Christchurch’s success is NZ’s success
OPINION: The way Christchurch coped with the quakes defined us as an innovative, resilient city.
How we manage the regeneration phase will define our future – we need to get it right.
As the $40 billion rebuild stimulus diminishes over the next few years, our focus needs to be on how we use that foundation to support long-term growth and prosperity.
A lot has changed over the past few years and as a city we need to move from focusing inwards on the rebuild, to being aspirational and outward focused.
We forget too quickly that Christchurch has made huge progress in recent years through the commitment of local people, businesses and central and local government working in partnership.
Instead we tend to fixate on the things that are slower than we would like or that have not worked out as planned.
It’s right that we recognise where we can improve, but we have to offset that by recognising what we have built and the opportunity that lies ahead.
We are New Zealand’s newest city and that gives us some great opportunities.
The Christchurch City Council has just endorsed the updated Christchurch Economic Development Strategy, which puts increased prosperity for all of the residents of the city at its heart and identifies long-term goals and priorities through to 2031 to achieve this.
The strategy brings together the views of business, government and other stakeholders in the Christchurch economy, supported by in-depth analysis of the economic drivers of the Christchurch economy.
It captures the economic development projects and initiatives under way, or in
We are New Zealand's newest city and that gives us some great opportunities.
planning, of more than 20 agencies.
Planning like this ensures that resources, business and investment decisions are steered towards a common set of objectives intended to maximise economic outcomes.
A prosperous economy improves the economic wellbeing of residents through jobs and business opportunities and contributes to the development of the social and public amenities that make Christchurch an attractive place to live.
By outlining the plan for longterm economic growth, CEDS helps investors to be comfortable with the city for long term investment.
With the peak of the rebuild now passed, we need to be focused on what is going to grow demand – population growth, business growth, visitor growth and income growth will all drive demand upward and support investment.
That’s why these things are at the heart of CEDS.
Christchurch’s success is critical for those of us living in the city and the region, and critical also for the country’s success.
New Zealand needs a strong, vibrant and growing Christchurch and Canterbury because our regional economy is second only to Auckland’s and we should be the second growth engine for the country.
Auckland’s economy is complementary to ours.
Its cosmopolitan, consumptionbased economy is well balanced by our export orientated region and we both represent compelling yet different propositions for visitors.
Christchurch is well set for the future as a result of the rebuild infrastructure, modern housing and new commercial property that we now have.
We have to make the most of this opportunity and CEDS is about developing a plan across a wide group of stakeholders that can help to make this happen.