World-Class Auckland: Your views

Auckland consistently ranks highly in lists of the world's best cities but is never number one. So what would it take to turn Auckland into a first-class city? This week the Herald continues its 10-day series examining some of the biggest hurdles Auckland faces, from housing and transport to entertainment and education. We look at what we are doing, what we need to do, and why Auckland's success matters to the rest of the country. In part 10 we look at the lessons learned.

• Share your ideas and join the debate on Facebook, on Twitter (#worldclassAKL) or email us worldclassakl@nzherald.co.nz

• WORLD CLASS AUCKLAND - SERIES OVERVIEW

Throughout the series we've asked the public for feedback on how they think we can get Auckland to number one. Here's some of the feedback we received from our readers

GETTING TO NUMBER ONE

• It can never become an ultimate city. Let's start with making it a half decent city first.

• To start with City Planning. - Edwin Van De Koolwijk on Facebook

• Have been to both Vienna and Zurich and they both have world leading public transport. Auckland has only just turned fully electric and lacks a rail link to the airport and still too many citizens rely on driving. - Alex Fletcher on Facebook

• And what do Auckland and Zurich also have in common? Their horrifically high price of living. - Josh Helm on Facebook

• Auckland really needs an underground metro system. Every developed city in the world has one and Auckland is severely lagging behind. Also, cheaper public transport. Fares are so expensive. In the US each ride is about $2. - Frank Zhou

• Auckland has all the issues of a big city. Like expensive housing, expensive food expensive and lack of public transport, but it doesn't have any charm of living in a big city. Pubs close at early. Not many places open after 12. - Jimmy Batra on Facebook

• Auckland is good for retirees, London & New York is for living. - Anya Bostwick on Facebook

• Auckland needs to sort out its transport issues, and it needs to become a LOT more affordable. - Alex Eastwood-Williams on Facebook

• Auckland is pretty boring as most cities go. It sells itself as multicultural but it's most interesting and unique feature is its Maori and Polynesian component. Everything else, you see in every other part of the world. - Tolousain Andreu on Facebook

• Being a visitor to Auckland and not a resident, it lacks heart for people...it drains travellers with its complex motorway, queen street is too OTT for the masses; get a better city centre. - Tarina Macdonald on Facebook

• The high demand for housing in Auckland is proof of what a great city it is. And everyone else knows that too, not just kiwis. - Damon Davidson on Facebook

• The people! You can have all the flash bells and whistles. You can have the best transport system, but if you haven't got the people with the right attitude, yes you are going to have your bad crap and crime, but have you ever walked down Queen Street, hit the markets, Rainbows End, Auckland have the rudest people around. - Jason Holtham on Facebook

COMMUNITY

• I have moved to a new suburb in Auckland and go for a walk every morning - one thing has struck me - there are no people around (probably all gone to work), no children walking to school (probably being driven and dropped on way to work). The only people I see are people walking their dogs and I go out of my way to say hello, but not much in return. We never see our neighbours and they have never spoken to us of attempted to make eye contact (must be happy in their own private world). This is all a shock having moved from another Auckland suburb where there are people out and about all the time and always stopping for a chat. - Denise Luhrs on Facebook

• Do people live in Auckland for the community? - Tom Lochore on Facebook

• In Riverhead, North-West Auckland, we have a fantastic community spirit! We have a community Facebook page, where we can keep each other up to date with lost/found pets, any crime, freebies or help required. When people in our community have babies, or are injured, we band together to make meals, and help out. Everyone is willing to help out with everyone else, and it is a wonderful place to live! - Tracey Kim Symonds on Facebook

• Why does everything have to be about Auckland and its traffic woes? just let it come to critical point so that people finally have to choose between being late to work on public transport, instead of being late to work and feeling like they want to kill something due to driving.. or maybe here's a crazy thought, get on a bike and be on time for work and also reasonably de-stressed from the exercise .- Joshua Barker

• If I lived in Auckland I don't think I'd want to know my neighbors either lol love small town living. - Tracey Rasa Hazelton on Facebook

• Just for conjectures sake maybe it's because as Auckland becomes increasingly ethnically diverse people tend to stick more to their own communities and circles etc. - Scotty Boyd-Hewson on Facebook

