The locations people are allowed to live, how those people can move about, whom those people must live next to, what resources they can access, where they can (or can’t) congregate – none of these are mistakes. The state is faceless, but it is not stupid. The state has only one goal: to maintain the status quo. That’s what a suburb is.

You need at least a Silver membership plan to access Insight articles.

Nathan Smith is a former business journalist and columnist at the NBR. He also worked as the chief editor at the New Zealand Initiative policy think tank. He is now a freelance writer and copy editor.