GROWTH OF AUCKLAND

Evening Post, Volume CXII, Issue 17, 20 July 1931, Page 10

GROWTH OF AUCKLAND

OTHER CITIES COMPARED

Tlio influence of population as a factor in town planning and the provision of sufficient traffic .outlets was' dealt with by the city engineer, Mr. J. Tyler, in aa address on various aspects of town planning at the monthly luncheon meeting of the Auckland Chamber of Commerce (states the "New Zealand Herald")The speaker said the first* factor in considering any scheme of town planning was population. That of the Auckland metropolitan area was 227,050, equal to one-seventh of the total population of New Zealand. The motropolitan area comprised ,290 square miles, giving a density of population of 1.2 to the acre. The density of the city area was 57. The respective densities of Wellington, Christchurch, and Dunedin were 5.4, 6.6, and 6.4, the figures for Sydney being 8.5, Melbourne 6.2, Adelaide 2.0, and Brisbane 0.9. It could be seen, therefore, that the metropolitan area of Auckland was almost as sparsely populated as Brisbane, which was the lowest of the cities of Australia and New Zealand, while the city area was similar to that of Wellington. Difficulty certainly would be experienced in future in providing means for people to enter and leave the city area, in which 45.8 per cent, of the population of the whole area resided. The trend of population was along the routes of transport facilities. The population .of Auckland had doubled in the past twenty years, the increase in the past ten years having been 39$ per cent. Tue present rate of increase was about 3* per cent, a year, or about the same as that of Melbourne. How long that rate of increase would be maiutaiucd was difficult to estimate, but it was probable that it would show a diminution. Mr. Tyler said ho estimated that the population which would be carried in the area within a radius of thirteen miles of the chief post office was 1,135,000 persons, of whom 314,000 could be accommodated in the city area, allowing forty persons to the acre in the centre.. Allowance must be made for this increase in planning future developments. At present 13 per cent, of the city area was absorbed in streets, and when undeveloped districts were ultimately roaded this percentage would grow higher. - '