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.
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
Volunteering rates
Why is this indicator important?
Voluntary work underpins a wide range of groups and organisations whose activities contribute to social, cultural, environmental, and economic well-being. Voluntary work can provide benefits not only to the community, but also to volunteers themselves. The number of volunteers in the community is a proxy measure of community engagement and social connectedness. Volunteer work helps build social networks, increases social cohesion and supports economic activity.
Percentage of adults helping or undertaking voluntary work for or through an organisation, group or marae, 2001-2013
Findings
- In 2013, 15.2% of Wellington region adults helped or undertook unpaid voluntary work for or through an organisation, group or marae. This is higher than the percentage for New Zealand overall, which was 13.9% in 2013.
- Between 2006 and 2013, the percentage of adults in the Wellington region that undertook voluntary work increased to almost the rate of 2001 (15.5%), while the share for New Zealand was relatively steady.
Volunteering rates
Definition and data details
Indicator Definition
The number of people indicating that they have done "other help or voluntary work for or through any organisation, group or marae" in the last 4 weeks expressed as a function of the usually resident population aged 15 years and over.
Data Source
Statistics New Zealand: Census
Last updated September 2014
Data available only for the years shown. 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.
