I live in Auckland and it feels the same as far as planning is concerned - only worse! There's barely any useful rail here, everything is supposed to happen by

I live in Auckland and it feels the same as far as planning is concerned - only worse! There's barely any useful rail here, everything is supposed to happen by road and every time a good rail proposal comes by, the road/trucking lobby mobilises and nothing every happens. I live a good life though. Like you I live in an inner city suburb (St. Mary's Bay) and can walk 20 minutes to my office. Also like Sydney, Auckland is one of the fastest growing Asian cities in the world, so the food is fantastic. It's also on a beautiful harbour and, despite questionable general planning decisions, there are great parks and green spaces everywhere, plus opportunities (well, if you know people I guess) to get involved with activities like sailing (Auckland has one of the highest amounts of boats per capita in the world). Auckland's funny though, I'd say we're probably 20 years behind the levels of development and confidence that Sydney is reaching now. We'll never be as big, that's a given, but as far as interesting architecture and commercial developments, everything is still quite under-developed here, but I think the climate and pace of life make up for it - though I must admit I'm itching to live in New York for a while, guess the grass is always greener :)