Four University of Otago academics tackled the vexing and complicated issue of the dominance of Auckland in a lively discussion in front of more than 60 people in Auckland last night.
The second of three University of Otago Winter Symposiums, held in association with the Otago Daily Times, discussed a wide range of topics, from the growth of cities not always assured, the need for a national planning strategy, how South Island health professionals had skills they could pass on to their northern counterparts to reduce inequality and whether businesses could justify moving to Auckland from places like Dunedin purely on a cost basis.
There was a view of rural depopulation, rural decline and the rise of ''Zombie towns''.
That was not always the case. Not all small towns were declining and some had significant economic growth, above the national average, he said.
A study from the 1950s identified 10 major United States cities which were growing strongly.
Eight of those cities were no longer growing.
Prof Nel warned of the trend being seen now in Auckland being reversed in the future.
There was a global trend of rural towns declining in population because of various factors.
They were not disappearing, but were examples of a new term called ''right sizing''.
That would happen in New Zealand but there needed to be a holistic view taken to the growth of Auckland.
New Zealand desperately needed a comprehensive regional policy, he said.
Dr Sergio Biggemann, of the department of marketing, put paid to any notion businesses in the South needed to move to Auckland to be either closer to their market, be part of a cluster or reduce their costs.
The New Zealand market was so small and the country had a history of exporting to grow, right from the first shipment of frozen lamb from Otago.
There was no reason for a Dunedin business to move to Auckland to service a global market, he said.
The cluster phenomenon was incorrect.
Often, like industries did well in certain areas because of the interactions they had with a city and local councils.
And no accounting system was developed enough to accurately compare the costs of doing business either in Dunedin or Auckland.
One Dunedin firm, which Dr Biggemann did not name, serviced its Auckland and global clients more efficiently from Dunedin because of a variety of factors, including its staff not having to travel 90min to work each morning.
Pro vice-chancellor and business school dean Prof Robin Gauld, took a no-nonsense approach to the provision of healthcare in Auckland and providing some solutions to the rising inequality identified by all panellists.
Doctors were the most needed in South Auckland but the area was the least well serviced by GP s while the best served area was the central city.
He advocated Auckland doctors learning from those in places like Ranfurly, Wanaka and Te Anau, where their ''big brains'' ensured they could treat patients with complaints usually treated in an Auckland hospital.
One in four or one in five New Zealanders did not go to the doctor or get prescriptions filled because of cost.
In Auckland, where the cost of living was among the highest in the world, the number of people putting off going to the doctor was likely much higher, he said.
However, there were some ''alternative facts'' from the South Island which were being mainly ignored by the North Island district health boards.
They included the South Island having an IT system operating across five health boards which was set up for less than $10million.
The most important part of the South Island health system was collaboration, something not happening in the north, Prof Gauld said.
Finally, Prof Claire Freeman revealed how insignificant Auckland was on a global scale being 195 on a city ranking and squeezed between a city in Mexico and one in India most people had never heard of.
Prof Freeman wanted a national planning policy established because the country had to go ahead together.
''When we go forward, Auckland will have a major role but it won't have the only role.''