Agglomeration Benefits - increased productivity and economic growth from higher density development and the clustering of related industries, for example through shorter supply lines between businesses and to consumers.

Amenity - the qualities of a place that make it pleasant and attractive for individuals and communities.

Anthropogenic - an impact, usually on the environment, resulting from human activity.

Area (Spatial) Plan - spatial planning at a more local scale that translates Auckland Plan directions and local board aspirations into local spatial outcomes and intended land uses. In turn, it gives direction to the Unitary Plan.

Asset Management Plans - asset management plans provide detail regarding an asset type (e.g. roading infrastructure), agreed levels of service for the asset, projected maintenance and improvement requirements and associated capital and operating costs.

Auckland (Spatial) Plan - a spatial plan for Auckland as mandated in S79 and S80 of the Local Government (Auckland Council) Act 2009. Now called the Auckland Plan (see also Masterplan).

Baseline 2010 Metropolitan Urban Limit - the Auckland Plan uses the 2010 Metropolitan Urban Limit as defined in the Auckland Regional Policy Statement as a reference (baseline) for future growth that will either be inside or outside this line (see also Rural Urban Boundary).

Biodiversity - the variety of life in a particular habitat or ecosystem including the totality of genes and species (see also Ecosystem).

Biomass - the total mass of living organisms in a given area or volume; recently dead plant material is often included as dead biomass. Related terms include:

Biomass Energy - this is energy produced by burning biomass in the form of wood, crops and crop waste, and wastes of plant, mineral, and animal matter.

Brownfield - an urban area previously developed and used (often for commercial or industrial uses) and which is now available for redevelopment.

Business Activities - commercial and/or industrial activities.

Catalytic project - a project which is valuable in itself while at the same time stimulating further transformation and growth.

Centre - a focal point for a surrounding neighbourhood or area that contains a mix of activities or functions (e.g. shops, businesses, cafés, libraries, government services, public transport). Generally appears as a node of more intensive land use and taller buildings than the surrounding area it serves. The Auckland Plan uses a classification of urban and rural centres based on their size and the corresponding diversity and intensity of activities within.

Character - a term used to describe the appearance, qualities and combination of attributes of an area, place, street or building that helps to give that place a distinct identity.

CO² Equivalent - the amount of a greenhouse gas (e.g. methane) needed to have the same greenhouse gas effect (warming of the earth’s atmosphere) as a defined amount of carbon dioxide.

Commercial Activities - the range of commercial activities, including office, retail and commercial service providers.

Commercial Services - businesses which provide personal, property, financial, household, private or business services.

Community-led Development - a process or outcome by which communities are empowered to self-determine the solutions and actions to address challenges they face.

Conservation / Conserve - conservation is defined by the International Council on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS) New Zealand Charter (Revised 2010) as “all the processes of understanding and caring for a place so as to safeguard its cultural heritage value”, for present and future generations. Conservation is a process of managing potential change to significant places; it recognises opportunities to reveal or reinforce the heritage value of a place.

Core Strategy - additional strategies prepared by Auckland Council to support the Auckland Plan, providing more detailed policy on important matters such as the economy.

Corridor - strategic and arterial road, bus and rail alignments, and adjoining land uses.

Critical Infrastructure - Infrastructure assets, services and systems which:

• are an immediate societal requirement and fundamental to enabling development. In the event of being destroyed, degraded or rendered unavailable for periods of more than one day, their loss would have serious consequences for the health, safety, security and social and economic well-being of the Auckland Region.
• are fundamental to the long-term well-being of society and contribute to Auckland’s liveability. The overall network is critical, such as matters relating to cultural and social infrastructure (e.g. open space and libraries).

Development Pipeline - land that is in the process of planning and servicing with infrastructure for the purpose of urban development, but is not yet available for the building of houses or businesses and intended final uses.

Ecological Function - the natural processes within an ecosystem that support life, e.g. the movement of water.

Economic Corridor - a regional or inter-regional scale alignment of related movement and business activities – often determined by underlying geography, major transport routes and ports, key centres and business areas.

Ecosystems - a complex set of relationships between all living things such as plant, animal and micro-organism communities and their non-living environment including their interaction as a functional unit.

