Executive Director Report
On June 24 Committee for Auckland members and supporters heard a provocative address by Caroline Haynes, Director KPMG UK and co-author of ‘Magnet Cities’ in the second of our ‘Future Auckland’ forums. She was supported by a panel of Committee for Auckland members who provided context from the design, IT and infrastructure sectors on the key challenges facing Auckland in its quest to become a smart city.
In an interview with Radio Live’s Duncan Garner, Caroline shared her impression that Wellington was more ‘magnetic’ than Auckland and challenged us to make conscious decisions about who we want to attract and how we want to grow our economy. This means making Auckland a city where people ‘want’ to be, not ‘have’ to be. A place where investment and talent can thrive, where innovation and creativity is not only encouraged but celebrated, where we leverage our strengths and our assets to create wealth and are seen as leading edge thinkers. Currently, Auckland’s rapid growth is a consequence of default decision making rather than conscious preference.
It was an inspiring session but firmly lays down the challenge to an organisation such as ours to pick up this discussion with purpose and take a lead in creating our magnet city. This has been the case in several cities overseas where a group of committed citizens have assumed the role of researching and funding big picture initiatives to attract talent and investment.
Caroline touched on Auckland’s ‘housing crisis’ and cited many examples internationally where cities have lost talent and much needed investment and employment opportunities because they simply become too expensive for your average citizen. This was particularly pertinent given the recent debate over the Council’s 10 year budget. Passing the budget 10-9 does not instill confidence that the right funding mechanisms are in place. You can view Caroline Haynes’ keynote address and the panel discussion here.
Our third ‘Future Auckland’ forum will be focusing on funding options for the city’s future growth and will traverse international examples and local expert opinion for solutions that can be applied by local and central government. If Auckland is to attract people on the basis of its lifestyle offering then it is imperative that we find new answers that will lessen the burden on the Auckland ratepayer or indeed the Auckland tax payer. New Zealand is a gateway to the Asia Pacific region and Auckland is the lynchpin. We need to reframe our long term planning so that all of New Zealand participates in and benefits from Auckland’s growth.
This week Auckland Council’s ‘Future Port’ Study gets underway with a stakeholder plenary session to map the delivery process. Representatives from a variety of sectors will be chosen for the Stakeholder Reference Group which will function as a selection college for the Consensus Working Group. The proposed timeframe for process establishment and structure finalisation, scope finalisation and procurement process for the study is 22 weeks with a further 20 weeks allocated to conduct the actual study. With so much riding on how Auckland uses 77 hectares of waterfront land, we encourage Council not to sacrifice due diligence for expediency and ensure that the study itself is not compromised by a tight timeframe. The use of the port land is one of the most significant long-term issues facing our region and has the potential to be transformational as it has been in Sydney and London. We have this opportunity to realise a world of possibility. Let’s make sure we give our city’s current and future residents the waterfront they deserve.
Heather Shotter
Executive Director
Committee for Auckland
Photo (from left to right): Phil Gibson, Mighty River Power, Victoria Crone, Xero, Caroline Haynes, KPMG, Matthew Ensor, Beca, Tim Hooson, Jasmax, Heather Shotter, Committee for Auckland
News in Brief
Member News: Venice Biennale Creative Director Appointment
Charles Walker, a member of the Committee for Auckland's Creative Steering Committee has been appointed creative director of the New Zealand Exhibition at the 2016 Venice Architecture Biennale – the world’s leading architecture event.
Dr Walker, is associate professor in AUT University’s Faculty of Design and Creative Technologies and director of Colab, AUT’s multi-disciplinary research institute.
A New Zealand Institute of Architects (NZIA) jury selected his exhibition proposal from 15 submissions from both New Zealand and overseas teams.
Dr Walker leads a creative team with exhibition associate director Kathy Waghorn of the University of Auckland School of Architecture and Planning. The team also includes several architects, a model maker, exhibition builder and video production specialists.
Tony van Raat, the Commissioner of the New Zealand Exhibition for the NZIA, said Dr Walker’s scheme is an engaging proposition that promises to stand out among the 70 national exhibitions expected at next year’s Venice Architecture Biennale.
It is only the second time New Zealand has entered a national exhibition in the Venice Architecture Biennale which will showcase New Zealand’s architecture, creative talent and technological ability.
Dr Walker said his team’s exhibition, titled “Future Islands”, is ideally positioned to investigate and present the topic of New Zealand’s particular condition and its difference.
“In this spirit, we want our exhibition to present contemporary innovative architectural practice in New Zealand. We also want to explore possible future directions for New Zealand’s architecture.”
The Venice Architecture Biennale open mid-2016 and continues until November.
