Disaster defining strand of ‘Christchurch story’
Have you taken a stroll under our famed sweep of cherry blossom trees in Harper Ave yet? With the seasonal blaze hitting fever pitch, I ventured down there on Sunday, half expecting to find our Thinker-in-Residence making a faux discovery about our city, basking in the blossoms.
Tel Aviv’s Hila Oren has been brought to Christchurch by one council-funded entity, the Christchurch Foundation, to help another councilfunded entity, ChristchurchNZ, craft the city’s narrative. But the merit of this venture and Oren’s reported insights have both fallen flat in the court of public opinion.
The Press website comments section and local talkback radio has been shuddering under the weight of derision. Christchurch Foundation chief executive Amy Carter certainly didn’t convince me Oren’s insights are worth their weight in gold. She cited how Oren has been enraptured by the daffodil delights of Hagley Park – as if this was some sort of earth-shattering and previously undetected revelation.
Given $35,000 has been shelled out on hosting this ‘‘global thinker’’ and ‘‘world leader’’ in Christchurch, infantilising praise any passing 4-year-old could muster doesn’t cut it.
Oren’s keynote event, Think: Christchurch, was notable for who it didn’t attract. The overwhelming number of attendees were civil servants from the vast proliferation of council-funded agencies and entities dependent on the public teat, and their assorted groupies. Real decision-makers from the private sector, in attendance, could be counted on one hand.
Following the event, an equally infantilising city council press release chirpily tried to reaffirm the Thinker-in-Residence’s great discoveries.
Here are a few extracts: ‘‘Ms Oren has formed a special connection with the city through its ‘explore’ narrative and believes Christchurch has a bright future. She’s given her backing to the council’s new electric scooter service because she says it will add to the city’s energy – 700 explorers will be out on the streets.’’ (No – terrorising pedestrians on the footpaths, actually, because they’re not allowed to use those oversized cycleways, or ridden on the road.)
‘‘What is interesting and nice about Christchurch is that building the city involves a team,’’ Oren says. ‘‘Explorers from all over the world should want to touch Christchurch’s spirit to inspire them. Even just bringing me from the other side of the world to help you think through ideas demonstrates that you are bold in taking the next step.’’
Oh dear God – slap me now. Beyond all this vacuous drivel, Oren’s most tangible suggestion is even more risible. The self-described ‘‘citymaker’’ believes our earthquake epoch should be eliminated from the Christchurch narrative. ‘‘It’s not important at all. Let it go,’’ she told the Weekend Press.
Nor is 9/11 important to the New York narrative, she argues. This is not out-ofthe-box thinking, but patently ridiculous. There’s only one reason millions of visitors flock to Hiroshima every year. Purely from a tourism perspective, honouring, acknowledging and capitalising on the disaster narrative, with dignity, is eminently smart.
Disaster has dramatically reshaped the New York tourism experience. Only the Metropolitan Museum of Art enjoys more paid visitors than the 9/11 Museum or Freedom Tower. The disaster legacy has strikingly defined Napier’s narrative, and its runaway tourism success on the back of its wondrous trove of art deco.
Whether we like it or not, disaster is a defining strand within the Christchurch story. Why pretend otherwise? The pre-and-post-quake legacy is embedded in our urban fabric and it resonates with visitors. It’s not just by accident that 185 Empty Chairs is such a ranking rockstar on TripAdvisor. Similarly, the guts and glory reconstruction of Christ Church Cathedral is a huge visitor magnet, powerfully evocative of the iconic rebuilding projects of post-WWII Europe.
Oren’s urging that we airbrush disaster out of our narrative isn’t just demeaning, but inherently clueless.
Have you noticed that our city marketeers at ChristchurchNZ have quietly dumped our ‘‘Garden City’’ branding? You’ll struggle to find it anywhere on their tourism website. Instead, we’re being spruiked as the ‘‘City of Explorers’’. Yes, we will all be channelling Ernest Shackleton on our e-scooters.
Contrived new slogans generally miss the mark. Recognisable nicknames last forever.
‘‘The preand-postquake legacy is embedded in our urban fabric and it resonates with visitors.’’