5  Auckland typologies

As the largest city in New Zealand by both area and population, the urban complexity of Auckland is fascinating to study. The approach is the same as that done for Wellington but the memory requirements are considerably greater. The code runs within a few minutes on an M2 Macbook Pro with 16 GB RAM but less powerful laptops might struggle. If that is the case, feel free to adjust the bounding box of Auckland OR run the code on a more specced out cloud computer.

Like Wellington, the extent of Auckland is limited to “urban Auckland” using the urban/rural geographies defined by Statistics New Zealand. This is especially helpful for Auckland as the TLA and region are considerably larger than the urban extent and classifying rural typologies doesn’t add much to the insights for the corresponding increase in computational effort.

Following the same approach as Wellington with the clustergram (not shown here) and the Davies-Bouldin score we find a convenient “sweet spot” set of 14 clusters for Auckland. While the cluster decision was relatively easier for Wellington, we need to make a more considered choice for Auckland. This is often the case for unsupervised clustering where a clear winner is not always found [1].

Plotting 15 clusters on a single map doesn’t show the typologies as clearly but we can get into the details by subsetting the data: either by suburb or by cluster type.

In Chapter 2 we questioned if the residential areas within three Auckland suburbs are likely to be similar? Our clustering algorithm shows that only the block layouts of Ponsonby and Grey Lynn are the same typology while the curvilinear streets and cul-de-sacs of the residential part of East Tāmaki belong to a completely different cluster.

Hierarchical clustering is a clever little technique to see how closely connected the different typologies. It is a rough estimate as it only separates clusters using the mean value of all the morphometrics but we can pick out some interesting insights. First thing we see is a connection back to biology: a phylogenetic tree of how different species came to be. Here, we can interpret the dendrogram as typologies that are split close together are more similar than ones further way. Finding the specific metrics that generate the splits in the tree would be an interesting future analysis.

We can summarise suburbs in Auckland by their most dominant typology. Note, we’re only listing suburbs with more than 100 buildings. Some suburbs, like Takapuna have a dominant typology that only represents a small fraction of buildings because it has many other typologies within its boundaries.