Source: Architecture Now
Mayoral Dialogue Session
In June, His Worship, Mayor Len Brown took a delegation of business leaders to sister city Los Angeles to take part in the first Tripartite Economic Alliance summit between Los Angeles, Guangzhou and Auckland. The group included business owners from tourism, hospitality, healthcare and clean technology sectors.
Committee members will have the opportunity to hear about that delegation at a dialogue session on July 14. The Mayor will share insights as he explains what he achieved and his strategy to encourage overseas companies to invest in Auckland.
Please note this event is open to Committee for Auckland members and invited guests only.
Auckland’s Quest to Become a Smart City
Cities are like magnets. Just as magnets can attract or repel, so can cities. A city with a strong magnetic pull draws in new residents, visitors and business investment for the benefit of all.
At a well attended forum held at KPMG in June, guest speaker and co-author of Magnet Cities Caroline Haynes gave a thought-provoking presentation on how Auckland can become more globally competitive by targeting specific people needed to create a magnetic city.
Caroline who is based in the UK and a Director of KPMG was joined by expert panellists for the event:
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Victoria Crone, Managing Director, Xero
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Matthew Ensor, Director – Advisory Services, Beca
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Phil Gibson, General Manager – Hydro & Wholesale, Mighty River Power
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Tim Hooson, Principal, Jasmax & Head of Not Yet Known
She described Auckland as “a transactional city where people are attracted by an economy based on the trade of products and services”, as well as the safe, secure lifestyle that’s more appealing to an aging population. “Auckland does not have the scale of thinking in a city to compete with what’s coming out of the innovation space across the global economy.”
To make Auckland more attractive, she said, we must focus specifically on creating a culture and environment that draws young creative entrepreneurs to live and work here.
Caroline offered examples of cities that took huge risks and demonstrated how it is possible to transform a city.
Tel Aviv changed its population base by targeting venture capitalists, offering tax breaks. As part of this strategy, they built beautifully-designed new spaces to make the city centre more vital and attractive. Bilbao focused on young tech and design savvy people, commissioning a magnificent community centre which drew creative people back and helped launch a new community spirit that generated more design-focused spaces.
Today, these are fast-growing cities with economic growth that, in many instances, outstrips the national average.
Caroline argued: “You need to start thinking about drawing in a new population to the city. Begin by thinking about the new jobs; what the new industries are. These will start to attract a new group of people to add a different population.”
Facilitating change is not up to local and central government, she said. “Nor is it up to bureaucrats. It’s up to all business people who must have conversations around change.
Targeting these new groups takes time,” she said. “You must continue to focus on resolving the issues.” But, she said, Auckland must start to put things in place to make the transformation.
During the session, panel members envisaged what Auckland would be like as a Smart City in the future:
Victoria Crone: Innovative, creative, collaborative, community-driven, inclusive, progressive and tech-driven. Auckland needs a technology strategy. The world is getting faster. The internet revolution will smash through in 20 years. We can choose to hold off or embrace it. But we need more skills in our sector. We need diversity in higher productivity jobs. Corporates have to be more innovative. We have to be leading edge thinkers to attract innovative companies.
Matthew Ensor: The Government needs to get out of the way. Regulations need to free up technology innovation. We need to think very carefully about the benefits we can get through getting rid of regulation. We are on the cusp of building our way out of congestion. Welcome the app creators. Look at Uber. Uber has a transformative technology. They are trying to change the world so people don’t have to own their own car anymore. Connective vehicles that talk to other vehicles via WiFi are coming.
Phil Gibson: The ideal is connectivity and engagement. I like to think electricity will help us to get there in 10 years time as a Magnet City. The electricity sector can get behind the services and give credibility to foster renewable energy that drives investment, tourism and so on.
Note: Approximately 38% of primary energy is from renewable energy sources. Approximately 70% of electricity comes from renewable energy, primarily hydropower and geothermal power. This is expected to increase over the next 20 years, with wind energy making up much of that increase. Source: Energy in New Zealand, MBIE, July 14
Tim Hooson: The future is about design and green thinking. Urbanisation is driving upwards. Are we prepared to shift our city to focus on human equity and the better use of our resources? We are currently sharing our resources in an inappropriate way. It’s essential to consider waste in a closed link system. Our systems need to be more interconnected. We also need to be in a technology enabled space. Technology is not the outcome but the enabler and so is our built environment. Auckland needs a strong sense of social purpose and we need to think about that in the context of the environment.
To view the videos from the event, please visit the Committee for Auckland’s YouTube page.
To listen to Caroline Haynes’ interview on Radio Live click here.
