In an article in the Guardian it is argued that large cities have been gutted by Covid 19. Staff have been found to be more productive at home and this is leading to questioning of the need for large central city offices and the cost of expensive infrastructure to support travel to the central city.
One of the challenges is for the suburbs to be able to support the level of data traffic. This is something which Christchurch has in spades. We have excellent fibre throughout the City. And, it is owned by each of us. No investor in New York, Tokyo or Munich can turn our data up or down because we own our own network.
Here’s what the Guardian concluded with:
Cleveland further argues that strong urban policies – improving infrastructure, housing quality and affordability, and climate resilience – will not just support remote working but also reduce social inequity. Around the world, the chief obstacle to working from home is that fast, reliable internet is still not a given, even in urban centres.
One of the selling points for this area is that it is easy to move around in Greater Christchurch. We have suburbs which have centres. We need to plan for growth areas and we need to ensure that with future planning it is still possible to buy or rent affordable housing.
The market will not provide on its own it will require active intervention by Central and local Government
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