Huihui Mai Greater Christchurch – let’s come together to plan our future.

Project background

 

Over the past 15 years, Christchurch and surrounding towns have grown rapidly. By 2050, more than 700,000 people are projected to be living in the Christchurch, Selwyn and Waimakariri districts – 30% more than there are today, with the population potentially doubling to 1 million people within the next 60 years, if not earlier.

To help avoid future growing pains, the Whakawhanake Kāinga Committee (Urban Growth Partnership for Greater Christchurch) asked residents how they thought we should tackle important issues such as responding to climate change, preserving the environment, making our region more resilient to natural disasters, and making housing more affordable.

The Huihui Mai engagement took place between 23 February 2023 to 3 April 2023. You can find out more about how we engaged and what we heard below. We will be updating this page with more information about what we heard during the engagement in early May. 

The engagement had five objectives:

  1. To explain and raise awareness of the Greater Christchurch Spatial Plan and the role of the Urban Growth Partnership.
  2. To let the community know about the proposed ‘turn up and go’ public transport service and route.
  3. To ask the community for feedback on the work done to date on the draft Greater Christchurch Spatial Plan, the ‘turn up and go’ public transport service (Mass Rapid Transit, MRT) investigation and the Transport Plan.
  4. To deliver a visible and engaging campaign that encourages the community to talk about how we plan for, and adapt to, the future challenges facing Greater Christchurch, including population growth and climate change with a clear line of sight to intergenerational wellbeing and the community aspirations articulated through community engagement in 2020.
  5. To engage with the many audiences that make up the Greater Christchurch community, encouraging active and meaningful participation by stakeholders and the public.
  • A simple, mobile friendly online survey was done by 7,067 respondents.
  • 3 workshops at Rangiora, Rolleston, and University of Canterbury.
  • 1 webinar with city planners.
  • 4 drop-in sessions at local libraries with project team members.
  • A dedicated youth engagement stream included workshops in schools and with youth organisations and a Youth Summit to review all the feedback.
  • Meetings with infrastructure providers, developers and key representative groups including One Voice, the Christchurch City Council Multi- Cultural Advisory Group, and the Canterbury Employers Chamber of Commerce.
  • A series of activations were held in high foot traffic areas that centred around a large photo wall asking – “What should Greater Christchurch
    look like in 2050?”

Engagement Pack

In February and March 2023 we engaged with the community about how we grow into the future. This engagement pack [PDF, 6.1 MB](external link) provides a summary of engagement material. 

Webinar

A webinar was held on Thursday 2 March which provides an introduction to the work we were seeking community feedback on. The recording and presentation slides are available below.

Engagement Maps

High resolution copies of the maps used as part of the engagement can be accessed from the links below.

Areas to protect and avoid:

Focus of growth maps:

Transport maps:

 

You can click on the links below to read what we heard from our community: