Central city vitality topic of public and professional meetings

Private investors and developers, local government planners, lobbyists, university lecturers and researchers come together in Christchurch next week to discuss the future of the central city. What’s needed to keep it socially vital and economically prosperous?

Organised by Christchurch City Council and Lincoln University, the series of workshops is being held on 18 and 19 March. There is also an opportunity for the public to learn more about the forces shaping our city. On Thursday (18 March), from 7-9.15pm, there will be a free public presentation in the Town Hall’s Cambridge Room. Time has been set aside for a question and answer session.

Speakers include Professor Ali Memon, chair of environmental planning and management at Lincoln University; Dr Jan Scheurer, a German-trained architect and urban planner who now lectures at RMIT University in Melbourne about urban design, sustainability and integrated transport planning; and Ms Meeky Blizzard, who will talk about the transformation of Portland, a United States city which was once known for vacant office buildings, traffic jams and poor air quality and is now regarded as one of the America’s “most livable” cities.

- For more information about the “Reviving the Central City” practitioners workshop or free public presentation (7-9.15pm Cambridge Room, Town Hall, 18 March), call Andrew Willis or Miranda Charles at the Christchurch City Council on 941 8999

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