In the next 30 years, Auckland's population is expected to surpass 2 million. In the face of challenges from a disrupted climate, we are creating a more climate resilient city with stronger, improved infrastructure.
When rain falls in cities, water flows onto streets, roofs, and car parks. This runoff is called stormwater. It then enters the "grey infrastructure" system - gutters, drains, and underground pipes – that carry it to nearby streams and eventually the sea.
Rain swales naturally absorb and redirect stormwater, enhancing urban resilience and reducing flood risks
Stormwater flowing through grey infrastructure picks up and carries sediment, heavy metals, and other pollutants from urban areas into streams, lakes, and beaches impacting water quality and ecosystems. Parts of Auckland’s stormwater system were built over 100 years ago, when rainfall patterns were less intense. Today, more frequent and severe storms driven by climate change, along with the city’s growth, are putting significant pressure on the network's ability to manage stormwater effectively.
Enter "green infrastructure" — a nature-based solution playing a big part in reducing the impacts of urban development and pollution. It mitigates flooding by slowing and absorbing stormwater, filters contaminants to improve water quality, and reduces pressure on traditional stormwater systems.
It comes in various forms - riparian planting, water-absorbing paths, green roofs, rain gardens, street trees, and wetlands. Green infrastructure complements and bolsters our traditional grey infrastructure, delivering significant benefits across our city, helping to minimise climate change impacts and future-proof the city for generations to come.
Your greens are good for you
Community members planting native vegetation alongside streams help restore ecosystems and improve water quality.
Green infrastructure works alongside traditional stormwater systems to improve water quality by reducing overflows and filtering pollutants resulting in cleaner beaches and waterways. It also mitigates flooding by making space for water through open space and natural interventions which slow and manage stormwater discharging into local streams and creeks.
Auckland Council is working to promote the use of more green infrastructure in new developments, parks, and reserves to make the city more resilient to climate change.
New subdivisions and large areas of roads are built with ‘swales’ - wide channels filled with grass and plants - that naturally filter out contaminants, soak up water, and allow it to re-enter the water system gradually.
And because green infrastructure uses vegetation, trees, and streams, it provides habitats for native species and plants, like at Auckland’s Barry Curtis Park. Its 55 km of restored streams and gullies not only help manage stormwater, but they also allow native birds, fish, and plants to flourish. It is the largest urban park to be developed in Auckland in 100 years to support the tens of thousands expected to live in the new Ormiston community.
Trees improve air quality, filter pollutants and provide shade to help lower temperatures, playing a vital role in combating climate change, and contributing to cooler towns and cities, such as the 1047 trees planted in Auckland’s city centre.
While parks, like South Auckland’s Tōtara Park offer spaces for socialising, exercise, connection with nature, and playgrounds alongside a large amount of green space and huge mature trees providing ecological benefits.
A Better Functioning And More Climate-Resilient City
Aucklanders have expressed a strong preference for nature-based solutions to safeguard communities from hazards while protecting and restoring our natural environment. Public feedback shows that 74 percent support prioritising investments in green infrastructure that respond to the impacts of climate change.
The council’s future-focused plan is creating a more climate resilient city with stronger, improved infrastructure by aiming to preserve, protect and care for our natural environment for the benefit of present and future generations.
This includes ensuring that Auckland’s growth and development is designed to protect and enhance the environment rather than work against it. It has a focus on using green infrastructure where possible to create and restore natural areas and help minimise climate change impacts.
In the years ahead, this means prioritising investment in more green infrastructure that responds to the impacts of climate change, such as rain gardens, wetlands, and blue-green networks.
The green roof on Auckland's Central Library absorbs rainwater, enhances biodiversity, and contributes to a cooler, greener urban environment.
Auckland's Green Makeover
One of the city’s longest urban streams, Te Auaunga / Oakley Creek in Mt Roskill, was once a polluted concrete waterway but has now been transformed into a widened natural stream. The use of native trees, ferns, and flaxes increases water-carrying capacity of the stream, allowing stormwater to naturally soak into the ground, reducing localised flooding and protecting nearby properties.
Similar projects are sprouting up across the city, from the use of green living roofs at the Auckland Botanic Gardens and the Auckland Central Library that absorb and treat rainwater to rain gardens on Karangahape Road and Quay Street, and planter boxes on Queen Street. While the upgraded Federal Street includes 13 native trees and nine rain gardens that filter stormwater before it reaches the waterways.
Rain gardens on Queen Street filter stormwater, reducing pollution and promoting sustainable urban living
Te Awataha stream in Northcote was buried in underground pipes since the 1950s. It has been daylighted allowing water to be channelled along the stream, rather than through private property, providing much greater capacity than the older piped network and reducing flooding in heavy rain events. This has boosted the mauri of the stream, improved water quality and allows it to become a habitat for birds, insects and eels once more.
In South Auckland, Auckland Council have also acquired 7.6 hectares of land to support the creation of a new wetland park, alongside the naturalisation of the Puhinui Stream.
Auckland’s approach to creating more green infrastructure is not just an investment in the city's future but a commitment to creating a more climate resilient city with stronger, improved infrastructure for all Aucklanders.
Altogether Auckland: Tāmaki Turuki
Together, we can make Tāmaki Makaurau even better. Discover Auckland Council’s future-focused plan and learn how we’re transforming our city—visit OurAuckland.
