I agree about your comments on bars on the strip. Like many business post-Covid the economics of the model just don’t work. Retail/office and to a lesser extent industrial premise rent/values are in for a huge shake up. We had a friend who won the prestigious retail shop of the year around 7 – 8 … [Read more...]
A message to those who rubbish cycle lanes:
This is an interesting article from Australia. There a cycle retailer said that cycles are the “new toilet paper”. https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2020/apr/22/bicycles-are-the-new-toilet-paper-bike-sales-boom-as-coronavirus-lockdown-residents-crave-exercise. This sentiment has been … [Read more...]
The death of the space called “the office”
We have had a chance to see what it really is like to not be bound to working in an office for 8 hours per day. Now is the time to re-set our thinking on this way of working. Each week we will try to have articles on challenging what was seen as normal in the past and which we now should be … [Read more...]
We need to have a mature discussion about how we can find other uses for the Convention centre:
It’s time for a community discussion about how this City will use the Convention Centre. It has cost $500m+ to build. What are we going to use it for? It has closed off Christchurch streets. Somebody rang me recently and suggested that it should have been painted white; to go with its elephant … [Read more...]
Let us learn from our earthquake disaster:
I enjoyed this article from James Dann in the Spinoff https://thespinoff.co.nz/politics/06-05-2020/we-have-another-once-in-a-lifetime-chance-to-rebuild-will-we-squander-it-again/ There were several really good quotes: Writing for The Spinoff, Roger Dennis looks at one of the important splits … [Read more...]
We need to think through massive employment schemes now
There is research going on right now analysing employment programmes of the past in Christchurch. The researcher is interviewing people who worked on the schemes which were operating in the 1980’s and 1990’s. If you were involved, or have ideas on what form large scale employment programmes should … [Read more...]
Generation Zero challenges CCC’s response to Post-Covid 19
Thanks to Cam Bradley who sent to me what Generation Zero recently wrote to CCC with the following suggestions for their actions post Covid 19. It is a very well thought through submission and I hope it doesn’t disappear into a hole at CCC, and be ignored. My advice to Generation Zero is to hassle … [Read more...]
Gen Zero Vision for Christchurch’s Economic Recovery…
We are acutely aware of the twin pressures to minimise rate rises and increase spending to reduce the economic impacts of COVID-19. We urge you to seek help from the central government as they respond so that long-term investment is not reduced but instead expanded. We ask for increased … [Read more...]
Last week – John Shaw
Last week’s speaker was Professor Jon Shaw from Plymouth University in the UK. It was a wonderful address and very useful advice for transport planners, and elected reps. There were many really good points Jon made and some which I liked included: The role of the academic is to … [Read more...]
This Weeks Speaker Tim Taylor on Urban Transformation
This week’s speaker continues the theme which Jim Lunday started a couple of weeks ago. I have had so many people say how much they got out of that talk. This week, instead of a Glaswegian and a Pom, we have a Kiwi who is working in Europe on some fascinating projects. His name is Tim Taylor and … [Read more...]