New Christchurch rebuild plan

Yesterday the mayor of Christchurch, Bob Parker, unveiled the draft CBD Plan for rebuilding the city. For a brief article, go to:

http://tvnz.co.nz/national-news/mayor-dedicates-plan-new-christchurch-those-lost-4347115

Take a virtual tour of the city centre showing views before and after the earthquake. This will help you to think about what has been lost and what needs to happen in the future. You can slide the arrows left and right to move between before and after images:

http://www.centralcityplan.org.nz/info/before-and-after.aspx

Then watch a video of an artist’s impression of what the new city will look like:

http://tvnz.co.nz/national-news/video-selection-artists-impressions-draft-chch-plan-0-32-4348801

The response has been very positive so far, although the amount of money to be spent and the low height of the buildings may be an issue to some people including Christchurch businesses:

http://tvnz.co.nz/national-news/cbd-height-restrictions-issue-in-chch-rebuild-4349389/video

Now look at the plan, which contains a lot of information about Christchurch as a green city (pp 27-44), a distinctive low-rise city (pp 45-63) city life (pp65-82) and transport (pp83-100). Read what people in Christchurch people said they wanted for their city (in the coloured speech bubbles) and write down some of their comments.  Then look at the many pictures and plans of what the new city will look like. Do you think that the city council has listened to what people want?

You can view the plan by clicking on:

http://www.centralcityplan.org.nz/resources/Draft-Central-City-Plan.pdf

The Slow Movement

The Slow Movement is about slowing down the pace of modern life. It began with Carlo Petrini's protest against the opening of a McDonald's restaurant in Piazza di Spagna, Rome in 1986 that sparked the creation of the Slow Food organization. Over time, this developed into a subculture in other areas, such as Cittaslow (Slow Cities), Slow living, Slow Travel, and Slow Design. Its popularity has grown considerably in recent years, with Slow initiatives spreading as far as Australia and Japan.

For more information on this topic, see the entry in wikipedia:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slow_Movement

Slow Food

Opposed to the culture of fast food, Slow Food encourages the enjoyment of regional produce, traditional foods, which are often grown organically and to enjoy these foods in the company of others. It aims to defend agricultural biodiversity.

For more information on this topic, go to the Slow Food website:

http://www.slowfood.com/

Cittaslow

The goals of the Slow Cities movement is to resist the homogenization and globalization of towns and cities and seeks to improve the quality and enjoyment of living by encouraging happiness and self-determination.

For more information on this topic, go to the Cittaslow website:

http://www.cittaslow.net/