Ecosystem Services - the benefits people obtain from the environment, including goods (soil, food, animals, water, scenery) and services (functions such as water filtration, flood protection, pollination).

Fee simple title - this represents an absolute ownership of land (the term is still used when there is a mortgage on the property).

Fibre - fibre-optic cable used for the provision of high-speed internet and data transfer services.

Full Time Equivalent Employment (FTE) - the number of full- time equivalent jobs, defined as total hours worked divided by average annual hours worked in full-time jobs.

Greenfield Land - land identified or used for urban development (residential, business or industrial) that has not been previously developed.

Greenhouse Gases - water vapour (H₂O), carbon dioxide (CO²), nitrous oxide (N₂O), methane (CH₄) and ozone (O₃) are the primary greenhouse gases in the Earth’s atmosphere. Also includes human-made gases such as the halocarbons and other chlorine- and bromine-containing substances. Due to their ability to absorb and emit light of a particular wavelength they contribute to the greenhouse gas effect, whereby more than the normal amount of atmospheric heat is retained in the atmosphere.

Gross Domestic Product (GDP) - the market value of all goods and services produced in a country or region in a given period.

Heritage - the legacy of tangible physical resources and intangible attributes that are inherited from past generations. Heritage includes historic heritage, natural heritage, taonga tuku iho (heirlooms) and other forms of heritage such as books, works of art, artefacts, beliefs, traditions, language and knowledge.

Historic Character Areas - these include older established suburbs, town centres, settlements, rural, institutional, maritime, commercial and industrial areas, or settlements of special architectural or other heritage value, the character or appearance of which it is desirable to conserve and enhance. This may result from a predominance of buildings of a particular era, a distinctive pattern of lot sizes, intensity of development, the presence of mature vegetation, the relationship of built form and natural landscapes, or the use of traditional materials and design elements.

Historic Heritage - “historic heritage—

(a) means those natural and physical resources that contribute to an understanding and appreciation of New Zealand’s history and cultures, deriving from any of the following qualities:

1. archaeological:
2. architectural:
3. cultural:
4. historic:
5. scientific:
6. technological;

(b) and includes

1. historic sites, structures, places, and areas; and
2. archaeological sites; and
3. sites of significance to Māori, including wāhi tapu; and
4. surroundings associated with the natural and physical resources”.

Note – definition is from the Resource Management Act (RMA),1991 s2.

Household - a household is one or more people usually resident in the same dwelling, who share living facilities. A household can contain one or more families, or can contain no families at all. A household that does not contain a family nucleus could contain unrelated people, related people, or could simply be a person living alone.

Industrial Activities - manufacturing, construction, wholesale trade, transport and storage sectors of the economy. These activities typically require large sites.

Infill Housing - building new dwellings within an existing urban area, typically through sub-dividing or cross leasing existing residential properties.

Infrastructure - the fixed and long-lived structures that support daily life such as water supply, roads and community buildings.

Innovation Hub - the set of interconnected organisations and elements that influence the development and diffusion of innovations is often referred to as an ‘innovation hub’ or ‘innovation system’. It contains the interaction between business, industry, research agencies and the public sector to turn an idea into a process, product or service on the market.

Intensification - redevelopment, conversion and retrofitting where land is developed with a greater intensity (height and site coverage) of buildings, or accommodates a greater residential population or workforce than before.

Job-mulitplier is the number of jobs per million dollars of direct output.

Kāwanatanga - governance (the Government, and in Auckland, the Auckland Council).

Legibility - the ease with which people can find their way around an urban space.

Local Board Agreements - Auckland Council must have a local board agreement (as agreed between the governing body and the local board) for each local board area. Based on the local board plans, each agreement must include the levels of service for each activity, including performance targets and other measures, as well as the costs of achieving and maintaining those levels of service.

Local Board Plans - each local board prepares a local board plan for the purposes of informing the development of the Long Term Plan and local board agreements and area spatial plans. Local board plans describe the local community’s aspirations, preferences and priorities for the next three years and beyond; they include proposed projects, programmes and service levels.

Long-run average p.a. - the average per-annum value (e.g. cost per unit of output) over a series of years.

