Canadian expert to talk about planning for growth - Greater Christchurch UDS

2 November 2005

If you are passionate about how councils should plan ahead for an ideal Greater Christchurch then don’t miss the public talk by Canadian expert, Sebastian Moffatt, on 9 November at the Christchurch Town Hall.

Mr Moffatt was one of the project leaders for the successful citiesPLUS (Cities Planning for Long-term Urban Sustainability) project for Greater Vancouver which won Mr Moffatt’s Canadian team the grand prix prize at the international Sustainable Urban Systems Design competition in Tokyo in 2003.

Since the grand prix win, the citiesPLUS initiative has progressed to a second phase “Bridging to the Future”, which will develop long-term plans called pathways for five urban areas around the globe.

This will be the topic of Mr Moffatt’s address at the Christchurch Town Hall Cambridge room on Wednesday, 9 November, from 7pm to 9pm, as a guest of the Greater Christchurch Urban Development project.

The citiesPLUS project recognised that 80% of Canadians now lived in cities double the figures of 100 years before. By 2050, 7.5 billion people would live in urban areas throughout the world so the survival of these people would depend on the survival of their cities.

Global warming, air pollution, urban sprawl, overflowing landfills, water shortages, dwindling resources, disease, and global conflict would be the legacy of the 21st century if cities did not move quickly towards sustainability, which would take vision, commitment and partnership.

As the owner of the Sheltair Group, a planning, design and engineering firm in Vancouver, Mr Moffatt helped develop Canada’s first 100-year plan for a sustainable metropolitan area, incorporating economic, social and environmental priorities in a systems approach.  Some 500 experts and participants from 30 cities across Canada were involved.

Chairman of the Greater Christchurch UDS Forum, Bob Parker, says it is a privilege to host Mr Moffatt, whose knowledge will help inform the Greater Christchurch Urban Development Strategy process being undertaken by partners: Banks Peninsula, Selwyn, and Waimakariri district councils, Christchurch City, Environment Canterbury and Transit New Zealand.

“There is certainly a lot to consider as we progress Christchurch’s likely approach to planning together for the Greater Christchurch area, and having input from one of the world’s experts in sustainable cities will help a great deal,” Mr Parker says.

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