Gutsy planning key to a vibrant city: Wellington mayor

Thu, 07/03/2008 10:38 AM | City

During the World Cities Summit held last week in Singapore, leaders of several major cities in the world gathered to discuss how to create vibrant and livable cities through sustainable development.

Wellington, the capital of New Zealand, enjoys the reputation of being a city with a high quality of living. The Jakarta Post's Tifa Asrianti interviewed Wellington Mayor Kerry Prendergast about how to build a sustainable city. Here are the excerpts of the interview.

What are the best ways to create a vibrant and livable city?
I don't think there can be a 'one size fits all' approach to creating a vibrant and livable city.

It's a matter of identifying the type of city you aspire to be, taking into account current strengths and physical constraints, and then mapping a deliberate path to achieve these aspirations.

What are the challenges to creating sustainable development in your city?
We have identified three key challenges for Wellington as it plans for a sustainable future.

The first is climate change. We're aiming to make the City Council's own operations carbon-neutral by 2012, and we'll also be working with the community on climate protection.

The second is demographic change, referring to both broad national trends and those specific to Wellington. These trends include New Zealand's aging population and the challenge Wellington faces maintaining our skilled workforce.

Third is economic change. This covers things like how a carbon-constrained world will impact on things like air travel and tourism, and also the possibilities offered by new communication technologies.

How do you find solutions to challenges?
Wellington is already doing many things to meet the challenges we've identified, such as directing future residential growth close to public transport corridors, building Wellington as a destination of choice for business and visitors, focusing on a growth spine of intensive housing and developing building guidelines that reinforce Wellington's unique character.

As a specific example, we're currently in the middle of consulting with the public on a plan that looks at transport across the city as it grows. I'm really pleased with the amount of flexibility that report contains -- there are a range of options and it anticipates many eventualities, so we're well-placed to deal with a changing future.

What is the next step for Wellington's sustainable development?
Our goal is for Wellington to be an affordable, globally competitive world-class city. Sustainable development is essential to the future growth and prosperity of the city because it allows us to be resilient in a rapidly changing world.

Our task is to bring the community on that journey and in New Zealand, local government has statutory responsibilities to bring communities together to plan for a sustainable future.

We make sure the current generation is not unduly burdened with the costs of sustainability by spreading the costs of providing essential infrastructure across generations through borrowing. We also make sure that those who generate adverse environmental effects are responsible for paying the full cost of mitigating those effects.

How does the administration work together with the public and private sector?
Working with the private sector begins with involving as many stakeholders as possible in agreeing on a vision for the city.

A vision that has sustainable development as its foundation will seek to balance social, cultural, economic and environmental aspects of community well-being, and the private sector will inevitably have a key role to play in achieving such a vision.

In Wellington, we support our vision of being an affordable, globally competitive world-class city with a set of strategies where we identify roles for both the private and public sector.

One of our major business-related initiatives to emerge from our strategies was the establishment of Grow Wellington. Grow Wellington is an agency established by the councils in the Wellington region to work with the private sector to drive growth in exports and to help create a strong and vibrant Wellington regional economy.

We want Wellington to be enjoyed by all who visit, live and work here.

What are your suggestions for Jakarta?
I'd just reiterate what we've learnt as a city: be courageous in city planning. That means seizing opportunities that may seem impossible, making tough decisions and identifying initiatives that will truly make the city livable now and into the future.

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