name	cluster	buildings_in_cluster	total_buildings	cluster_fraction
Albany	5	1173	2742	0.4277899
Albany Heights	2	323	807	0.4002478
Alfriston	2	197	383	0.5143603
Ardmore	2	297	696	0.4267241
Auckland Airport	0	98	294	0.3333333
Auckland Central	13	1149	2200	0.5222727
Avondale	4	5611	9405	0.5965976
Bayswater	4	1085	1677	0.6469887
Bayview	5	913	2472	0.3693366
Beach Haven	4	2288	4796	0.4770642
Beachlands	6	617	620	0.9951613
Belmont	4	996	1925	0.5174026
Birkdale	4	1610	3898	0.4130323
Birkenhead	5	1375	3809	0.3609871
Blockhouse Bay	10	2458	5225	0.4704306
Botany Downs	7	986	2300	0.4286957
Brookby	12	178	222	0.8018018
Browns Bay	10	2179	3872	0.5627583
Bucklands Beach	14	1622	4048	0.4006917
Burswood	7	290	648	0.4475309
Campbells Bay	10	820	1077	0.7613742
Castor Bay	10	1206	1575	0.7657143
Chatswood	5	773	1322	0.5847201
Clendon Park	14	2162	2638	0.8195603
Clover Park	14	2492	2766	0.9009400
Coatesville	12	1290	1612	0.8002481
Cockle Bay	14	921	2085	0.4417266
Conifer Grove	14	865	1723	0.5020313
Cornwallis	2	167	183	0.9125683
Dairy Flat	12	1010	1329	0.7599699
Dannemora	7	1044	1173	0.8900256
Devonport	4	2055	4213	0.4877759
Drury	12	479	1319	0.3631539
East Tāmaki	7	1338	3038	0.4404213
East Tāmaki Heights	7	1456	1772	0.8216704
Eastern Beach	7	445	659	0.6752656
Eden Terrace	8	308	604	0.5099338
Ellerslie	10	2040	3733	0.5464774
Epsom	10	4556	6648	0.6853189
Fairview Heights	10	488	958	0.5093946
Farm Cove	7	581	989	0.5874621
Favona	14	1348	2942	0.4581917
Flat Bush	7	4742	8566	0.5535839
Forrest Hill	10	2461	3215	0.7654743
Freemans Bay	8	653	1391	0.4694464
Glen Eden	4	8110	11746	0.6904478
Glen Innes	5	766	2290	0.3344978
Glendene	4	3015	3912	0.7707055
Glendowie	10	1627	2596	0.6267334
Glenfield	4	2615	7036	0.3716600
Golflands	7	873	1107	0.7886179
Goodwood Heights	14	649	1400	0.4635714
Grafton	8	275	723	0.3803596
Green Bay	4	1212	2110	0.5744076
Greenhithe	5	2111	3868	0.5457601
Greenlane	10	1796	2717	0.6610232
Grey Lynn	8	2837	4184	0.6780593
Half Moon Bay	7	1219	3029	0.4024431
Hauraki	4	1177	2274	0.5175901
Henderson	4	8750	18217	0.4803206
Henderson Valley	2	1173	1451	0.8084080
Herald Island	4	344	550	0.6254545
Herne Bay	10	825	1299	0.6351039
Highland Park	14	605	1294	0.4675425
Hillcrest	10	2520	4028	0.6256207
Hillpark	14	1481	1774	0.8348365
Hillsborough	10	1403	2833	0.4952347
Hobsonville	8	2120	3656	0.5798687
Howick	14	2077	4354	0.4770326
Huia	2	191	491	0.3890020
Huntington Park	7	185	276	0.6702899
Karaka	7	1288	3912	0.3292434
Kelston	4	1517	2310	0.6567100
Kingsland	8	321	904	0.3550885
Kohimarama	10	1169	1596	0.7324561
Kumeū	2	665	958	0.6941545
Laingholm	5	898	1530	0.5869281
Long Bay	8	203	764	0.2657068
Lucas Heights	2	546	846	0.6453901
Lynfield	10	608	1420	0.4281690
Mairangi Bay	10	1438	1997	0.7200801
Manukau	14	530	1272	0.4166667
Manukau Heads	10	40	101	0.3960396
Manurewa	14	9977	12003	0.8312089
Manurewa East	14	1103	1121	0.9839429
Massey	4	3878	10830	0.3580794
Meadowbank	10	1332	1646	0.8092345
Mellons Bay	7	647	1401	0.4618130
Milford	10	2050	2768	0.7406069
Mission Bay	10	1134	1509	0.7514911
Morningside	4	840	1521	0.5522682
Mount Albert	4	3524	7284	0.4838001
Mount Eden	10	3097	9109	0.3399934
Mount Roskill	10	4075	10713	0.3803790
Mount Wellington	14	3966	9575	0.4142037
Murrays Bay	10	1033	1555	0.6643087
Māngere	14	3615	7090	0.5098731
Māngere Bridge	14	2141	5177	0.4135600
Māngere East	14	6981	8119	0.8598350
