The Suburbanisation of the Poor? Investigating the distribution and concentration of deprivation in Auckland and Wellington, New Zealand 1991-2013

Inequality has emerged as a key issue in contemporary global urban debates. Many developed cities across the world are characterised by growing social–spatial inequalities, housing liberalisation, and gentrification, which limit the housing options of poor households. When the poor have limited housing options, they must deploy coping mechanisms. There is recent international literature on the suburbanisation of poverty predominantly in European and American cities. The aim of my research is to identify whether – given rising house prices – there has been a shift of the urban poor away from the central cities in New Zealand, towards the middle suburbs and peripheries. Furthermore, my research seeks to observe whether poor populations are becoming more concentrated. Using the New Zealand deprivation score, I analyse the trend towards a marked suburbanisation of deprivation in the two biggest cities in New Zealand, Auckland and Wellington. I find a shift of deprivation away from the city centre and towards the middle and outer suburbs in both cities. I find that the spatial distribution of deprivation changes with the macroeconomic conditions of the time. I also find in cases of no ‘suburbanisation of the poor’ that instead the poor are crowding and consuming less housing. These findings can inform future urban development practices.