Urban Growth Agenda

Objectives of the UGA

The main objective of the UGA is to improve housing affordability, underpinned by affordable urban land. This objective is supported by wider objectives to:

• improve choices about the location and type of housing
• improve access to employment, education and services
• assist emission reductions and build climate resilience
• enable quality-built environments, while avoiding unnecessary sprawl.

Focus areas

The UGA has five interconnected focus areas that cover aspects of urban and infrastructure planning and provision:

• infrastructure funding and financing — enabling a more responsive supply of infrastructure and appropriate cost allocation
• urban planning — to allow for cities to make room for growth, support quality-built environments and enable strategic integrated planning
• spatial planning (initially focused on Auckland and the Auckland-Hamilton corridor) — to build a stronger partnership with local government as a means of developing integrated spatial planning
• transport pricing — to ensure the price of transport infrastructure promotes efficient use of the network
• legislative reform — to ensure that regulatory, institutional and funding settings are collectively supporting UGA objectives.

Urban growth partnerships

The UGA is delivered through partnerships between the Crown, local government, iwi and local communities. Find out more about Urban growth partnerships.