Finding something positive from the Christchurch earthquake.

It's dificult to find some ray of light rom the tragedy of Christchurch - but I believe there is one.  I was reading  Chudleigh's account of visiting Christchurch from the Chantham Islands around 1868.  He desribes a beautiful city of flowing fountains, parks and boulevardes.  
But like most cities in the western world, Christchurch's rapid growth through the 19 and 20th centuries was dictated by:  1.  A statutory, land-use based planning system whose planners' main task was to enforce compliance with highly prescriptive rules.
                 2.  A committment to maximising the capital return on any site - and doing nothing that might be seen to dimninish its profit potential.
                 3.  The supremacy of the car - traffic planners and roading engineers reigned supreme over people's needs.
Happily that is changing.  People are realising that the 'people qualities' of a city are the main catalyst to economic and social success.  The city is arguably man's greatest creation - but from the time of the industrial revolution, we screwed up.  Cities grew with little or no regard for the well being of their citizens - equating it with economic efficiency.  Succesful cities are now realising the essential value of good urban design, of parks and squares, boulevardes, galleries, public art, civic events - and heritage.
Chrischurch has them all - or it had until man's greed compromised a lot of them, and the earthquake finished it off.  But there's enough left to reclaim the qualities Chudleigh wrote of.  There's the iconic buildings, the parks, the opportunity for great spaces and connections. 
But to achieve it will need a strong, empowered directorate with the ability and authority to:
                  1.  Ensure the process is design lead - but have the ability to discern innovative, enduring design from the 'current fashion' and 'kneejerk' resposnes that will abound, and
                  2.  Use the traffic, civil and utility engineers as valuable input but not the dictaters of physical outcomes.
                  3.  Ensure the city is able to accommodate and benefit from technical innovations.
                  4. Navigate public engagement without becoming parlysed by the process.
Sounds simple!  But in our PC environment it is a real challenge - but here's hoping!  The 'Positive" is the potential for Christchurch to become the most desirable city in the world.