The Changing Population of Wellington City 1926 to 1956, with Special Reference to the Decrease of Numbers in the Central Area

Abstract

"A city, unless it has ceased to have other functions than to serve the purposes of archaeology, is always in transition." Business expands or contracts, industries move in or out, people enter or leave. Changing ideas and changing needs from one generation to another dictate corresponding changes in urban form. The forces bringing about these changes and the changes themselves are extremely complex. However, in general terms, the commercial core of an expanding city tends to increase in area thereby disturbing adjacent residential areas. Therefore, as the business district grows, the residential areas show a tendency to extend outwards and eventually spill out beyond the city's administrative limits. This generalisation is borne out in both Lower Hutt and Wellington Cities. The commercial core of Wellington City has been expanding and residential areas have been extending, the latter far beyond the legal limits of the city. The population of Wellington City (which is only part of a much larger metropolitan area) has actually decreased during the ten-year period prior to 1956 since many of the people involved in this expansion of business and the growth of metropolitan population are choosing to live outside the City itself. Many people look upon the Central Area of the City as over-crowded and congested - as it is during the rush-hours when businessmen and women are moving to or from work. But most do not realise that fewer persons now reside in the Central Area than in 1926; in fact the 1956 census return was nearly one quarter lower than the return for 1926. Although the recent, numerically slight, decreases in the City's total population give rise to occasional comment, few are aware that an annual net loss averaging about 800 persons from the Central Area has been occurring since 1945. It is the purpose of this study to assess the importance of this trend and what significance it has in relation to the City as a whole. It should be pointed out at this stage that although this phenomenon of central depopulation in New Zealand cities is frequently raised, the number of people directly involved in relation to the total population of a particular city, is not very great. For example, although this phenomenon has been occurring in the city of Wellington for over thirty years less than 8,000 people have left this part of the City, and over the same period the total growth of population in the City has been nearly 22,000; it may well be that greater problems accompany the considerable numerical increase.