Transcript
AMIRIA: "There's none of our own people being heard at the table, so it kind of makes you think - like, who are you creating the city for? It's not for us."
LEONIE: "I think it's really important that these voices are heard. Although a lot of the time they don't realise that there's an opportunity to be engaged. You know, it doesnt apply or they're left out of that conversation."
DEAHNE: "I'm not sure where they get that they've been consulting with young people, because we haven't seen that happen."
The voices from some of Auckland's youth.
Amiria Puia-Taylor is from the 312 Hub in Onehunga, Leonie Freeman from The Corner in South Auckland's Papakura and Deahne Lakatini from The Creative Souls crew in Avondale, West Auckland.
"You've got landscape designers, architects and all these town planners that are changing what Auckland looks like for us, right? But when I enter into those spaces from a mana whenua lens, there's no young people."
Amiria lives in Onehunga, a suburb which is one of Auckland's earliest settlements and has been ear-marked by the Council for transformation.
It's strategic central location means its relied upon to receive and host infrastructure for electricity, water, wastewater, transport and freight.
The Council's future plans for the suburb include light rail between the city centre and the airport, the East-West Link motorway and the redevelopment of its Wharf.
Amiria says not enough young people are being heard at council consultations.
"With us having this hub, we can try and highlight and showcase - all the urban planners, the architects - all those that are building our infrastructure to go, these are the kids we need to help us inform what our decisions are. It's crazy how many young people are not at the table."
But Angelika Cutler from the Council's development agency, Panuku, says they have strong engagement with young people.
"Young people are really wising up to the fact that changes that get agreed to for their communities today will come into effect when they are their community leaders. And we've found that the response to some of our outreach has been really positive."
Deahne disagrees and says many locals in Avondale are tired of not being heard.
"Our community is difficult to engage with because people have come along with great ideas forever. There's been lots of conversation about what our community needs and not a lot of follow through ever."
Local ward Councillor Ross Clow agrees with her comments but adds commitments have been made for developments to begin next year.
"We actually don't want to lose the soul and heart and colour of what Avondale offers now. Admittedly, it's a bit run-down and all that. But we've got great ethnic and cultural diversity in Avondale. So it's pretty crucial that all groups come through and of course with youth, it's vital."
Manukau Ward Councillor Efeso Collins agrees.
"If we're not hearing from our young people then we're not really preparing a city that's going to include them in 30 years time. Worse off, it might not be the city that they want in 30 years time so that's why it's really important for us to hear their voices."
Ms Cutler says Panuku has a strong relationship with ethnic minorities and the Maori community.
"Hearing the voice of the people that live in these locations is very important for us.We have found those community groups, those ethnic groups to be very active and very willing to give us feedback."
But Deahne, Maungakiekie-Tamaki Ward Councillor Josephine Bartley and Manukau Ward Councillor Efeso Collins disagree.
"Panuku's got the relationships and that's good. The local board has the relationship but there's still a lot of work to be done. Hardly anybody from our diverse community turns up. It's always a certain demographic that turns up at the meetings. So that is the voice that is the loudest."
"I have very low confidence in the way in which Auckland council engages with anyone who is not palangi. If you can speak English in this city, if you are older, whiter and male. You're more than likely to participate in the plans and strategies of Auckland Council. What we've got to do at Auckland Council is make sure that we're reaching communities that don't normally participate."
"And you can't do it the middle-aged white way. Like work-shopping and consultation and all those things are not the way our people do things. You sit down around a table with some food, you celebrate, you share and you talk."
Deahne, Amiria and Mr Collins say the council needs to help break down language barriers when communicating with ethnic minorities and youth.