Easy to walk suburbs
People are more likely to walk in their neighbourhoods if there is public transport, shop, parks and connected streets and short cuts. Our Walkable Access to Destination Index or WADE maps show how walkable your suburb is.
This WADE Index measures the proximity of the Auckland urban population to a range of services and destinations from residential addresses. More destinations in walking range results in higher walkability scores. Conversely, fewer destinations, hilly terrain, and poor road/footpath connectivity (e.g. dead end streets) result in lower walkability scores.
The population walk score is a composite score from the eight service and destinations components (as outlined below). Each component is a population weighted average of destination counts in 15 minutes walking range on one of three decay curves (rapid, moderate, late). The decay curves give greater weight to closer destinations. The component scores are then individually scaled from 100 against exemplary areas in the Auckland region. These areas exclude the CBD though have scores indicating very high levels of walkability in the Auckland context.
The eight service and destination components are
- Day to day – grocery type retailers
- Education – early childhood centres, schools
- Public transport – bus, train, and ferry stops
- Sports and recreation – sports, fitness, and exercise facilities
- Entertainment - entertainment venues, dining
- Shops and personal – non-food shops, health and general services (e.g. post office)
- Open space – parks, beaches, civic space
- Neighbourhood efficiency – a neighbourhood score indicating how well connected dwellings are to each other.
Accordingly the population walk score has a potential range of 0-100, where 100 indicates an extremely walkable area across all components. A second measure of the percent of the population within an area with a score of 80 or more is also given. A score of 80 is moderately walkable.
Within Auckland the highest scores are found in the central business district and urban centres as these have the highest concentration of services and public transport. The lowest scores are found in communities on the urban periphery such as Rodney, Upper Harbour, and the Waitakere Ranges Local Board areas; though these areas can have high access to public open-space since their low density limits walkability.
On a general note, higher walkability, as measured here, is not indicative of any wider neighbourhood characteristics or desirability.