North Shore

The North Shore is part of the urban area of Auckland, New Zealand, located to the north of the Waitemata Harbour. The European history of the North Shore was initially dominated by very rural settlement, with people from the "main" Auckland generally venturing there only during weekends, when the beaches and many coastal settlements were favourite daytripper goals reached by the ferries connecting the North Shore to Auckland. By the 1950s, only about 50,000 people lived on the Shore, and its growth rate was still about half that of the areas south of the Waitemata, partly because few jobs were on offer.

This changed significantly with the construction of the Auckland Harbour Bridge in 1959, which opened up the Shore for Auckland expansion – vehicle volumes on the bridge became three times the forecast volume within the first decade and began turning parts of it into a dormitory town for people working in the Auckland CBD or further south. Eventually the growth became significant enough for the North Shore to be considered a city in its own right, though densities remained and remain as of the 2000s still below what is typical south of the Harbour.