Wellington Towards 2040

Forming the “digital powerhouse”…

Wellington’s biggest assets are its compact form, its harbour setting and the quality of life. It also boasts a highly skilled population with the highest incomes in the country.

### idealog.co.nz 29 Sept 2011 @ 11:13 am
Wellington’s new 30-year vision
By Design Daily Team
Last night Wellington City Council unanimously agreed on a long term vision for the city, one that will have sustainability, digital saviness and innovation at its core. Wellington Mayor Celia Wade-Brown said the strategy, called Wellington Towards 2040: Smart Capital, would underpin and guide all Council strategies across economic, environmental, social, technology, transport and other key issues.

The four goals identified by the council are:

• People-centred city – the aim is to be healthy, vibrant, affordable, resilient, have a strong sense of identity, and strong and healthy communities.

• Connected city – this is connectedness in every sense: physical, virtual or social. Strategies like the Digital Strategy fall under this.

• Eco-city – this is a response to all the environmental challenges the city faces over the coming decades, and the Council is confident [it] can lead the country by example.

• Dynamic central city – this section largely deals with urban design aspects of the central city – making sure it’s still a great place to be where new ideas happen – and maintaining its role as the creative and innovative force to drive the regional economy.

Read more

WCC Report (15 September 2011)

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Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

“Tradition in architecture conveys the kind of practical knowledge that is required by neighbourliness.”

Thanks to ro1 for the following article, published by The Journal of the American Enterprise Institute:

### http://www.american.com Saturday, December 19, 2009
The High Cost of Ignoring Beauty
By Roger Scruton
Architecture clearly illustrates the social, environmental, economic, and aesthetic costs of ignoring beauty. We are being torn out of ourselves by the loud gestures of people who want to seize our attention but give nothing in return.
In Britain, the state, in the form either of local or central government, will tell you whether you can or cannot build on land that you own. And if it permits you to build, it will stipulate not only the purposes for which you may use the building, but also how it should look, and what materials should be used to construct it. Americans are used to building regulations that enforce utilitarian standards: insulation, smoke alarms, electrical safety, the size and situation of bathrooms, and so on. But they are not used to being told what aesthetic principles to follow, or what the neighbourhood requires of materials and architectural details. I suspect that many Americans would regard such stipulations as a radical violation of property rights, and further evidence of the state’s illegitimate expansion.
Read more

-Roger Scruton is a resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute. He is a writer, philosopher, and public commentator, and has written widely on aesthetics, as well as political and cultural issues.

Post by Elizabeth Kerr