Long Term Plan - a ten-year plan prepared under the Local Government Act 2002 containing programmes for council’s priorities, activities, operating and capital expenditure. Along with the Unitary Plan it is one of the key mechanisms for giving effect to the Auckland Plan.

Low-carbon Economy - an economy that produces minimal greenhouse gas emissions.

Low Impact Design - planning and developing places or buildings to have low environmental impact by managing, protecting and incorporating natural systems and natural components of the landscape (for example, stormwater management).

Mana Motuhake - independent self-sustaining authority for mana whenua / tangata whenua to make decisions.

Mana whenua - iwi, the people of the land who have mana or authority – their historical, cultural and genealogical heritage are attached to the land and sea.

Marine Protected Areas - areas of the marine environment especially dedicated to, or achieving through adequate protection, the maintenance and/or recovery of biological diversity at the habitat or ecosystem level in a healthy functioning state. They range from ‘no-take’ marine reserves to marine-protected areas that allow some extractive activities.

Masterplan - a detailed plan for a defined area, e.g. a centre or a new urban development. It involves the integration of all elements (including social, cultural, economic and environmental considerations) into one overall design and can include the final expected physical form of the buildings and spaces within.

Mataawaka - Māori whose mana resides outside the Auckland region. They have no ostensible tribal connection to Tāmaki Makaurau.

Mixed-Use Development - a mixture of activities such as residential, business, retail, or hospitality that occupy space within the same building or within the same block or area (i.e. an apartment building with shops, cafés and offices on the lower floors, or a town centre with these activities).

Natural Character - those qualities and values of the coastal environment, wetlands, lakes, rivers and their margins that derive from the presence of natural elements, natural patterns and natural processes. These qualities include the presence of indigenous and exotic vegetation including pasture, terrestrial, aquatic and marine habitats, landforms, landscapes, and seascapes, the function of natural processes and the maintenance of water and air quality. The lower the degree of human modification the higher the level of natural character.

Natural Heritage - includes indigenous flora and fauna, terrestrial, marine and freshwater ecosystems and habitats, landscapes, landforms, geological features, soils and the natural character of the coastline.

Natural Resource Accounting - assessment of the value of natural resources, including their ecosystem services, for the purposes of measuring the full cost of decisions that affect these resources.

Network Utilities - Infrastructure assets, networks, and activities that are used for the purposes of the generation, transmission, and distribution of energy and fuels including natural gas and petroleum products; the collection, treatment and distribution of potable water; the collection, treatment, and disposal of wastewater; the collection, treatment, and disposal of stormwater, and the operation of telecommunication and radiocommunication networks.

Off the plan - when a property is offered for sale on the basis of the plans and has not yet been constructed.

Ōritetanga - balance, equality of outcomes.

Outcomes - the seven aspirational outcomes of the Auckland Plan articulate the vision of Auckland as the world’s most liveable city and describe what Auckland will be like in 2040.

Papakāinga - a settlement or village which can include a range of activities associated with residential living, e.g. marae complex, gardening and social and economic development.

Papakāinga Housing - housing development within a papakāinga.

Photovoltaics - this is a method of generating electrical power by converting solar radiation into direct current electricity.

Place-Making - the process of planning, designing and building places in an integrated way so that they are successful, attractive for people and enduring. It requires consideration of the relationships between all the parts of a place and the way they work together rather than a focus on each part (e.g. building) in isolation from the whole area.

PM₁₀ - particles, or particulate matter, emitted to air that have a diameter less than or equal to 10µm, which can penetrate deep into the human lung.

Portage - refers to the practice of carrying watercraft or cargo over land to avoid river obstacles, or between two bodies of water. A place where this carrying occurs is also called a portage.

Precinct Plan - similar to masterplan but usally applies to parts of an existing centre that has a distinct role and function to other parts of the same centre.

Quality Transit Network (QTN) - high-frequency network of public transport services, generally buses, operating mainly on the road network but facilitated by bus lanes and other improvements to reduce the effect of road congestion on the quality and reliability of the service.

Rapid Transit Network (RTN) - fast, high-frequency public transport such as rail services and busways that are physically separate from the general road network and unaffected by road congestion.

Renewable Energy - energy generated from solar, wind, hydro-electricity, geothermal, biomass, tidal, wave, or ocean current energy sources.

Retail Activities - the use of land or buildings for displaying or offering goods for sale or hire to the general public, but does not include commercial services. Included as part of commercial activities (outlined above).

Retool - to make significant changes or improvements in a system for delivering a product or service.

Riparian - of, located on, or pertaining to the strip of land identified along the edges of natural watercourses.

Rural Production - forms of primary production which rely on the productive capacity of the soil such as dairying, and animal farming. They include horticulture, horse breeding, beekeeping as a part of pastoral farming activities, and activities associated with the processing and excavation of rock, sand, and clay. Such production also includes associated processing, equipment and facilities, to support complementary activities and visitor experiences.

Rural Urban Boundary - a line or lines provided for in the Auckland Plan and to be precisely located by the Unitary Plan. It is intended to contain (inside the line) existing urban areas and all significant new urban development to 2042. It will be located so that there is enough capacity for up to 40% of new urban dwellings to be provided outside the baseline 2010 Metropolitan Urban Limit over 30 years.

Sense of Place - a person’s or community’s appreciation of the special qualities of their neighbourhood, city or environment that are different from other places.

Sensitive Receiving Environments - areas where waste water overflows undermine identified, important natural or human uses or values in marine, freshwater, and terrestrial environments.

Social Infrastructure - a broad term that covers a wide range of facilities, services and locations delivered by council, government and community groups that support and sustain the well-being of people and communities.

Spatial Planning - a form of planning for cities, regions or countries that seeks to provide long-term direction for development and the achievement of social, economic and environmental well-being. Core objectives as set out in the European Regional/Spatial Planning Charter 1983 (Torremolinos Charter) include:

• enhancing quality of life – strengthening communities, providing access to jobs, housing and community facilities
• improving and achieving balanced socio-economic development (growing the economy and reducing disparity)
• responsibly managing the environment including heritage and the built environment
• developing a land-use plan in the public interest.

Supply-side economics argues that economic growth can be most effectively created by lowering barriers to people to produce (supply) goods and services, and by allowing greater flexibility by reducing regulation.

Swale - a low tract of land, especially one that is moist or marshy. Artificial swales are often designed to manage water runoff, filter pollutants, and increase rainwater infiltration.

Take-up - this is how much or how fast people start to use or accept a service, or product, that has become available to them.

Tangata whenua - the iwi or hapu that hold mana whenua (exercise customary authority) over an area.

Targeted Rates - a targeted rate is used to fund activities where the local authority considers the cost should be met by particular groups of ratepayers, or that there is some other benefit in funding these outside the general rate.

Three Waters - water services for water supply, wastewater, and stormwater; including both natural assets and physical infrastructure.

Tino Rangatiratanga - self-determination over natural resources, e.g. the right to land or taonga.

Tobacco harm reduction - describes actions taken to lower the health risks associated with using nicotine.

Transit Orientated Development (TOD) - compact, mixed- use development near new or existing public transportation infrastructure that serves housing, transportation and neighbourhood goals. Its pedestrian- and cycle-oriented design encourages residents and workers to drive their cars less, ride mass transit more, and includes appropriate treatment of car parking.

Travel Demand Management (TDM) - initiatives aimed at modifying travel behaviour in order to maximise the efficient use of transport systems (i.e. tele-working, ride sharing, more flexible work and educational hours, parking constraints, cycling and walking).

Unit titled housing - this refers to ownership of a flat or apartment.

Unitary Plan - the Unitary Plan is Auckland Council’s regulatory land-use planning document and prepared under the Resource Management Act 1991. The Unitary Plan will replace the existing district and some regional plans from the former city, district and regional councils. It will contain guidance and rules about how land can be developed and how resources can be used.

Water-Sensitive Design - development design that focuses on lowering impacts on water and water-based environments.

Zero Waste - a concept that encourages the emulation of sustainable natural cycles where all discarded materials are designed to become resources for other uses. This requires designing and managing products and processes to avoid and eliminate the volume and toxicity of waste, conserve and recover all resources, and not burn or bury them. Implementing Zero Waste will eliminate all discharges to land, water or air that are a threat to planetary, human, animal or plant health.