Auckland needs a research centre to study how it works as a city, including its economic, social and environmental features, says a conference which has been looking at the city's problems.
The urban research centre would draw on the expertise of different research disciplines in private and public institutions, following the
lead of other successful overseas metropolitan areas.
The idea was a major conclusion of the Sustainable Auckland Congress.
Scientists and academics joined local government representatives, engineers, businesses, health professionals, social commentators, community leaders, tangata whenua and young Aucklanders at the conference.
The talk was of planning a sustainable future for the city.
Auckland today, the conference heard, has increasing pollution, a fragmented administration and an infrastructure which lacks cohesion.
But it also has a climate and land forms making the region a desirable place to live.
Its impact and servicing needs also had spread well beyond its boundaries.
Nobody at the conference, including Auckland mayors, argued that Auckland was not over-governed.
The city's transport woes, for example, have been identified as Auckland's most pressing problem.
Putting some of them right requires input from 17 different agencies.
Some at last week's conference suggested other issues such as community health and energy efficiency were more important than transport to the region's quality of life.
What does a sustainable Auckland mean?
Dr Morgan Williams, Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment, New Zealand's top statutory watchdog on environmental issues, said New Zealanders were world leaders in many fields.
But they struggled with sustainable development - making sure that the needs of people today did not compromise the opportunities of future generations.
Dr Williams said he believed the conference displayed the science community's awakening to the fact that how "we grow our cities" needed some major research effort.
A youth forum was seen as the conscience of the conference.
Apart from a clean environment and public safety issues, some of the young Aucklanders wanted more security surveillance cameras and a more efficient police force.
The youth forum called for an Auckland which was more tolerant, which celebrated cultural diversity and which involved the community more in decision-making.
