Auckland is the largest and most populous urban area in New Zealand. As Statistics New Zealand 2011 indicates, Auckland now have 1,354,900 residents, 31percent of the country's population. It also has the largest Polynesian population in the world. It is ranked by The Economist's World's Most Livable Cities in 10th place. The boundary of this city is: it lies between the Haurake Gulf of the Pacific Ocean to the east, the low Hunua Ranges to the south-east, the Manukau Harbour to the south-west, and the Waitakere Ranges and smaller ranges to the west and north- west. Auckland is popularly known as the "City of Sails" because the harbour is often dotted with hundreds of yachts and has more per capita than any other city in the world, with around 135,000 yachts and launches. About one in three Auckland households owns a boat ('o').
Auckland is a multicultural city. The majority of the community is European, most are British, but other communities such as Maori, Pacific Islander, Asian and India are also exist. Auckland has a very high immigration rate compare to other cities in New Zealand. Auckland is famous as its business, it is the economic captial of the nation, Many of the business offices are located around Queen Street and the Viaduct Basin in the CBD, which make up a large percentage of the city's economy. Most major international corporations also have an office in Auckland.
Important places in Auckland inlcude: Queen St, Ponsonby Rd, Karangahape Rd (K'Rd) and Parnell are popular places with high urban socialites, there are many valuable and precious heritage buildings and sites are located in these areas. There are some important parks in the city such as Auckland Domain, One Tree Hill and Victoria Park. The leading university of New Zealand is also in Auckland. Aucnland University is one of the top 200 universitie in the World.
Auckland is now trying to change to a global competitive city. The Auckland Transition Agency set up in 2009 to combine all the local councils across the Auckland Region into a single, unified, governing entity. A 30-year Auckland Spatial Plan Draft was unleashed in 2011 by new Auckland Council. All these changes will not only improve the development of this city, but also lead to the growing number of issues such as ethnic diversity, urban boundary line, housing and so on. As a Aucklander, since the change is inevitable, all I can do is just wait to see how the city develops and use this blog to express my opinions about the issues.
I am living in Grafron area at the moment. Grafton is a suburb of the Auckland City. Auckland Hospital, Auckland Domain Park, Auckland Museum and Grafton campus of Auckland University all located in this area. There are also many heritages in this area, such as cemetery on Symond Street and Grafton Bridge the most important transport corridor for pedestrians and buses and cyclists in Grafton, which is built in 1910 and just finished its reforcement in 2009.
Below is a funndy video I found online, which shows how "substantial" this new bridge is:
