Social » Sense of Place

We have a deep sense of pride in the Wellington region and there is strong community spirit. We value the region’s unique characteristics – its rural, urban and harbour landscapes, its central location, and its capital city.

What is Sense of Place?

Residents with a strong sense of pride and a sense of community are key to building strong, socially sustainable and connected communities. These people will act as advocates for their region and promote the positive aspects their region has to offer by contributing to improving their neighbourhoods. The built environment contributes to the way people feel about where they live and impacts strongly on the sustainability of the natural environment. 

Sense of place is made up of 6 indicators that were selected to measure progress towards the sense of place community outcome definition (shown above). Data relating to each individual indicator (for the 2001 to 2016 period) is provided via the menu below. The index for sense of place (pictured below) shows the composite average of the individual indicators.

Walking to School

Sense of place, 2001-2016

What this means

The sense of place GPI has changed a small amount across the 15 year time series, a net change of only 0.1% from 2001 to 2016. The sense of place indicator that trended most positively over time was residents’ sense of community with others in their local neighbourhood.  The strongest negative trend across the sense of place indicators was in people’s perceptions about graffiti, vandalism and litter being a problem in their local area.

Did you know?

Natural disasters (and the cost of cleaning up after them) actually create an increase in GDP, thus counting natural disasters as a benefit to our economy. From a GPI perspective, natural disasters would be a decline in our well-being

6 Indicators are being used to track Sense of Place in the Wellington region

Click on each indicator below to access further information


Download Territorial Authority data for these Indicators


Contact with friends and family

Why is this indicator important?

Family and friends are the primary source of care and support for most people. Staying in touch with family and friends who live elsewhere helps maintain social connectedness between households and across geographical boundaries.

Percentage of resident’s who thought the amount of contact they have with friends and family is about right, 2008, 2010 and 2012

Findings

 

  • In 2012, 73.0% of Wellington region respondents thought the amount of contact they have with friends and family (who do not live with them) was about right, which is lower than for New Zealand respondents overall. This has risen slightly from 71.4% in 2008.
  • For New Zealand overall, the percentage of those who thought the amount of contact they have with family and friends (who do not live with them) is about right has increased very slightly from 74.7% to 76% over the same time period.
  • The percentage of Wellington region respondents who thought the amount of contact they have with friends and family (who do not live with them) is about right is slightly lower that the percentage for New Zealand overall.

Contact with friends and family

Definition and data details

Indicator Definition

The percentage of respondents in the Wellington region aged 15 and over who said the amount of contact they have with friends and family who do not live with them is about right.

Data Source

Statistics New Zealand General Social Survey

Last updated March 2016

Data available from 2008.  Indicators are updated in May and November each year; for those indicators where new data or survey results have become available.

While care has been taken in processing, analysing and extracting information, we cannot guarantee that the information is free from error and we shall not be liable for any loss suffered through the use, directly or indirectly, of any information, product or service.