Shift 1

Put People at the Centre of Thinking and Action

Enable people to be Auckland's most important asset by thinking, planning and acting in a manner that enables all of the region's people, neighbourhoods and communities to participate and succeed.

Everything we do is for the benefit of people, and so we should deliberately ensure that their needs and desires are at the forefront of our thinking and action from the beginning.

This shift provides an emphasis on:

  • Putting people at the beginning not end of our thinking
  • Developing an understanding of people
  • Putting people at the heart of solutions
  • Concern with equity for people and communities.

Put People at the Beginning Not End of Our Thinking

Regardless of our area of focus, we can be proactive in improving outcomes for people by putting the needs of people and communities up front when we frame policy questions, develop strategies and implement programmes. For example, instead of asking "how best to design a transport system", the question can be reframed as "how can we meet peoples' needs for goods, services and travel in a way that increases social well-being (e.g. health, recreation, social capital) while minimising negative social impacts (e.g. air pollution, loss of amenity).

Developing answers to this broader approach will require bringing together a range of disciplines, functions and agencies to provide different perspectives. This approach often creates positive synergies to improve social, economic and other outcomes well beyond the activity's original objectives. For example, walking school buses get children to school safely, but they also increase their fitness and can increase social capital within the school community. Similarly, well designed sports facilities can become places for improving health outcomes (obesity, mental health), social outcomes (connection with others, build community identity and cohesion), environmental outcomes (outside classroom on flora and fauna teaching environmental stewardship) and in particular instances, economic outcomes.

Develop an Understanding of People

Putting people at the heart of our thinking and action requires understanding people first; the way that they live and what they value. It requires understanding the sheer diversity of people and communities within the region. This requires us to really know the people and communities that we work with, how they function and renew themselves, and the level of social capital and cohesion in the communities. Solutions which reflect specific communities and their circumstances are more likely to succeed than one size fits all solutions. For example, research into why there was low public transport use in one Auckland centre identified the lack of pedestrian crossings to the train station and the perception of crime in the bus station. Better lighting, a security system and pedestrian crossings were specific solutions needed to get that community using public transport. In a different community different solutions would be needed.

Put People at the Heart of Solutions

This focuses on enabling individuals and communities to define the issues, and then to create and implement their own solutions. This will require building the capacity of local leadership, providing support and funding to community groups, and devolving specific areas of decision-making to local communities. It also requires a broader strategy of activating citizenship within the region.

Concern with Equity for People and Communities

Environmental justice argues for the need for three forms of equity to ensure that public decision-making provides for all sectors of society.

  1. Procedural equity - ensuring everyone has equal access to information and decision-making process.
  2. Geographical equity - ensuring amenities and ‘disamentities' are shared around spatially. 
  3. Social equity - ensuring the lives of the most vulnerable are not made more dangerous or less healthy by poor public policymaking and implementation. In developing sustainability solutions, particular attention will need to be paid to those in society who have fewer options for change than others due to circumstances such as low income, geography, social engagement and individual ability.