Urban Economics short courses: September & October

Sep 17, 2025

Motu Research's Senior Fellow Stuart Donovan ran urban economics short courses in Christchurch, Wellington and Auckland in September/October.

These fun and intensive courses were designed for people with various academic and professional backgrounds. The courses introduced participants to key urban economic concepts, relevant research, and policy implications.

Stuart drew on his experience working as both a researcher and a consultant in Aotearoa New Zealand, Australia and the Netherlands. He has run similar urban economics courses in many cities over the past five years. 

“Even though Aotearoa is already highly urbanised, the share of people living and working in our cities and towns is projected to continue to grow,” says Stuart. “Trends like this, common globally, motivated me to deliver this urban economics short course. We'll discuss some of the forces that have helped shape our cities and towns in the past - and how these forces might change in the future.” 

For more information about the courses, see the flyers at the top of this page, which contains detailed course information.

Wellington/Te Whanganui-a-Tara course 

This course was in partnership with Kirdan Lees from Sense Partners. 

Pricing and registration: https://forms.office.com/r/c6Q0pWBav7.

Auckland/Tāmaki Makaurau course

This course was delivered with recognised local expert Dr Shane Martin from MRCagney.

Pricing and registration: https://forms.office.com/r/mFzUV5AAT2 

Christchurch/Ōtautahi course

Pricing and registration: https://forms.office.com/r/xkuRLJ9XWv