Opinion: Christchurch can aspire to be like Vienna - the most liveable city in the world

Opinion

OPINION:

I had the privilege of accepting an invitation to attend the biennial World Cities Summit held last week in Singapore with the theme of Liveable and Sustainable Cities: Emerging Stronger.

Attending the summit reminded me of what I have missed with the Covid-imposed virtual world of conferencing. It is the conversations that happen in between the sessions and the exchanges that happen over lunch or coffee – that's when the magic happens.

Sharing our experiences as city mayors, both formally and informally, and discussing our challenges with researchers and industry experts helps us to better prepare for an uncertain future.

I last attended the World Cities Summit in 2016, when Auckland was a runner-up to Medellin, Colombia, which received the Lee Kuan Yew World City Prize that year.

"Vienna is currently the most liveable city in the world and we can aspire to be that too." Photo / ChristchurchNZ

Vienna was awarded the Lee Kuan Yew World City Prize 2020 this year, (another Covid disruption). The Award acknowledged Vienna for reinventing itself for success in the 21st century without losing its distinctive identity as a capital for culture, music, and history.

It was a compelling presentation and I have set out some highlights as we think about the challenges that lie ahead.

Vienna completed a 21km-long flood protection channel in 1989 that now doubles as a closed water body for recreational activities during non-flood times and a large public park for everyone in the heart of the city.

I immediately thought of the stormwater retention basins we continue to invest in building today. These have improved our ability to manage flood risk to homes built in low-lying parts of our city – investments we saw tested to good effect last month – while at the same time double as fantastic parks for all to enjoy.

Vienna has also earned a singular reputation for its commitment to social housing which began in the mid-19th century and continues through to the present day. The city is creating a broad variety of affordable housing choices and new communities as demonstrated in recent redevelopments.

I still believe there is more we can do to develop integrated housing opportunities that blend affordable housing with social housing, and encourage placemaking within communities.

In Vienna, the active promotion of cycling and walking is complemented by an extensive public transit network that presents a wide spectrum of commuting options in the form of metro, trams, and buses.

As of 2018, there were more people owning an annual public transport ticket than a car. Today, to get around the city, 28 per cent of inhabitants walk, 7 per cent cycle, 38 per cent use public transport, and 27 per cent use motorised transport.

It would be hard to believe our city, which has the highest level of car dependency in the country, could achieve such a turnaround. But we could do it with a fully integrated public and active transportation system with affordable and reliable options to get people to and from home in a timely way.

We need a public commitment to reducing our carbon emissions in a meaningful way, and that means reducing our dependency on the car, especially for our daily commutes, where single-occupancy vehicles clog our environment in more ways than one.

Vienna also has a Grätzloase programme that provides support for temporary public space activation, where citizens can shape public spaces, such as transforming parking lanes into parklets. These become communal anchors for street festivals or meals among neighbours. As such, citizens become city makers who can exercise creativity and shape their surroundings.

After the earthquakes, groups like Life in Vacant Spaces, Greening the Rubble, and Gapfiller led the way in community-led activation that injected a sense of life and optimism into the city. And the Streets for People projects have increased opportunities for suburban communities to do the same. The images that we were shown in the Vienna presentation suggest we could take this to another level.

Another example from Vienna, which already preserves over 50 per cent of its land areas as green spaces, is the "50 Grüne Hauser" project - a green façade system that aims to develop cost-effective, easy-to-apply modules on existing buildings to help regulate building temperatures and mitigate urban heat island effects.

I have spent a bit of time describing these things, because they represent ways our city can take advantage of what is a unique position while we are still rebuilding. Vienna shows we should be open to making decisions – not simply for the here and now – but for future generations.

The message I returned with is that every city around the world is singing from the same song sheet. The biggest challenges facing cities across the world – whether large or small, rich or poor – all relate to the impacts of a changing climate.

And climate is directly impacted by carbon emissions, which we all have a duty to tackle. But let us not see them as insurmountable barriers – think of tackling them as opportunities to make our city a better place to live now and in the future for everyone.

Vienna is currently the most liveable city in the world and we can aspire to be that too.