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Story: City planning

Wellington's plan

Wellington’s plan was designed by New Zealand Company surveyor William Mein Smith in 1840. It comprised a series of interconnected grids which expanded along the town’s valleys and up the lower slopes of hills.

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Alexander Turnbull Library

Reference: MapColl 832.4799/1840/Acc.317

Permission of the Alexander Turnbull Library, National Library of New Zealand, Te Puna Mātauranga o Aotearoa, must be obtained before any re-use of this image.

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How to cite this page

Ben Schrader, City planning – Early settlement planning, Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, https://teara.govt.nz/en/zoomify/25723/wellingtons-plan (accessed 4 June 2026).

Story by Ben Schrader, published 3 March 2010, updated 26 March 2015.