Central City Revitalisation Workshop

Thursday 18 March 2004

We have already come a long, long way from where we were just a few years ago. We have moved ahead as a city, and shown that as we grow we can also be grown up about taking on our common problems and opportunities.

Yes, we have had other workshops on this subjects, and no, you can't call over $100 million dollars of private sector investment into the inner city in recent years any form of talk fest at all. There is no form of action quite as impressive as that produced when you see private sector purses being prised open for active investment. When you see that you know that your message has got across.

We all took a risk a few years back on turning the inner city around , and for those quick off the mark to respond to our call for action there have already been some strong results.

As I'll be reminding everybody today what we did together was start from a firm foundation off a clear, consistent message from Council that that we were intent on bringing the inner city area back to life. Not by mimicking the old life made possible back in the days of slower technology and centralised control, but in finding new ways to use often the same buildings for completely different uses.

One of the keys to getting that journey started was in sending out another clear message about how we planned to tackle this collective problem. I made it clear from the start that what added up to a collective city problem was going to call on strong individual responses to develop workable solutions.

I also made it clear that while the Council was prepared to be the broker it had no desire at all to become the banker. We were there to provide the catalyst, not the chequebook.

Where we had a major change to how we deal with major problems in this case was in the way we were all able to admit that no one player in the mix had the solution.

We set a Christchurch benchmark for getting results by collectively banding together to face both the problem and formulate some solutions. Although it has been a Christchurch win it has also ended up as something of central Government pinup as a model of how those pesky public/private partnerships can be made to work in reality.

It has turned into such an active partnership that rather like an annual shareholders' meeting it is still useful to stop for a workshop focus to see just where we have got to so far.

One of the points of success I most enjoy citing is how just five years ago the big worry was whether the inner city was going to stay intact. Were we going to end up as a doughnut city with a hole in the centre? Now the most common complaint I hear is about how hard it is to get a car park.

The great thing about that is people complain about it without the slightest sign of irony. They have genuinely forgotten the time the heartbeat of the inner city slowed right down, and instead just want to be in on the present action.

I think that's great, but it is also no reason for us to stop now. Some problems may lend themselves to stopping for the proverbial "cuppa". The inner city solutions now unfolding before us are not in that category.

In fact, as we provide more and more evidence of how totally and profitably inner city areas can be turned around we are also starting to attract speakers from higher up the international food chain to our workshops.

They come to tell us what worked for them, and now also stop have a wee spy and see what's working for us. We all win

from this. Whether we live and work in the inner city, or not.

By facing our problems and turning them into opportunities we have also hastened our maturity as a city that is part of the global community of cities. A grown up city, that is still growing. A city that as the latest property statistics show, has taken on its own financial critical mass.