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Scorecard Shows Liveability Continuing To Improve
News Release
6 November
2012
Scorecard Shows Liveability Continuing To Improve
The second annual Auckland Scorecard has revealed Auckland is making further progress towards becoming the world’s most liveable city.
The scorecard was introduced by the Mayor last year. It enables Auckland to gauge its performance across a range of measures and complements other internationally recognised measures of liveability in cities.
“The Auckland Scorecard provides us with a line in the sand. It enables Auckland to measure our progress,” says Len Brown. “Our second scorecard confirms that progress is ongoing.
“It is encouraging that Auckland's liveability is continuing to improve, with most indicators showing progress over the past year. It is particularly encouraging that the rate of improvement has been stronger than in the previous year.
“There is still much to be done, particularly in areas like housing. But across the majority of measures - in areas such as employment, education, the local economy and transport - the work we are doing is paying dividends.
“Our challenge over the next three decades is to stay focused, to stay on the path towards becoming the world's most liveable city. Along that journey, through the Auckland scorecard, we will be able to gauge our progress."
“Auckland is already recognised in the three most internationally accepted surveys of liveability in cities. Auckland is tenth in the Economist Intelligence Unit’s Global Liveability Report, ninth in the Monocle magazine Most Liveable Cities Index and third behind Vienna and Zurich in the Mercer Quality of Living Survey.
“However the Auckland scorecard enables us to measure our progress in the areas that matter particularly to us.”
At the Mayor’s request, the score card rates the progress of Auckland across four liveability categories covering 19 measures.
The first annual scorecard showed the index had lifted by 2.1 points since the creation of the supercity from a base index of 100.
The second scorecard shows the index has lifted another 3.4 points.
Progress towards becoming the world’s most liveable city has been made in 13 measures; while three have slipped back.
| Measures | 2012 Scorecard | 2011 Scorecard |
| Strong Communities | ||
| - Educational achievement | better by 4.7% | better by 0.7% |
| - Crime | better by 3.2% | better by 1.9% |
| - Housing affordability | worse by 5.5% | worse by 0.8% |
| - Youth unemployment | better by 16.4% | worse by 3.0% |
| - Graffiti eradication | better by 10.9% | better by 2.5% |
| Fixing Transport | ||
| - Public transport use | better by 8.1% | better by 8.5% |
| - Cycling and walking | better by 2.1% | better by 5.1% |
| - Congestion | no change measured | better by 9.1% |
| - Household transport spending | no change measured | better by 10.8% |
| - Spending on local roads | better by 3.1% | worse 5.6% |
| Economic Powerhouse | ||
| - Employment | better by 6.4% | better by 5.4% |
| - GDP per capita | better by 1.4% | worse by 3.0% |
| -Incomes | better by 2.7% | better by 5.0% |
| - Exports | better by 1.4 | worse by 0.3% |
| - Visitor nights | better by 7.5% | better by 9.6% |
| Healthy Environments | ||
| - Housing availability | worse by 1.1% | worse by 0.8% |
| - Carbon footprint | no change measured | worse by 0.5% |
| - Marine water quality | better by 3.8% | better by 3.9% |
| - Air pollution | worse by 0.7% | better by 6.5% |
"One of the areas where Auckland has to get it right is jobs, particularly for our young people. It's central to the Auckland Plan and it’s great to see significant progress on both employment measures in the scorecard.
"Improvements in measures relating to educational achievement and the battle against crime are also significant in the effort to make Auckland more liveable.
"Economic measures such as continuing strong performance in areas like visitor nights suggest our major events strategy and other business strategies are paying off.
"It is also very reassuring to see continuing year-on-year growth of over 8 per cent for public transport usage. It shows that when we provide quality public transport choices, more and more people are happy to use it. This decongests our roads, saves households' money and protects our environment. There's no downside to this.
“The decline in housing affordability and
availability indicated in the Scorecard reinforces the real
challenge we are facing in that area. It vindicates the need
for the steps already initiated through the Auckland Plan,
the Economic Development Strategy, the Housing Strategic
Action Plan and the Unitary Plan,” says the Mayor.
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