The heterogeneous impacts of widespread upzoning: Lessons from Auckland, New Zealand
Open accessAbstract
Zoning reform is increasingly recognised as an important strategy to increase housing affordability and environmental sustainability. Few cities have undertaken significant upzoning of low-density neighbourhoods, making the 2016 Auckland Unitary Plan (AUP) probably the most ambitious zoning reform in the world. Parcels zoned for single houses previously dominated Auckland, but three-quarters of them now allow multiple units. Existing studies have documented the building boom that followed this zoning reform, yet the relatively rare case offers additional insights. In this article, we use appraisal, census and zoning data on over 200,000 parcels in Auckland to answer three research questions about the heterogeneous impacts of the AUP. First, to what extent did upzoning increase the appraised value of properties’ redevelopment options? Second, did upzoning increase appraised property values to a greater degree in higher-income and more centrally located neighbourhoods? Finally, was zoning reform in Auckland significantly influenced by similar political pressures as in other countries? That is, was upzoning less likely (and downzoning more likely) in higher-income neighbourhoods? The answers to these three questions are substantially, it’s complicated, and yes.
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- Authors
- Cheung, K. S., Monkkonen, P., & Yiu, C. Y.
- Affiliations
- University of Auckland (NZ)
- University of California, Los Angeles (US)
- Corresponding author
- Cheung, Ka Shing
- Venue
- Urban Studies
- Publisher
- SAGE Publications
- Published
- 2023-07-30
- Volume
- 61
- Issue
- 5
- Pages
- 943-967
- ISSN
- 0042-0980 (ISSN-L)
- 1360-063X
- PMC
- PMC12345887
- OpenAlex
- W4385400263
- Semantic Scholar
- 7e723d6b75565e753a8215d4ec88bcbc9493273a
- Cited by
- 18
- References
- 36
- Citations by year
- 2026: 7 · 2025: 6 · 2024: 5
- FWCI
- 3.66
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- hybrid
- doi.org
- Locations
- Urban Studies (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
- Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (acceptedVersion)
- RePEc: Research Papers in Economics (submittedVersion)
- Funders
- Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (P2CHD041022)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Economics, Econometrics and Finance › Economics and Econometrics › Housing Market and Economics
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Management, Monitoring, Policy and Law › Urban Planning and Valuation
- Social Sciences › Urban Studies › Urban Planning and Governance
- Keywords
- upzoning, zoning reform, housing affordability, multiple units, income heterogeneity, Auckland
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