A variety of criteria were used to define the suburbs including existing names and reference material, heritage values and historic identity, community neighbourhoods and characteristics, physical and natural features, growth patterns and geographic location.

The following criteria were used to define the suburbs:

Existing names and reference material:

• North Shore City’s mailing address records
• Police suburb maps
• Statistic New Zealand’s Census Area Unit boundaries
• the Regional Growth Strategy
• Discussions with local people and council staff
• Published street maps e.g. Wises, Mini maps.

Neighbourhood characteristics: 

• Existing neighbourhood and shopping centre or plans for one
• Existing name and sense of identity
• Unique characteristics, e.g. age of housing, distinctive street patterns, heritage qualities etc.
• Accessibility of area and whether it is well connected without having to pass through another suburb.

Physical and natural features:

• Natural/physical boundaries e.g. motorways, main arterial roads, parks, open space
• Overall size of the area
• Relative size of an area: if a proposed suburb was small, there needed to be a strong sense of identity and other significant factors.

Growth patterns:

• New residential areas defined in North Shore City’s District Plan in Okura, Albany and Greenhithe.
• Consideration of established communities in areas to avoid subdivision names becoming the known name.

Statistics NZ census area boundaries:

• Existing boundaries in older areas of the city such as Stanley Point and Bayswater

Note: Boundaries do not necessarily follow Community Board delineations as these are political boundaries and do not necessarily take into account geographical features which may divide an area.

Geography:

• Natural geography of the ridgelines and main roads
• New motorways, subdivisions and business parks which have led to the creation of new communities
• Review of the council’s mailing address records to clarify people’s perception of which suburb they are in.

New Zealand Geographic Board:

• Use of original names where applicable, i.e. historic relevance
• Correct spelling
• Avoiding duplication of suburb names that already exist in other cities
• Avoiding names which sound similar when spoken
• Avoiding offensive names.