Managing Growth

Wellington’s natural amphitheatre of harbour and hills has been taken into consideration over decades of planning policies by the Wellington City Council. In managing the city’s growth, the Council has an opportunity to build on Wellington’s compact form.

Demands on Housing

Central Wellington apartments

National census projections show that Wellington city’s population will grow by approximately 20,000 over the next two decades, reaching about 205,000 by 2026. At the same time, the average household size will continue to shrink to approximately 2.4 people per household by 2021.

Some 14,000 additional dwellings will be required over the next two decades – 60 percent (8,400) of these will be either apartments or multi unit houses. The remaining 40 percent (5,600) will be single detached houses.

Urban Development Strategy

The Urban Development Strategy sets out the Council’s approach to managing growth and change for Wellington city. This strategy is built around a 50-year growth concept that reinforces the distinct physical and spatial characteristics of Wellington.

This concept is based on the idea of a ‘growth spine’ – a strip of land along which more intensive urban development is encouraged. The concept encourages development in Johnsonville, the Central Area, Adelaide Road and Kilbirnie, supported by improved public transport and roading solutions along the spine.

Directing growth in this manner and improving the quality of development will contribute to making the city:

safer and more liveable - by increasing lifestyle choices and the quality of places.
more sustainable - by using less energy, generating less pollution, and being more resilient.
better connected - by strengthening road and public transport linkages.
more prosperous - by directing growth to areas where the marginal costs are lower and allowing building owners and developers to respond readily to changing market needs.
more compact - by building on the contained urban form that residents value so much.
more memorable and distinctive - by enhancing urban amenity and sense of place.

Urban Development Strategy (198Kb PDF)
Growth Spine map (458Kb PDF)

Place-Based Planning Projects

Aerial view of central Wellington

The Council is working on several ‘place-based’ plans and projects. When proposals for the city’s ‘growth spine’ have been completed, the Council will look to develop concept plans for specific areas of the city.

Information is available on many of the key planning projects:

Central City Apartment Growth

There are approximately 5,500 apartments in the central city area. By 2026 it's estimated that an additional 6,000 people will be living in the central city. The majority of this growth will be accommodated by new apartment developments.

In April / May 2008, the Council undertook a survey of apartment residents to better understand the community of approximately 12,000 people who live in the central city. The survey results provide detailed information about the following:

who lives in the central city
what people like and dislike about apartment living
travel patterns
shopping habits
use of community facilities and public spaces.

This information will help the Council plan more effectively for central city living.

Central City Apartment Dwellers Survey - Summary of Results (635Kb PDF)

Suburban Growth Management

The Council is working on a major project reviewing the approach to growth in our suburban areas. This encompasses all the town centres and residential areas outside of the central city.

The programme provides for community engagement at a number of stages including:

April / May 2008 - issues and options
July / Aug 2008 - preferred option
End 2008 / 1 April 2009 - consultation on draft District Plan changes for Suburban Centres and Residential Areas
September 2009 - statutory consultation on District Plan changes.

There are two main project themes reviewing management of:

infill housing
town centres and industrial areas.

Key Research Inputs

Sense of Place project