Predictions of the pedestrian level wind speeds for the downtown area of Auckland that have been obtained by wind tunnel and computational fluid dynamic (CFD) modelling are presented. The wind tunnel method involves the observation of erosion patterns as the wind speed is progressively increased. The computational solutions are mean flow calculations, which were obtained by using the finite volume code PHOENICS and the $k-{varepsilon}$ turbulence model. The results for a variety of wind directions are compared, and it is observed that while the patterns are similar there are noticeable differences. A possible explanation for these differences arises because the tunnel prediction technique is sensitivity to gust wind speeds while the CFD method predicts mean wind speeds. It is shown that in many cases the computational model indicates high mean wind speeds near the corner of a building while the erosion patterns are consistent with eddies being shed from the edge of the building and swept downstream.