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The Napier-Hastings Urban Area is a New Zealand urban area that covers the twin cities of Napier and Hastings. It is the sixth largest urban area in the country with a population of ,〔 just behind Tauranga. While the two cities remain separated by of rural land, there is sufficient economic and social integration between the cities for Statistics New Zealand to aggregate them into a single unit. However, like the urban areas of Auckland, Hamilton and Wellington, the Napier-Hastings urban area is subdivided into urban zones. The urban area contains around three quarters of the population of the entire Hawke's Bay. On their own, Hastings and Napier are the 8th and 10th biggest cities respectively. If they were to amalgamate they would become the 5th largest city in New Zealand after Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch and Hamilton. ==Amalgamation== Amalgamation is currently a major issue for Napier and Hastings residents, mainly due to local body elections. Both cities have previously had smaller amalgamations (Napier absorbed Taradale, Hastings absorbed Havelock North). There was a referendum on forming a joint Hastings and Napier in 1999, which resulted in 75% 'no' vote from Napier residents, and a 64% 'yes' vote from Hastings residents. Many say the referendum was called too early and many Napier residents were still bitter about the closing of Napier Hospital in 1998 and making Hastings Hospital the only public hospital in the region. The plan for the new council is to also absorb the Wairoa and Central Hawkes Bay councils to make a super regional council of 150,000 people. The 2015 amalgamation referendum was held in September 2015, the majority of voters (~66%) rejected the proposal in favour of the status quo.〔http://www.electionz.com/HBRP/HawkesBayReorganisationPollProgressResult150915.pdf〕 Part of recognition of New Zealand's 5th largest population centre is being labelled that way. Many residents have bought forth renaming the city to reflect this to the rest of the nation instead of referring to the cities by their current separate names. Names proposed include: * Heretaunga (the name of the plains that both cities are situated) * Hawkes Bay City (reflecting both recognised location and 'city' status) * Hawke (again, coinciding with the name of the region) * The Bay City (This perhaps is more in jest, and is already a common nickname) * Napier-Hastings (The status quo, but still does not address the issue) 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Napier-Hastings Urban Area」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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