Creating our future – the power of the Whanganui community

Creating our future – the power of the Whanganui community


Preamble
On 8 June 2011, over 100 people attended a workshop convened by Whanganui Community Foundation to start setting some directions for Whanganui’s future. Facilitated by Mary-Jane Rivers, the purpose of the workshop was to re-energise and give shape to the community’s aspirations.

Introduction
Richard Thompson, immediate past chairman of the Foundation, set the scene, asking participants to set aside cynicism in favour of creativity, free association of ideas, and identifying opportunities.

Economic development is important, but we can’t change the macro environment within which we live. So it is up to us to make Whanganui a good place to live, one that people come to or return to because they like the place. Whanganui’s size and physicality give it life and make being here a pleasurable experience. We need to move from deficit thinking to surplus thinking; there are problems, but being happy through friends, family and social interaction matters.

Celebrate being us, and others will come.

Session 1
Participants were asked what attracted them to come to the workshop. Responses included:
• Exploring the potential of Whanganui
• The desire to counter undeserved bad publicity
• Sense of duty: “When you’re summoned, you come”
• The good timing of the event
• Brainstorming with the movers and shakers
• Wanganui is a great place
• Desire to put sustainability as a principle

When asked what attracted people to Whanganui and what keeps them here, responses fell into several areas.

The people
The environment

People are nice to one another Green, peaceful
Innovative The river and the river road
Connectedness The climate
Networks, easy to make contact Affordable housing
Diversity in a small place The character of the place
The expertise and ability to ‘do’ Cleaning up the river – a critical project
“Deep roots and new shoots”



The ambience
The facilities

The scale of the city Schools
Family friendly Buildings
A civilised place Activities
A creative, artistic place The Market
Its aesthetics and character Good coffee!

Others
Whanau
“Getting old in the place where I was born”
Cutting edge sustainability project

Session 2
Celebrating Whanganui

When asked what was best about Whanganui, participants nominated:

Activities Facilities Qualities
Events like E-day Architecture Able to deal with crises
Market Cafes Brave – having a go
Masters Games CES Caring community
Open Studios Cultural Centre, Queen’s Park Collaborative
Primary School Sports (Laird Park) Heritage buildings Common purpose “all on the same page”
Puanga Festival Main Street Connectedness, networking
Skate park Museum Creative
Surfing Sarjeant Gallery Diverse
Tree planting Schools Healthy
Wanganui Opera Week Tertiary education Innovative industries
Youth music scene It has an identity
Leadership
Raw-honest quality
Responsive to need
Safe and vibrant
Tolerance
Volunteerism
And is modest!


It is very probable that there are omissions in these lists. It is hoped that the lists are sufficient to indicate the richness of the responses.


Session 3: Our vision of the future

“We live in the best damn place in New Zealand”

Participants aspired to seeing a place where the leadership prioritises building an inclusive community; which is an oasis of cultural and environmental excellence; where there is a thriving community which embraces its diversity and history; where children have a vision for their future; everyone can lead a meaningful life with good educational and employment possibilities. We want to see sustainable industry; resilience and connectedness in our population; visionary events with buy-in by the community; recognition of the centrality of the river and the resolution of the Awa claim; celebration of our success and our creativity; culturally strong, environmentally responsible, and prosperous.

We hope our young people will be saying that Wanganui is vibrant, “wicked”, “rocks”; a place where the young have a voice which is heard, have opportunities, enjoy and benefit from schooling, have a ‘can do’ attitude; a fun place to live, a place to be proud of, where they want to stay or come back to and bring up their children; a place about which they say “It’s a wonderful city, the 2011 vision worked”.

We hope business will be saying it’s the best city in New Zealand, a place to come back to, it’s a stunning place with warm, friendly people, a safe place where people enjoy themselves; where business can learn a lot and where business opportunities abound, where there is a niche market of high-tech, innovative, collaborative, branded, creative, artistic business.

We hope visitors will want to stay and become residents (“wanna be a Wanga”); where they find a community enjoying itself in a beautiful environment, a place that’s full of surprises and lives up to its good reputation of being safe, friendly, creative and inviting.

Guiding principles

Three guiding principles were identified:

1. Sustainability: sustainability is seen as multi-faceted, covering the environment, the population size, business development and workforce, as well as lifestyle choices and habits. The goal is healthy homes, people, river, children, food and economy.
2. Community connectedness: this relates to the physical environment, ensuring that there are places where people can easily interact; the technical environment, using the technology to maximum effect; the social environment, where no individual or group feels excluded.
3. Being true to Whanganui’s essence: Whanganui’s essence is defined through its history, its geography (the river in particular), its buildings, its diversity, its cultural and artistic environment, its resilience and flexibility, its climate, its innovation, its respect for the past and excitement for the future.

Any future activities and plans should have their roots in these principles. It was strongly recognised that we must do this ourselves – “our job, not theirs”.

Actions and Action Plans

These fell under several headings, illustrating the energy and imagination of participants.

Having fun
Creative displays
Impromptu happenings in public places
“Wanga day”
River Week/raft race
Fishing competition
Live music
24/28 hour competitions
Geo-caching
Sand sculptures
Pirate/suffrage day (19 September)

Clean and green
Street approach to recycling
Keeping streets rubbish-free
“Adopt a street”
Swap meet centre
Resource recovery

Connectedness
Meet the neighbours
Random acts of kindness
Street approach to recycling
CBD broadband connection

Knowing/enhancing what we have
Identify key players
Mapping the way the city looks now
Sharing our stories – newspaper, on-line
Skills register; time-bank
Advertising our artists (20 slides in cafes)
Get the tram going
“For Our Kids” mentoring / volunteering
The port
Transport

Getting started
What have others done that has worked?
• Zero Youth Unemployment scheme
• Imagineering – set up a group for this
• Business incubator; mentoring networks
• Motivational speakers

Identify a “point of difference” (eg expertise in design for the elderly)
Use Whanganui Community Foundation’s blog and Facebook page for sharing
Use Chamber of Commerce’s offer of leadership in sustainability in business
Work with the Council to develop the ten-year plan
Think regionally
Use the “Whanganui and Partners” framework
Recognise the value of small, incremental change

Start the conversation – NOW






Pat Cunniffe
11 June 2011