The power of planning
Sir Bob Parker is a fan of suburban master plans, Mayor Lianne Dalziel isn’t. Darrell Latham explains how the news of a Sumner village master plan drew him back to Christchurch.
Colleagues said to us ‘‘OMG, you’re not going back to Christchurch, are you?’’ Their faces reflected astonishment and disbelief. The city is stuffed, they said.
Those initial post-earthquake dark days saw people leaving the city in droves. ‘‘You’d have to be nuts to return,’’ our colleagues said.
We needed a reason to return. We had dreams. We received a building consent for renovations to our Sumner home just days before the big shake. Our problems were miniscule compared with others’. Lives were lost and Christchurch would never be the same again, would it?
Why return? Best to quit while you’re ahead, the inner voice said.
There we were, arguing the toss, in an internet cafe in Singapore, en route back to New Zealand. At the time we were living and working in Dunedin. The chicks had long since flown the nest. We were foot loose and fancy free and on the verge of the retirement dream. But where to retire to?
They say your life can change in an instant. It did!
We had been following Christchurch post-earthquake and seeking motivation beyond family ties as to why we would return to Christchurch. Our feet had long since left the city and Sumner, but not our hearts.
In that Singapore internet cafe, with a click of the mouse our lives changed. There on The Press‘ website we were greeted with the news about the Sumner village master plan.
Mayor Sir Bob Parker and his council had a vision for Christchurch via the suburban master planning process. Eureka!
Before we left that internet cafe, arguments stopped, peace reigned. We agreed that we would return to Christchurch and Sumner. Home. We wanted to contribute to the regeneration of Christchurch but we needed a reason.
We could now see that Christchurch had a future, that there was vision and purpose beyond all the calamity and madness surrounding the daily demolition and destruction of our crumbling memories.
The suburban master planning process provided that vision. It was a master concept rather than a master stroke. Parker said they were ‘‘an important measure’’ to reassure communities and that they were as important as the central-city rebuild.
Suburban master plans enabled people living in the suburbs to engage and to see a future for themselves. The rebuilding of community facilities was now seen as being a priority.
Here was the game changer. Parker and the council were visionaries for developing the suburban master planning process. Why? Because the process was as much about healing hearts as it was about restoring muchneeded community facilities.
Demolished buildings can be rebuilt. Broken hearts take longer. The psychological effects of natural disasters last much longer and go much deeper than property damage. Post-earthquake Christchurch was a place of shock, insecurity and post-traumatic stress. Residents were devastated and communities were left bereft. People needed hope and a vision to cling to.
The suburban master planning process helped achieve a restoration of a vision for the future of suburban Christchurch. Importantly it has also been a process of rebuilding people’s confidence, expectation and optimism in their communities and the wider city.
Mayor Lianne Dalziel ‘‘has never been a supporter’’ of the process and said ‘‘that some plans lacked community input.’’ Fair comment.
Parker retorts ‘‘the process has to start somewhere’’ and ’’that an imperfect plan at that time’’ beats nothing.
Carolyn Ingles, city council head of urban design says that ‘‘we always anticipated that there would be short, medium and longer-term frameworks.’’ In short, they are a work in progress.
Love them or loath them, suburban master plans are a diamond in the rough and they are here to stay.
It was an incredible feat that Parker, his council and the people of Christchurch remained on their feet during the turbulent and unpredictable times associated with the quakes. No other Christchurch City Council that I am aware of has to the same extent, had to endure the unrelenting pressure faced during those dark days. Did they get it right? Not always. Could they have done better? Of course. We can all do better.
Hats off to Parker and his council for their overarching vision for Christchurch in initiating the suburban master planning process.
Well done to Dalziel and her council for improving and enabling an ‘‘imperfect process’’ but nonetheless a necessary process which provided vision and hope for suburban Christchurch.
Dr Darrell Latham is a Linwood-Central-Heathcote Community Board member. Before his retirement he worked in the Centre for Educational Leadership and Administration at the University of Otago.