4 days ago
The group that wants to make Christchurch denser, more connected and more fun
Aiming to be an urbanist voice for Christchurch, Greater Ōtautahi formed last year to advocate for more public transport and affordable housing. Shanti Mathias attends a meet-up.
It's a sunny afternoon in the new Christchurch, and the third spaces are bustling. People cross Cathedral Square, passing all the scaffolding. Someone walks past with an immaculately groomed poodle, skirting around three greyhounds on leashes going in the other direction. The cafe on the ground floor of the Tūranga library is popping off most of all. A man on a bike stops to talk to his friend, joking about the Bumble date he's on the way to. A toddler grips a fluffy while her dad trails behind her with a pile of just-checked-out books.
The urbanists are loving it. Sitting at the outdoor tables, a meeting of public transport advocacy group Greater Ōtautahi has convened. It's a social catch-up, with much of the discussion seeming to stem from gossip shared on, I gather, multiple group chats. Very urbanist, very nerdy gossip.
'I wish City Nerd had come to Christchurch,' I hear, a reference to an urbanist YouTuber who recently visited Auckland. Others discuss developments in housing recommendations made by independent hearings panels in councils around the country. 'I can't believe they're called independent!' exclaims one person. Someone moans about a proposed building increasing the amount of parking around the hospital; another wonders if there's anything going on that Greater Ōtautahi can submit on. Not much, is the conclusion: everyone's in a bit of a holding pattern until the local government elections get under way.
Greater Ōtautahi formed around August 2024, a conglomeration of Christchurch residents who had mostly met online. 'We noticed a real lack of a positive vision around public transport and housing in Christchurch,' says M Grace-Stent, the group's chairperson. The aim was to be non-partisan, but optimistic. 'We see so much room for growth and development here.'
Other parts of the country had voices like urbanist blog Greater Auckland or Wellington group A City for People, which mobilised around last year's Wellington District Plan. It was time for a Christchurch equivalent.
For Greater Ōtautahi, that has looked like lots of engaging with Christchurch City Council and Environment Canterbury. Members keep an eye on decisions going through councils, and have released submission advice for policies like Canterbury's regional public transport plan and become go-to media spokespeople for public transport issues like the bikes on buses ban. The group meets with elected members and city officials to discuss upcoming decisions and provide a pro-dense housing, pro-efficient and effective public transport perspective.
Grace-Stent says that while Greater Ōtautahi is focused on Christchurch, Christchurch's issues are far from unique. 'I think the challenges cities have faced are the same in lots of different places – like, we could learn so much from Japan about how they've built earthquake-safe cities.' The ongoing impact of the 2010-11 earthquakes is noticeable, meaning that Christchurch has more space than cities like Wellington, because so many places have had to be rebuilt.
To Greater Ōtautahi, that shouldn't be a disincentive to build denser housing around the city, rather than rely on the growth of commuter towns like Rangiora and Rolleston which lock people into using cars. 'We want people to be living near the city centre, near the amenities, not pushed out further and further into the Canterbury Plains,' Grace-Stent says.
Engaging with local government means focusing on small details that can make a big difference. Greater Ōtautahi put lots of energy into a decision about Church Corner, an intersection in Riccarton, when changes to the road layout were being discussed at the end of 2024. While most submissions were brief, the organisation wrote a detailed, multi-page submission supporting a pedestrian crossing and the removal of a right-hand turn from a main road, to improve public safety and connectivity for pedestrians and cyclists. That doesn't mean it always gets its way; the group's preferred option wasn't supported by the council, but at least an option that didn't include cycleways in both directions and made pedestrians wait in the middle was rejected.
Greater Ōtautahi is intentionally open – meet-ups are publicly advertised and new people leave with an invitation to join the Discord group chat. Members lean younger, but come from across the political spectrum. 'We've benefitted a lot from secondhand Auckland and Wellington escapees,' says group member Peter Galbraith.
Some are experienced transport planners or geographers (Grace-Stent did a master's degree looking at inclusive urban design) but others have only learned about urbanism online. 'It's worked well for us doing lots of stuff in person, to meet people where they're at – we have a really wide range of knowledge from people who do this as their job to people who have seen a few YouTube videos and become interested that way,' Grace-Stent says.
The group is still figuring out its strategy around the upcoming local body elections. It isn't endorsing particular candidates (although several Greater Ōtautahi members are considering running). 'We want prospective elected members to move beyond the residents associations and the sort of traditional community groups and go out and listen to stuff that is really happening in their communities,' says Grace-Stent. The group also wants to encourage more young people to vote and be engaged with the process, although it hasn't figured out what exactly that looks like.
For Grace-Stent, the key thing is to hold onto the idea that accessible and affordable housing and public transport options that give people choice about where to go and how to get there is a means, not an end. 'Our vision for the city is a place where people can be friendly and spend time together,' they say. 'Being able to live in the city, being able to bike around, having public spaces – these things can make it possible for that friendship and connection to be experienced by lots of people.'
