16 July 2002 Commissioner to present recipe for keeping NZ cities habitable

Are New Zealand cities habitable? How long can they remain so? And what should be done to make sure they stay habitable?

Parliamentary Environment Commissioner Dr Morgan Williams diagnoses urban woes and prescribes some remedies in Lincoln University's fourth annual State of the Nation's Environment Address on Thursday (18 July).

The title of his address is The Urban Habitat in New Zealand: is it habitable?

Urban New Zealand is habitable – at present – Dr Williams believes, but careful attention needs to be paid to the things that make cities work and good places to live in.

Dr Williams will outline trends in some of the indicators relating to the quality of life/sustainability of urban New Zealand. These include waste management, air quality, amenities, safety, employment, transport and satisfaction with councils.

His address will then focus on major ingredients for maintaining the quality of life in cities – leadership, capacity to take the long view while evolving incrementally, the state of knowledge of cities and how they grow, the effectiveness of planning legislation, the importance of mobility, and the role of good partnerships within the public, private, community, government and business sectors.

Dr Williams will also touch on the reports from a group of Kiwi fact-finders who recently visited the Brazilian city of Curitiba, a 300-year-old settlement that has managed rapid growth over the past 30 years by maintaining a sharp focus on the needs of its people, good planning and mobility.

The State of the Nation's Environment Address will be delivered in Lincoln University's Stewart 1 Lecture Theatre at 4.30pm on Thursday 18 July. Christchurch Mayor Garry Moore will chair the address and a response to it will be given by the Deputy-Chairperson of Environment Canterbury, Diana Shand. The address is a public one and all are invited.

The annual address is organised by Lincoln University's Isaac Centre for Nature Conservation.

Ian Collins, Journalist, Lincoln University, Canterbury, New Zealand.