Big City Quality of Life Survey 

Some 2700 respondents from Auckland are included in the 2010/2011 Big City Quality of Life survey. This sample size allows the breakdown of results to Local Board level. The results are available for download here.

Auckland Executive Results are excerpted below:

Introduction

Auckland Council, like other Councils, has a role to play in residents’ quality of life.  The Quality of Life Survey is a multi-agency research project, exploring quality of life issues in New Zealand. It is a partnership between eight New Zealand city Councils.  The aim of the survey is to measure residents’ perceptions of overall quality of life.

The Quality of Life Survey measures New Zealand residents’ perceptions of:

• Quality of life
• Health and wellbeing
• Crime and safety
• Community, culture and social networks
• Council decision making processes
• Built and natural environment
• Public transport
• Lifestyle

Methodology

Computer Assisted Telephone Interviews (CATI) interviews were conducted with n=6,279 New Zealand residents aged 15 years and older. Quotas were set for ethnicity, age, location and gender. Respondents were selected randomly from the Electoral Roll. A pre-notification letter was sent to potential respondents, who were contacted by phone for the interviewing within two weeks of receiving the letter. Fieldwork was conducted between 19 November 2010 and 2 March 2011. The average duration of the interviews was 20.3 minutes. The final response rate was 44% (an increase from 37% in 2008). The data in this report has been weighted to reflect the general population. The sample of n=2,716 residents from across Auckland has a maximum margin of error of +/- 1.9% at the 95% confidence level.

Quality of Life

The majority (91%) of Auckland respondents rate their overall quality of life positively, with 27% rating it as extremely good and 64% rating it as good. When Auckland respondents were asked to evaluate whether their quality of life has changed compared to twelve months earlier, just under one third (31%) of respondents living in Auckland say their quality of life has increased.

Components of Quality of Life

Just over half (54%) of Auckland respondents mentioned family as one of the three main components that contribute to their quality of life. The next most frequently mentioned components are financial stability (31%), health (27%) and work (27%).

Health and Wellbeing

Overall health

The majority (88%) of Auckland respondents rate their overall health positively, with 20% rating it as excellent, 40% as very good and 28% as good.

Barriers to GP usage

Just 4% of Auckland respondents had an occasion in the last twelve months when they wanted to see a GP or doctor about their own health, but didn’t get to see a doctor at all. For those who wanted to see GP or doctor in the past twelve months, but didn’t get to, the most commonly mentioned reason for about a third is because the GP was too busy / couldn’t fit time in / long waiting time / after hours (37%). This is followed by I was too busy / couldn’t get time off work (25%) and too expensive (21%).

Frequency of doing physical activity

Just under one in three (29%) Auckland respondents have undertaken physical activity every day in the seven days leading up to interviewing, with 52% undertaking physical activity on five or more days. Around one in twelve (8%) did in physical activity on the seven days leading up to interviewing.

Emotional wellbeing

The majority (90%) of Auckland respondents rate themselves as having a positive emotional wellbeing, with a rating of very happy (37%) or happy (53%).

Satisfaction with life in general

The majority (87%) of Auckland respondents are satisfied with their life in general, with 31% saying very satisfied and 56% saying satisfied.

Stress

Just 9% of Auckland respondents regularly experience stress that has a negative effect on them, with 2% always stressed and 8% stressed most of the time.

Availability of support

The majority (97%) of Auckland respondents say they have someone to turn to for help if they were faced with a serious illness or injury, or needed emotional support during a difficult time.

Crime and Safety

Perceptions of crime and other undesirable problems

The most commonly perceived crime issue by Auckland respondents in their area over the last twelve months is dangerous driving (78%), followed by alcohol or drugs problems (67%), car theft or damage to cars (64%), vandalism (53%) and the presence of unsafe people (51%).

Sense of safety

The majority of Auckland respondents feel safe in their home (96% during the day and 93% after dark), walking alone in their neighbourhood after dark (68%) and in their city centre during the day (95%). More than half (55%) feel safe in their city centre after dark. The three most frequently mentioned reasons for feeling unsafe (very unsafe or a bit unsafe) in their city centre after dark are people who feel dangerous to be around (32%), alcohol and drug problem in the area (20%) and media publicising crime / crime rates increasing (19%).

Safety of children

Almost three quarters (73%) of Auckland respondents feel that their local neighbourhood is safe for children under 14 years to play in while unsupervised (26% rating very safe and 48% rating fairly safe).

Community,Culture and Social Networks

Sense of community

Almost three quarters (72%) of Auckland respondents agree it is important to feel a sense of community with the people in the local neighbourhood, and almost half (61%) agree they feel a sense of community.

The most frequently mentioned reason for lack of sense of community is lack of communication / events within a neighbourhood (19%). The two next most frequently mentioned reasons are people / neighbours are not welcoming / friendly / don’t see the neighbours (17%) and like to keep to myself / stay at home (15%).

Impact of greater cultural diversity

More than three in five (62%) Auckland respondents feel that the fact that New Zealand is becoming a home for an increasing number of people with different lifestyles and cultures from different countries makes their area a better place to live, with 17% saying it is a much better place to live and 45% saying it is a better place to live.

The most frequently mentioned reason for greater cultural diversity having a positive impact is diversity is good / brings a broader perspective, outlook / brings new ideas (50%). This is followed by good to learn about other cultures / stops racism / teaches tolerance (34%) and good to mix with different cultures / makes you appreciate difference cultures (including own) (30%).

