10 June 2011
Media Release
Wellington 2040 – vision, or mirage?

The City Council’s newly announced City Strategy will be the subject of a day-long symposium hosted by the Wellington branch of the New Zealand Institute of Architects on Sunday 10 July and featuring some of the Capital’s leading design practitioners.

“We applaud Wellington City Council for thinking well ahead,” says Gerald Blunt, the urban designer organising the symposium. “It’s what prudent organisations should do”.
“But is the Council’s thinking good enough?”

Blunt says recent events have highlighted the need for a long-term strategy for Wellington.

“Christchurch will be a focus of central Government attention for years, and the Auckland super city will be a centripetal force in the national economy. In addition, Finance Minister Bill English has told Wellington to wean itself from a dependence on public sector jobs.”

“These challenges are in addition to the issues all cities face in managing resources and meeting the aspirations of their citizens, and to some other issues particular to Wellington, such as seismic risk and passage through a confined urban area.”

“We have to come up with our own solutions to the challenge of making our city a place where people want to live and work and make their home.”

Blunt says that with the release of the Wellington 2040 City Strategy it’s time to test the Council’s ‘vision’.

“There is a lot of accumulated knowledge and experience in Wellington,” he says. “The purpose of the symposium is to draw on both built environment expertise and the inherent wisdom of the community to provide informed feedback to the Council.”

Symposium presenters will include Stuart Niven, the former Wellington City Council urban designer who is now a senior urban designer for the Victoria State Government, architect Ian Athfield, urban designer Graeme McIndoe, and Chris McDonald of Victoria University’s School of Architecture.

Blunt says the symposium is aimed at both built environment professionals, such as architects, urban designers, planners, and landscape architects, the property sector, community groups, and the public.

“The Council’s City Strategy will affect all of us, and will also help shape the city our children grow up in. It’s vital we find a smart way forward for Wellington.”

-ends-

© Scoop Media