Urban Sprawl: Task 3: What factors have lead to/influenced Urban Sprawl in Wellington?

In Wellington Urban Sprawl first started in the early 1900's. This was due to many things including new transport developments, a population increase and new technology.

Trams were the first things that allowed the Wellington population to live in the suburbs around the city and work in town. Before trams started in 1904 the only way you could work in the city was if you lived in the city. The land around the city in suburbs like Karori and Khandallah was cut off and used as farmland. The tram made it quick and easy for people to commute into the city.

Later advancements in transport such as trains and buses also allowed Urban Sprawl to increase and the fringes of Wellington got even further from the city centre. This is because transport options became more convenient and faster. It no longer took five hours to get to work each day.

Over the years a population increase has also lead to urban sprawl. As more people moved into the city it became very crowded and people wanted to leave the noise and move to the suburbs. This was made possible by the improvements in transport. Also, land became so expensive in the centre of town because of the great demand for it. Although, if the large number of people had not moved to Wellington city, the population would not have increased and there would not have been as much urban sprawl.

Like the other reasons for urban sprawl, my third reason, new technology and roads also relates to transport. New roads have made it quick for people to live far from the Wellington City. This made it easy for small businesses to start up because they could get new stock in quickly, making it easy for people to live in the newly developed suburbs. Roads like the Ngaraunga Gorge, Hutt motorway and streets to ‘airport’ suburbs all helped contribute to urban sprawl.