The three most frequently mentioned reasons for greater culture diversity having a negative impact are a lack of integration into New Zealand society / don’t mix(36%), too many foreigners / too many different cultures (27%) and taking us over, taking our shops, jobs etc (14%).

Social networks

The three most common social networks Auckland respondents belong to are network of people from work or school (57%), online community or interest group, including Facebook and Twitter (51%), and a church or spiritual group (33%). Of those who belong to a social network / group, 21% said their social networks

are mostly based in the same local area, 18% are mostly based on shared interests or beliefs, but not necessarily based in the same local area, and 60% are a mixture of both.

Feeling of isolation

The majority (81%) of Auckland respondents rarely felt isolated or lonely over the past twelve months, with 55% saying never and 26% saying rarely.

Culturally rich and diverse arts scene

Just over three quarters (76%) of Auckland respondents agree that Auckland has a culturally rich and diverse arts scene, with 30% who strongly agree and 46% who agree.

Built and Natural Environment

Pride in city’s look and feel

Nearly two thirds (64%) of Auckland respondents agree (strongly agree or agree) that they feel a sense of pride in the way their city or local area looks and feels. The most frequently mentioned reason given by those who feel a sense of pride in their city’s look and feel is good place to live, lifestyle (20%). This is followed by clean / no litter / clean and tidy (16%) and helpful, friendly welcoming people / community (13%). The three most frequently mentioned reasons for those who do not have a sense of pride in their city's look and feel are [city or local area] looks drab / dowdy / needs better maintenance (12%), crime and safety issues (10%), and needs improvement / not appealing (9%)

Pride in Region’s look and feel

Over half (56%) Auckland respondents agree (strongly agree or agree) that they feel a sense of pride in the way the Auckland region looks and feels. The most frequently mentioned reason given by those who feel a sense of pride in the Auckland region is a good place to live / lifestyle (15%). This is followed by nice green city / beautiful parks and gardens / lots of gardens (11%) and clean and tidy / no litter (9%). The three most frequently mentioned reasons for those who do not feel sense of pride in the Auckland Region’s look and feel are some areas are good but others are poor and need improving (11%), needs improvement / not appealing / boring (8%) and lack of infrastructure / need better facilities (8%).

Ease of access to local park or other green space

The majority (93%) of Auckland respondents find it easy (very easy or easy) to get to a local park or other green space in their city or local area, with 75% rating very easy and 18% rating easy.

Perceptions of rubbish and pollution

Most Auckland respondents say rubbish and pollution have been a problem in their city / area over the past twelve months. The most common problems are graffiti or tagging (67%), rubbish or litter lying on the streets (49%), water pollution (including pollution in streams, rivers, lakes and in the sea) (46%), noise pollution (40%) and air pollution (28%).

Preventing global warming

Three quarters (75%) of Auckland respondents agree or strongly agree that they would change their lifestyle to help prevent global warming if they knew it would make a difference.

Public Transport

Frequency of use of public transport

Just under one in five (19%) Auckland respondents are regular users of public transport, with 12% using it 5 or more times a week and 7% using it 2 to 4 times a week. Of those who do not use public transport frequently (use it less than once a month), almost half (48%) say this is because of a preference for private transport. Just over a quarter (27%) say that it is not convenient e.g. not regular, doesn’t go where I need to go.

Perceptions of public transport

When it comes to public transport, 72% agree it is safe, 57% easy to get to, 47% reliable, 46% frequent and 43% affordable.

Lifestyle

Employment status

More than half (53%) of Auckland respondents are employed full time (for 30 hours or more per week). In addition, almost one fifth (19%) are in part-time work. Almost a further one fifth (19%) are not in paid employment and not looking for work while 9% are not in paid employment and looking for work.

Balance between work and other aspects of life

More than three quarters (78%) of Auckland respondents in paid employment are positive about their balance between work and other aspects of life.

Ability to Cover Costs of Everyday needs

The majority (85%) of Auckland respondents feel they have enough money to cover the costs of their every day needs, with 13% saying they have more than enough, 35% saying they have enough and 37% saying they have just enough money.  One in seven (15%) say they do not have enough money from their income to cover the costs of their everyday needs.

The Auckland Plan and MacroAuckland

The Discussion Document for the Auckland Spatial Plan was launched the day after the launch of the MacroAuckland report.  They are complementary projects in terms of being concerned to organise a range of data and to examine this for patterns and lessons to be drawn on into the future. The Auckland Plan document is concerned with Auckland’s environment, economy, social relations and cultural dimensions, as is MacroAuckland. 

However, The Auckland Plan is very much future-orientated and focuses particularly on the natural environmental foundations for the anticipated very considerable anticipated population growth of Auckland and the spatial configurations of the physical and other infrastructures necessary to service the future population.  MacroAuckland is orientated much more towards the present and near future and focuses on issues, especially social issues where projects could make a difference. 

Using MacroAuckland to inform Auckland Plan submissions

MacroAuckland has made much of its knowledge base available for examination and downloading and we suggest people putting in submissions on the Auckland Plan might usefully read some of our material and tables on the relevant topics.

Here is a ‘mapping’ between MacroAuckland and the Auckland Plan Chapters: