The New Agenda for Auckland & State of the City (SOTC)

Auckland is at a major inflection point, 15 years after amalgamation. The Auckland@15 event held in May this year reinforced a shared appetite for a renewed city-wide agenda that is ambitious, coordinated, and long-term.

The third edition of our global benchmarking report State of the City, released in August this year by Mayor Wayne Brown and Local Government Minister Simon Watts, highlighted strengths in culture, resilience, and sustainability, as well as some progress in housing and innovation. Persistent challenges remain in productivity, talent and skills pipeline, transport and spatial alignment, and international profile.

The New Agenda builds on State of the City insights and reflects the call from Auckland at 15 that Auckland needs a new focus for its next 15 years. The New Agenda focuses on:

• New Relationships: Who works with whom, and how.
  • Reset how Auckland Council, central government, Māori/iwi and other partners share power, risk and delivery through stronger, more intentional governance and commercial relationships.
• New Mindsets: How we think about Auckland’s role and potential.
  • Lift Auckland’s ambition and confidence with a more global, opportunity-focused mindset that welcomes experimentation and leadership at every level.
• New Models: How we structure power, funding and delivery.
  • Build new delivery, funding and devolution models so Auckland can implement big projects faster, more flexibly and at real scale
• New Focus: What we lead with and choose to highlight
  • Sharpen what Auckland leads with – innovation, diversity, talent and opportunity – so the region has a clearer, more compelling edge nationally and globally.

The upcoming Auckland City & Regional Deal and the Auckland Narrative are examples of priority projects in the New Relationships and New Focus areas. The Committee’s role is to convene partners, shape evidence-based direction, and support actionable collaboration. In 2026, we’ll transition from framing to delivery, with opportunities for members to engage outlined early in the New Year.