Auckland Council
The challenge:
Auckland’s Learning Quarter is the area is roughly bounded by Waterloo Quadrant, Kitchener Street, Wakefield Street, and State Highway 16 which encompasses two of Aotearoa's leading universities – University of Auckland (UoA) and Auckland University of Technology (AUT). Accomodation in this precinct have traditionally been populated by international and local students, however with the closing of New Zealand’s borders and the university campuses, vacancy rates have increased significantly. In order to ensure a vibrant Learning Quarter environment, Auckland Council wanted to understand what steps it could take in order to encourage more students to choose to live in the city centre.
Our approach:
With assistance from the Universities, we interviewed over 20 students that represented a cross-section of the undergraduate student population. From here we were able to identify four distinct segments based on their attitudes to student accomodation and their perceptions of the central city experience. This research also gave us insights on what impediments existed to more students choosing to live in the city. Using a combination of census data and anonymised Auckland Transport HOP card trips we were able to identify the predominant home location for each segment. Given that one segment had a greater propensity to live in the Learning Quarter, Auckland Council could use this data to geo-target specific campaigns aimed at encouraging more inner-city dwelling.
The output:
This engagement resulted in an interactive dashboard that allows Auckland Council to identify how each student segment is represented in suburbs across the greater Auckland Region. Joots also produced three A1 sized posters which defined and profiled each of the four segments, the key insights around their experience of the city centre and what are the key decisions students make when it comes to choosing accomodation options. We also embedded QR codes into the poster that surface videos of the interviewees discussing their experiences in order to bring the key themes to life.
