Measure what matters.
Quantify your place.
Commencing in summer 2025, and repeated seasonally, Urban Metrics will embark on a nationwide data collection programme to count and map ‘Main Street’ pedestrian movements, activities, demographics and built environment trends, for 30+ town and city centres across Aotearoa New Zealand.
While this is a large and complex undertaking, the purpose of the programme is decidedly simple - to ensure that accurate, quantitative and comparable human-centred data can be made easily accessible for those who are working to create vibrant towns and cities where people, businesses and communities thrive.
Make better decisions.
Something about a world recognised methodology.
Data is power. Power to make better choices and inform better decisions.
And, then, if we compare and contrast those trends against other, similarly sized towns and cities, we develop context - context that can help to establish measurable objectives and inform meaningful change.
The greatest indicator of social and economic performance in urban centres, is people; how many, how often and for how long.
‘Main Streets’ are the social and retail heart of the community. They are the places where people come together to shop, do business, and socialise. They are also a marketing symbol for attracting growth and investment.
Despite playing such an essential role, identifying and measuring the vitality of town centres has historically been too difficult or cost prohibitive to acquire.
Until now.
Identify trends.
Driving the programme is a globally recognised methodology which focuses on ‘Main Street’ pedestrian movements, activities and demographics, to identify trends and insights that reflect town and city centre performance.
With close to 15 years experience to our name, we know that a number on its own, for example, the number of pedestrians passing a given location, while useful, is limited in value.
However, we also know, that when viewed over time - a day, a season, a year - meaningful trends emerge, which can then inform meaningful change.
If we pay attention to the gender and age of those pedestrians, how many use pushchairs or require mobility assistance, those trends become even richer. If we then map those spending time in a given environment, not simply those moving through said environment, the palette of trends grows wider.
