Given the choice I would have missed that session, and that would have
been a mistake on my part. Mayor Parker's speech was excellent. Low key,
but full of information and optimism.
He told us about the new opportunity the earthquakes have created. When
the City Plan was being revised, prior to the earthquake, the council
got over 3000 submissions and they thought that was good. After the
Share an Idea Campaign they got 106,000 suggestions. Those ideas have
been entered into a database and are searchable in many ways. If the
City Council needs to test any new idea for popular support, there is
already likely to be a strong indicator in that collected data.
"Green" is the most commonly used word in that database. People have
said strongly that this is what they want, and the draft plan tries to
be true to those ideals. At no time in our life have we ever had a
previous opportunity like this to reshape the future of Christchurch.
Mayor Parker than spoke of the origin of the term Christchurch going
back to Henry VIII, and the founding fathers of Christchurch, who came
here with idealism in their hearts, determined to build a better place
to live. Our challenge today is to live up to that model.
"Ho Humm, all the expected stuff, meaningless words from a salesman,"
said one of my friends.
Not so; because these words were also spoken.
"What should the future of planet be?"
"There is no guarantee for the future of this small city."
"The mega cities of the world are attracting all the attention, all the
money. How does this small city survive?"
"We have a unique opportunity to step into the future. To create for
ourselves a place, a space, an identity, that will lay the foundation
for the future: the next 50 years; the next 100 years."
"If we are to succeed, that future has to be built on a base of
sustainability and environmental awareness."
I was both delighted and surprised. In my view, if we don't strive
strongly for sustainability, we've missed the opportunity we have. Easy
to say.
Very hard to do NOW. Because so much of what we take for granted, is in
no way sustainable. There's a massive shift in public understanding
required to get from here to there. Sustainability has short term costs
that people would rather avoid. Sustainability, true sustainability,
cannot be achieved if only Christchurch is involved. If Christchurch is
to become sustainable, that has to become the model for the whole of New
Zealand, and the flow of influence doesn't stop there.
I can't live a sustainable lifestyle on my own, and live anything like a
normal life. Lots to talk about here.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
International Speaker Series:
Canterbury University in the Central Lecture Block
Monday, Tuesday. August 29th and 30th.
Starts 9.30am to about noon.
Starts 1.30pm to about 5.30pm.
To get there, off Clyde Road go down Arts Road.
Off Creyke Road go down Forestry Road.
The lecture theatres are where those two roads meet.
Parking off Arts Road.
The display for the proposed inner city rebuilding is displayed in the
foyer.