2017 marking the start of the Age of the City Cities should not be feared but rather embraced. There is a reason why Auckland continues to attract people often at the expense of the provinces but it does not need to be this way. The City and the Province complement each other and can do so very well when we plan properly. The Age of the City does not mean the provinces get neglected! The provinces are probably some of the biggest winners in the Age of the City when they are part of the larger constantly evolving organism that is civilisation. Intensification, transit, cycle-ways, passenger and freight rail, and the 8-80 City while they mark the maturing of a pro-people City can also be applied to your smaller towns especially as they catch the flow on effects from a City economy. Remember industry moves away from areas where it faces competition and will tend to follow a rail line initially in Southern Auckland before heading into the northern Waikato where it does not face the pressures from competing residential and commercial land use (I say follow rail as industry will tend when rail is available to move their goods to the city markets by rail to avoid congested motorways and urban roads). As that industry and subsequent supporting population move from the City and into the provinces are those provincial towns ready for the consequences that come with it? Do these small towns have: Decent freight and passenger rail connection Cycleways to move within the town (given their small size cycling is certainly more attractive than it can be in a large city, it is also cheaper as well while a town is too small for a bus service) Planning mechanisms to handle the growth as one that freight and/or rail connection is open industry and new residents will certainly be not far behind The Age of the City: where we plan and invest not only for our big cities but also for our provinces as well. As one should not compete against the other but rather complement each other. Just as thinking and planning has evolved on from the provincial Manukau City Centre competing against the urban City Centre to now an urban Manukau City Centre complementing the very urban City Centre (am I implying small towns in the rural Waikato could urbanise? ). - voakl.net