Future Auckland Leaders Graduation Dinner and Ceremony
The Future Auckland Leaders graduation dinner and ceremony for the current cohort takes place at the Auckland War Memorial Museum, Tuesday 17 November from 6pm. This is an inspiring evening, not to be missed by all organisations involved.
The programme focuses on developing individual's connectedness and their understanding of city and civic leadership. It taps into the energy and insight of the city's emerging leaders, cultivating their passion for Auckland and helping channel it into city-enhancing projects.
In the second year of each programme, participants deliver a legacy project that seeks to address a 'need' in the city. These legacy projects benefit Auckland beyond the completion of the leadership programme.
Tickets go on sale soon, please register your interest in attending.
FOODBOWL Tour
Committee for Auckland members are invited to see fantastic innovation at work in a tour of The FoodBowl in Mangere on Tuesday, August 11 from 4pm - 6pm.
This open network of science and technology resources was created to support the growth of food and beverage businesses by providing both facilities and expertise – to help businesses in: process optimisation; export; funding and business innovation.
Each of the four regional food product development centres has a different focus depending on the needs, maturity, strengths and capabilities of local businesses. Between them, they offer a complementary suite of services:
The FOODBOWL was designed as a facility where companies can produce commercial runs of new products for trial marketing and hence capitalise on both domestic and export opportunities.
Please register your interest in attending.
Development Auckland – Essential to Auckland’s Vision
The Committee for Auckland has long advocated for an effective urban development agency to make the transformational shift in intensification the Council desires and Auckland needs to meet the demands of our rapidly growing city.
In December 2014, Auckland Council announced it would merge two council-controlled organisations, Waterfront Auckland and Auckland Council Properties, to form a new urban development agency. The Auckland Council’s governing body accepted recommendations that will see the concept of a new urban regeneration CCO go out for public consultation through the council’s Long-term Plan which will be finalised on 25 June 2015. If approved, Development Auckland could be established by 1 September 2015.
The new entity, Development Auckland, will help deliver the council priority of quality urban living. It will also have the mandate to deal with the challenge of Auckland’s rapid growth through regeneration and investment.
The agency will be capable of delivering public and private development and infrastructure, including housing, across the region. It will allow the council to play a much stronger role in urban development through greater economies of scale, enhanced commercial capability and the ability to partner with others.
An urban development agency can draw on the strengths of both the public and private sectors to create a structure that can achieve far more than could be achieved independently. The public sector can make available land and can afford to hold it over time, as well as acting as an umbrella under which all the stakeholders come together in a collaborative manner. And the private sector can take the risk of delivery, finance and end-ownership. They can also provide both the development and design solutions.
Local authorities are typically structured into functional departments, whereas an urban development agency with its singular focus, strong goals and drivers can cut across these silos, eliminating the inherent inertia of a big project. A development agency can take away a level of bureaucracy to streamline and speed up the development process to achieve a quality result.
Auckland needs an urban development agency that can bring public and private interests together to work towards better outcomes. There is an opportunity for Development Auckland to make effective in-roads into the challenge of enabling higher density development in targeted areas and to make real progress in achieving Auckland’s vision of becoming “the worlds’ most liveable city”.
New Zealanders Living Longer than Ever
An article on Stuff in early July highlighted the Committee for Auckland’s role in helping New Zealanders who live longer lead better lives. View the article here.
Welcome to New Members
The Committee for Auckland is pleased to welcome two new members on board this month – Xero and Uber. Membership of the Committee represents a substantial investment and we are grateful for their support.
Uber
 Uber is an American international on-demand, driver-for-hire mobile taxi service and ride sharing company with headquarters in San Francisco, California. The company was founded as "UberCab" by Travis Kalanick and Garrett Camp in 2009. From 2012, Uber expanded internationally.
The company develops markets and operates the Uber mobile app, which allows consumers to submit a trip request which is then routed to sharing economy drivers. The service, which is available in more than 58 countries and 300 cities, is challenging the traditional taxi model around the world, and has more than 1000 drivers in Auckland and Wellington.
Since Uber's launch, several other companies have emulated its business model creating a worldwide digital trend called Uberfication where digital innovators’ on-demand mobile services - digitally and conveniently match demand with supply.
Xero
 Xero was officially formed in 2006 in Wellington where its global headquarters are located today. The company was established by Rod Drury and Hamish Edwards after they found traditional desktop accounting software had become outdated. They decided to create a modern cloud-based product for small and medium-sized businesses.
The company listed on the New Zealand Stock Exchange in 2007. It entered the Australian market in 2011 and the UK and US in 2012.
In 2013, Xero topped a list of the “most innovative growth companies” prepared by American business publication Forbes. Drury received a number of other accolades in 2013, being named EY Entrepreneur of the Year as well as being NZ Herald Business Leader of the Year in 2012.
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