Accessing the Acropolis
Tāmaki/Auckland only has a few public institutions of national significance: the Art Gallery, the Museum, and Auckland University, each housed in nationally significant buildings. Plus only a few truly high quality landmark buildings of similar value: Waitematā Station, Customs House, Ferry Building, West Plaza, and the Sky Tower, say.…
41 Comments Manchester: an urban renewal case study
I lived in the UK in the 1980s, so whenever anyone describes the Auckland city centre as “dilapidated” (as the Herald did in an recent editorial), I can’t help chuckling. While we do have very real problems, we have nothing like the complete physical ruin of whole areas and communities on the scale that was so widespread in post-industrial Thatcher’s Britain, especially in the north where the Industrial revolution began, like Manchester below.…
Pre-Rapid Transit
A clear game-changer for Auckland would be the earliest possible completion of the long-planned Rapid Transit Network. We have a growing and improving bunch of lines, on a long held and evolving plan, but as yet not enough of the whole to gain the great multiplying benefit of the network effect.…
The City Rail Link is a bargain…
Patrick Reynolds is deputy chair of the City Centre Advisory Panel and is running for council in the Waitematā & Gulf ward in this years local elections.
As the City Rail Link (CRL) nears completion amid talk of city deals and rates caps, I thought it worth looking at what that project can tell us about the nation-city relationship.…
The State of It
Yesterday I went to the launch of the Committee for Auckland’s third The State of The City launch. It’s great they are doing this work, and the event was very interesting. You can read the report itself here.
There has been a lot of media coverage since, some of which you’ve no doubt seen, ranging from the sensationalist (Stuff) to the bored and dismissive (Auckland Now).…
Auckland is a world-class city in the making
Patrick Reynolds is deputy chair of the city centre advisory panel, a previous director of NZTA, and is running to be Councillor for the Waitematā and Gulf ward in October.
This ran in the Herald 1 July 2025
What is a good model for Auckland’s Queen St?…
When will Auckland’s City Rail Link Open?
Mānawatia a Matariki!
Here’s a Māori new year bonus for y’all, enjoy:…
Richer or poorer?
Patrick Reynolds is deputy chair of the City Centre Advisory Panel, and a previous director of Waka Kotahi/NZTA.
Recently there has been some good attention on New Zealand’s relatively low productivity. Just last week the Mayor led on this issue: Brown stressed that Auckland’s economic future relies on shifting from low productivity and long hours to high-value, scalable innovation.…
AT directors at risk from speed reversals?
Patrick Reynolds is deputy chair of the City Centre Advisory Panel
With Auckland Transport racing towards risky speed increases at the behest of the previous Minister of Transport’s Speed Rule, all eyes are on the consequences. These include an increase in risk for everyone on Auckland’s transport network, and a legal risk for those implementing the changes.…
Government’s Investment Summit
This week, the Government is hosting a grand event aimed at trying to interest big foreign capital players in financing capital works in New Zealand, particularly its big rural motorway programme. Financing vs funding: a quick explainer
The key word in the sentence above is financing.…
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