• I wonder if Auckland's high proportion of renters, who tend to move more often, has something to do with our low sense of "community". - Niko Kloeten on Facebook

• I was involved in trying to set up a community group at Greenwood's Corner in Epsom. Unfortunately it didn't take off. People seem to be too busy. Drive in and out of your house, stay indoors, never see your neighbours. - Helen Wenley on Facebook

• My kids walked to school in Auckland and I drove them in Wellington. Kids all played with each other in the neighbourhood. I live behind a brick wall in Wellington. So maybe the above is just the way things are in this decade. - Penny Hodkinson on Facebook

• I have lived in my house for 14 years and I barely recognise some of my neighbours. I was more involved with neighbours when my kids were younger. Mind you, some of them I'd never want to see again in my life. - Diane Cathcart on Facebook

EVENTS

• The only event we fill up a stadium for regularly is if the All Blacks play or if the Warriors are in hot form. Aucklanders lack the passion when in Melbourne the trains are always full of passionate dressed up fans - Auckland is along way from this - American universities have better and bigger facilities and infrastructure than us I'm not sure how we even made this short list! - Peter Matatahi on Facebook

• Auckland should host a Superbowl, and a Wrestlemania!!! - Gary Yamane on Facebook

• How many people missed the opening ceremony of the RWC 4 years ago due to chaotic train delay? We need a better public transport system plus a city without Len Brown. - Yinjie Vincent Xu on Facebook

• Hell Melbourne has a population of 4 million NZ total of 4.5 million. No chance of matching Melbourne but do we need to anyway.? - John Stuart on Facebook

RECREATION

•There are plenty of free entertainment. Just a matter of making it a fun time remember to pack yummie food. - Annabella Vano on Facebook

• There's not much you can do during the winter though without it costing an arm and leg. - Lulu Beverly Tulisi Carl

TRANSPORTATION

• Trust and reliability is not the problem. But, frequency is. Transportation over the weekends, especially, for suburbs is very bad. - Rohit Sardesai on Facebook

• There needs to be an express train from Hamilton to Auckland. That would release some of the housing pressure and traffic entering Auckland. - Ryan Moulton on Facebook

• When I lived in Auckland, we would go camping in Napier or Thames with our carvavan with mum and dad and in my teens, weekends were spent either out fishing, in the firth of Thames, roadtrips to Taupo and Ruapehu. and shooting down to Hamilton for a burger. I saw more of New Zealand while living in Auckland than after i moved to Welly. I'm not sure anyone actually stays in Auckland in the weekend. - Mark Esdot

• Well where I live in Auckland we get nothing, no public transport. Auckland Council charges hard for nil services our way. - Sean Parkinson on Facebook

• Auckland public transport is very expensive - me and my partner both work in the Auckland CBD. We spend $45.00 per week on gas and $40.00 on carpark per week. Although our car park is about 20 to 30 minutes walk from and to our offices, still we are better off driving as we could be spending at least $200 per per person per week on public transport. - Gabriel Ib on Facebook

• I'm surprised by the state of the public transport here in Auckland. Auckland doesn't have a car culture, they just make it really hard to take public transport. I've tried it for a month. It took me 2 hours to get to my work. So 4 hours travelling everyday!! while I now have my car and it takes me between 25-45 minutes. I come from the Netherlands and always came around with public transport and my bicycle but here in Auckland that seems impossible. - Jessica de Heij on Facebook

• If it was cheaper I would catch the bus, just to catch it westgate is $2.50 adult an $1.50 kids an its 5 min away much cheaper in the car- Tania Goldsbury on Facebook

I think Auckland need to seriously look at improving transport links especially at the successful models globally. Trains to buses or even trams, not forgetting their is a world outside of its boundaries/zones. - Chrissy Arty Kirkwood on Facebook

• It's just as expensive to catch a train as filling your car for the week, Auckland transports run by unorganized monkeys, a 'public service' has turned into a public inconvenience. - Sean Good on Facebook

• Auckland's transport is shockingly bad. The low frequency and poor reliability are the main issues. I loved not having to own a car in Europe. I wish I could do the same here. - Kat Johnson

• There are so many working Mums and Dads who do the school/daycare run on the way to work, it's simply not practical to use public transport when you are taking, particularly little ones to daycare. - Jen Jamie on Facebook

• Courtney Sit @courtneysit (via Twitter)
In a rare event... The train arrives late at the platform... But manages to arrive on time at Britomart. #miracle#worldclassakl

• Courtney Sit @CourtneySit (via Twitter)
@nzherald just follow @AKTComplaints and you'll see why we'll never be #worldclassakl expensive, unreliable and frustrating.

• Emma Lowe @emma_lowe_ (via Twitter)
Increased availability, more efficient and affordable public transport please #worldclassAKL

• Olivia B @elvenah (via Twitter)
Making public transport affordable, regular and extending it to the north side (coast) of the city would be a good start #WorldClassAKL

• Ben Ross @BenRoss_AKL (via Twitter)
#worldclassAKL transport? Ummm marry it up to urban planning first Called INTEGRATED Planning which we still dont do

EDUCATION

• I have studied in both Christchurch and Auckland and Christchurch was a lot easier to study at, which in part made it more enriching an experience. Part of that was the finances, there is no parking in the city and public transport takes a long time. - Daniyel McAvoy on Facebook

• As there are more Students than people in Employment full time, Students would need an increase being that Rental accommodation has gone up. They must be living on Air Pie. What should have happened years ago, was an underground tube train system, then students wouldn't have extra cost of travelling by car. And Location wouldn't have been a problem where they lived. The government must have gone to sleep on that one. - Deb Wilkes on Facebook

• I expect an improvement of lifestyle for students and more students friendly services. - Joey He on Facebook

• Chuan-Zheng Lee @czlee11 (via Twitter)
Totally agree that Auckland needs to find ways to house more students near universities. nzh.tw/11496802#worldclassAKL

HOUSING

•Why all the jobs should be in Auckland!! I think this is the main problem, not the number of houses, but the concentration of jobs and services in Auckland. The government should help the relocation of jobs to other areas, people will build new houses, and will move. - Nivine Bilani on Facebook

• We can build up in parts but not in heritage areas. Our volcanic cone views are protected (for now) and should stay that way. Having 4 airfields around Auckland (Auckland, Ardmore, Dairy Flat and Whanuapui) restricts building heights in areas surrounding them. Any development has to be of good quality. We don't want slums.- Anne Gibbins on Facebook

• Auckland the town that wanted to become a city.... But how can you evolve properly when you are governed by short term vision muppets politicians? - Adrien Paillet on Facebook

• Building up is the only way Auckland can address it's transport woes...building out means more roads, more cars, high infrastructure costs and less efficient public transport. - Russell Butchers

• We should not build up or out. Up wrecks the skyline, out ruins the land outside Auckland, we need to build ships to ship out all the unwelcome migrants then we wouldn't need to spoil this country any more!!! Not build up or out, let's instead grow a pair and say, "Sorry, we're full"!! - Brad Mihaljevich on Facebook

• Roger Marwick @Marwicked (via Twitter)
The Auckland council has got to allow medium density housing in the inner burbs and the residents gotta stop objecting #worldclassAKL

ENVIRONMENT

• There need to be emission controls on cars. Auckland has smog. WOF inspection of emissions once a year. Call it a smog certificate as they do in California. - Mel Clark on Facebook

• Our governing bodies have already decided that cramming 2.5 million people into Auckland is the answer to a brighter city. - Kayla McGowan on Facebook

• Having lived in Auckland for a spell, my view is that urban sprawl is not the issue. The real issue is that Auckland does not take recycling seriously. Case-in-point: The rubbish bins at all of the local beaches are woefully insufficient in size and are frequently overflowing. Perhaps more disappointing is that there are no recycling options at all -- at a beach! For a country that prides itself on its "green" image, the city is doing the country a great disservice from an environmental protection perspective. - Bruse Polderman on Google Plus

• John Mauro @sustainableakl (via Twitter)
More efficient @AklCouncil assets: @AklTransport switching 44,000 street lights to powersaving LED's:buff.ly/1J5wzny #WorldClassAkl