making satisfy few people. In having one united voice represent Auckland, we have the chance to improve Auckland as a whole.

The Government has laid down a clear framework for the construction of a new governance system for Auckland. This is a chance for us to get the very best result from that.

The more united we are in listening to each other's points of view, the more likely we are to solve the problems that exist in our community. The royal commission recommended a change because the complex and competitive local council structures were holding us back.

We should not let our differing views on the fine detail undermine this chance to build a better city - and country - for the generations of Kiwis that will come after us.

Auckland may be the fourth best city in the world to live in at the moment. But it can do and be more than it is.

* Sir Ron Carter is a founding partner of consulting engineering firm Beca Group and chairman of the Committee for Auckland, a not-for-profit organisation dedicated to making Auckland a dynamic city.