Narrow Neck	4	803	1419	0.5658915
New Lynn	4	3886	7252	0.5358522
New Windsor	10	1306	2669	0.4893218
Newmarket	13	287	454	0.6321586
Northcote	10	1216	3411	0.3564937
Northcote Point	10	471	1039	0.4533205
Northcross	5	543	1396	0.3889685
Northpark	7	1489	1579	0.9430019
One Tree Hill	4	664	1784	0.3721973
Onehunga	4	3687	7955	0.4634821
Orakei	10	1423	2086	0.6821668
Oratia	2	894	1724	0.5185615
Oteha	10	496	1143	0.4339458
Pahurehure	14	720	1386	0.5194805
Pakuranga	14	2197	3917	0.5608884
Pakuranga Heights	14	3228	4084	0.7904016
Panmure	14	1288	2305	0.5587852
Papakura	14	8750	12431	0.7038854
Papatoetoe	14	11727	15320	0.7654700
Parau	2	222	365	0.6082192
Parnell	8	795	2278	0.3489903
Penrose	0	1037	1467	0.7068848
Pinehill	10	897	1275	0.7035294
Point Chevalier	4	2735	4175	0.6550898
Point England	14	559	1169	0.4781865
Ponsonby	8	2001	2373	0.8432364
Pāremoremo	2	752	1313	0.5727342
Rakino Island	2	173	251	0.6892430
Randwick Park	14	1653	1935	0.8542636
Ranui	4	4257	6101	0.6977545
Red Hill	14	992	1070	0.9271028
Redvale	12	319	392	0.8137755
Remuera	10	6426	9174	0.7004578
Riverhead	5	904	2750	0.3287273
Rosedale	0	795	1395	0.5698925
Rosehill	14	1507	1971	0.7645865
Rothesay Bay	10	896	1185	0.7561181
Royal Oak	10	755	1765	0.4277620
Saint Heliers	10	3172	4229	0.7500591
Saint Marys Bay	8	400	651	0.6144393
Sandringham	4	2146	4245	0.5055359
Schnapper Rock	10	665	1189	0.5592935
Shamrock Park	7	242	327	0.7400612
Shelly Park	7	421	854	0.4929742
Somerville	7	1366	1446	0.9446750
St Johns	10	994	2267	0.4384649
Stanley Point	4	551	1213	0.4542457
Stonefields	8	643	888	0.7240991
Sunnyhills	7	983	1805	0.5445983
Sunnynook	4	728	2090	0.3483254
Sunnyvale	4	1858	2576	0.7212733
Swanson	5	829	2335	0.3550321
Takanini	14	1789	5758	0.3106982
Takapuna	8	676	2810	0.2405694
Taupaki	12	188	306	0.6143791
Te Atatū Peninsula	4	4187	6499	0.6442530
Te Atatū South	4	3673	6751	0.5440675
The Gardens	7	951	1164	0.8170103
Three Kings	10	400	969	0.4127967
Titirangi	5	2724	8354	0.3260713
Torbay	4	2524	6279	0.4019748
Totara Heights	14	586	799	0.7334168
Tōtara Park	2	309	625	0.4944000
Tōtara Vale	5	657	2065	0.3181598
Unsworth Heights	10	1140	1954	0.5834186
Wai o Taiki Bay	14	253	673	0.3759287
Waiake	10	413	703	0.5874822
Waiatarua	2	553	846	0.6536643
Wairau Valley	0	425	813	0.5227552
Waterview	4	1382	1795	0.7699164
Wattle Downs	14	1716	3225	0.5320930
Wesley	4	929	1934	0.4803516
West Harbour	10	1784	4020	0.4437811
Western Springs	5	158	252	0.6269841
Westgate	8	319	1038	0.3073218
Westmere	8	724	2244	0.3226381
Weymouth	14	2674	3663	0.7300027
Whenuapai	2	1832	4379	0.4183604
Whitford	12	1036	1974	0.5248227
Windsor Park	5	334	940	0.3553191
Wiri	14	628	2051	0.3061921
Āwhitu	2	286	453	0.6313466
Ōkura	12	150	287	0.5226481
Ōpaheke	14	1399	1920	0.7286458
Ōtara	14	6204	7752	0.8003096
Ōtāhuhu	14	3554	5454	0.6516318

Let’s look at the distribution of the clusters that Grey Lynn, Ponsonby and Auckland Central belong to. They are clearly the minority in the city!

However, if we look at the distribution of typologies belonging to some newer parts of Auckland like Albany and East Tāmaki Heights, we see that they are popular beyond the suburb and dominate in specific parts of the city.

[1]

“Introduction to Clustergram — clustergram.” https://clustergram.readthedocs.io/en/stable/notebooks/introduction.html (accessed Nov. 13, 2025).