Auckland (Region)
The Auckland region was by the end of 2010, the administrative unit of the metropolitan area of Auckland in the North Island of New Zealand. She was to Nelson Although the smallest region of the country, but had almost 1.44 million inhabitants, by far the highest population.
With effect from 1 November 2010, the Auckland region was disbanded as a political administrative unit and replaced by the 9 October 2010 legitimized by municipal council of the Auckland Council. The new government consists of a mayor and 20 councilors. The cities of Auckland City, Manukau City, North Shore City and Waitakere City and the districts of Franklin District, Papakura District, Rodney District and the Auckland region lost their autonomy.
Geography
The region is located on an isthmus that connects the North Auckland Peninsula with the main part of the North Island. In the north, the Northland region and in the south the Waikato region joins.
The northern boundary is defined by the Kaipara Harbour, which forms with an area of 530 km ², one of the largest natural harbors in the world. Further south, close to the central mountain ranges of the Waitakere Ranges and the Hunua Ranges. In the south, finally, the region extends from the foothills of the Waikato Plains, one of the largest plains of the country, to the mouth of the Waikato River in the extreme southwest.
The isthmus between two low mountain ranges is just a few kilometers wide at its narrowest point. It is formed by two large natural harbors. To the southwest, the Manukau Harbour which extends from the Tasman Sea from the east, the north- east lies the Waitemata Harbour, the more precisely the Hauraki Gulf ranges from the Pacific inland to the west is.
In addition to the " main area " still subject to numerous islands east of the region ( mainly in the Hauraki Gulf ) the management of the Auckland region. The largest of these is the Great Barrier Iceland with an area of 285 km ². The highest elevation of the region is the 722 meter high summit of the island Little Barrier Iceland.
Despite the dense population accounts for only about one-tenth of the region on the development of urbanization. The remaining 89 % are divided into forest areas and agricultural land. The region is covered by 70 volcanoes. The last outbreak - of the Rangitoto on the homonymous island occurred only 750 years ago. Statistically, the probability of a volcanic eruption in the region per year, about 1 to 1000 In the region there are numerous beautiful beaches, especially on the west coast. ; the most popular are located at Muriwai Beach, Piha and Karekare.
Population
With 1.4386 million inhabitants ( as of 2009), the Auckland region is the most populous administrative division of New Zealand by far. About 86 % of them live in the Greater Auckland. This is divided into the districts of Auckland city with 417 910, 383 256 with Manukau, North Shore and Waitakere with 207 865 inhabitants with 166 237. These four cities are all part of the six major locations in New Zealand. The remaining 14 % of the population is distributed among the rural areas north and south of the metropolis of the region, as well as to various offshore islands.
For a long time is the Auckland region - by far - the most populous area of New Zealand. But lived in 1911, only eleven percent of the country's population in the region, so there are currently (as of 2011 ) 31%. In 2050, finally, with the current growth rate - which in all probability will turn out higher than currently expected - 40 % of the total New Zealand population in the Auckland region to live. By this point at the Auckland metropolitan region will exceed the two million inhabitants border. Recently refurbished the Greater Auckland metropolitan Australian city of Adelaide population terms. Thus the metropolitan Auckland rose to become the fourth largest agglomeration throughout Australasia's ( here: Australia, New Zealand, New Guinea and the entire South Pacific ) on. In addition, no metropolitan area grows (except Brisbane ) faster than Auckland.
The proportion of the population with European origin with 68.5 % in new zealand wide comparison, which is over 80 %, relatively low. The population of Māori, at just under 12 % about three percentage points below the national average. In contrast, on average, many people live ( each about 14%) of Asian origin and people of the Pacific Islands (mainly Polynesians, Melanesians and Micronesians but also ) in the region.
Administrative divisions and October 2010
The region was divided into four City Councils and three District Councils (from north to south):
- Rodney District Council
- North Shore City Council
- Waitakere City Council
- Auckland City Council
- Manukau City Council
- Papakura District Council
- Franklin District Council
Economy and infrastructure
Economy
In the Auckland region, there were approximately 110,000 businesses that together accounted for about a third of the economic strength of New Zealand.
Infrastructure
For a long time Auckland acts as the main transport hub of the country. Of outstanding importance are, for example, the International port on the Waitemata Harbour, which is managed by Ports of Auckland and Auckland International Airport near the Manukau Harbour. The latter promoted in 2004 over eleven million passengers - of which six million international destinations. He is now the fourth largest airport in Australasia. Bigger, only the airports of Kingsford Smith International Airport (Sydney ), Melbourne and Brisbane International Airport. Forecasts predict that the annual passenger volume in 2050 to over 50 million increase (of which over 30 million passengers with international destinations ). The region is connected by the North Iceland Main Trunk also by train with the city of Wellington. The daily passenger connection is called Overlander.
Due to the high population density and the far extending suburbs in the region of the transport is handled mainly by cars and partly by buses. Especially in recent times this has led to massive traffic problems, especially in confined spaces, such as the Auckland Harbour Bridge. Therefore introduced the Auckland Regional Transport Authority ( ARTA ) of the administration of the region at the end of 2004, to work out the solutions to the traffic problem, for example, the expansion of the local S -Bahn -like rail network.