Rotary Forum 2018 - Chair's summary of speakers' presentations, Rotary Forum

Rotary Forum 2018 - Chair's summary of speakers' presentations

Speech

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Helen Algar

Sun 26 Aug 2018, 08:18 pm

Town Environments, more...

Wellington

Prepared by Helen Algar, presented by Roger Blakeley

Karen Coutts – Wow! A mihi in our 3 official languages

Marion Cowden – gave us a possible dream from Rotary in 1979 – eliminating polio. By 2018 the numbers have been reduced to 17 cases worldwide.

Jill Day – picked up the dreams from last year:

Wellington as a te reo city
Wellington as a child-friendly city

Georgina Beyer – not a dream, a recurring nightmare – State Highway 2 through the Wairarapa to future-proof Wellington against cataclysmic events.

Michelle Dickinson – Nanogirl – looking to the way our cells work, to heal our city

titanium paint in our tunnels
powering our city by walking, with nanofibres woven into our clothing

Susan Freeman-Greene – Wellington as a playpen for human ingenuity powered by STEAM – science, technology, engineering, arts, and maths

Eric Janssen – Eric dreamed a city where truth wins. Wellington is largely values-driven. We are happier than nearly all the cities in the world. But we still have gaps between the haves and the have-nots, and abuse of powers.

In the face of this, we need journalism we can trust.

Nick Kapica – told us about design thinking, looking at living through a different lens.

Some rules for designing cities:

be bold
get out
think wrong
make stuff
bet small
move fast

Nick Morrison – told us about microplastics in beer. Dreamed of plastic as a long-term love, not a one night stand. And … resources moving in a circular, regenerative system.

Ben Johnston – challenged us to walk on the vulnerable path – to reduce the relational distance between ourselves and the vulnerable and marginalised in Wellington.

Also talked about better resource use – food, in this case.

Melissa Clark-Reynolds – told us about the way a vision from last year’s Forum is being achieved.

Told us that the biggest risk to our children going to the corner store is traffic, not stranger danger.

Kim Workman – Parliament resolving issues by bipartisan public discussion of critical issues.

A city of collaborative conflict resolution – children learn it in school.

Fraser Callaway – Design is a process to creatively solve problems and find a solution.

Together we can change the world by design.

Peter McKenzie – gave us “social cohesivity”. The need to create vertical connections in our communities.

Jaye Glam Morgan – Wellington as the Emerald City.

A city filled with creative arts.

Bring back fashion to the capital.

Grant Robertson

1. Picked up on STEAM and took it to STEAMED – by adding ‘’designed’’

2. Noticed that the Summary related to his framework for the 2019 Wellbeing Budget – human capital, social capital, environmental capital and physical/ financial capital

3. In 2017 he talked about ‘Wellington – a city that is the opposite of loneliness’

4. For 2018 his dream is:

A city where we care
Where our defining value is Manaakitānga - emphasising kindness above everything else
Kaitiakitanga over the resources in our city

5. The importance of third spaces in our community that are available to be and exist, to mix, to share, and enjoy,

e.g. community gardens
especially a place for people with mental illnesses to be warm, safe, with a sense of identity for a period of time during the day

6. Climate change – the need for a just transition

THEMES

Dream 1: Wellington as a playpen for human ingenuity

- technology

- engineering

- ARTS

- maths

finding the power of bringing these together

a city powered by walking with nano-fibres embedded in our clothing
design as a strong element of the Wellington we want – all of us being involved in designing the city we want to live in
a city filled with creative arts and fashion

Dream 2: Commitment and connection to our city and its people

looking at life through a different lens
different perspectives on the way we look at the city, including children
achieving dreams through a coalition of the willing
a city of collaborative conflict resolution – using the skills that children already learn in school
building community cohesiveness through vertical connections in communities
a city where we walk the vulnerable path alongside the vulnerable and marginalised in Wellington

Dream 3: Commitment and connection to the natural world

plastic as a long-term lover, not a one night stand
resources being re-used in a circular, regenerative system
cleaning up our toxic tunnels with titanium paint
wild spaces to play

Dream 4: Dreams about transport

our transport links as the arteries and capillaries in the body of our city
short walls between cyclists and cars
drone personnel carriers –will they fix the transport issue over the next 10 years?
conscious design of railway crossings
‘fix the bloody buses’