Events Calendar

Presenters: Dr Angela Curl, Hugh Nicholson and Dr Kirsty Wild

In 2020 we learnt what it was like when the traffic stopped. We observed from real life how positive changes for the future might look. We saw the importance of local streets and public spaces as places for walking, cycling, meeting and playing.

Can Covid 19 be a catalyst for a paradigm shift in Aotearoa?

Join us as we talk about the future of public spaces.

Introducing our speakers:

Angela Curl works in the Department of Population Health at the University of Otago Christchurch. She is interested in the relationships between urban environments, transport and health. She is particularly interested in how public policies, particularly in transport, urban planning and housing, can address health inequalities and transport disadvantage. She has been interested in many of the emerging discussions about creating more space for people, and different responses worldwide in terms of use of public outdoor spaces during the current global pandemic - and what we can learn from this in terms of healthy, sustainable urban planning in future.

Hugh Nicholson is an urban designer and principal at UrbanShift. He is interested in how we design cities that are great places for people to live, and how cities can respond positively to the challenges of climate change, new epidemics and obesity. After the Canterbury earthquakes Hugh was the design lead for Share an Idea and the Draft Christchurch Central Recovery Plan. He was also the design lead for the recently gazetted Ōtakaro Avon River Corridor Regeneration Plan which establishes the flood protection and stormwater cleansing functions of the corridor in response to sea level rise.

Kirsty Wild is an environmental sociologist who works in the School of Population Health at the University of Auckland. She is interested in the relationships between people and their environments, and how we can use the science of human experience to create safer, healthier cities. Kirsty is currently the lead author of a project on the relationship between transport and mental health in our cities for Waka Kotahi - NZTA, and she also recently completed a study on the experience of living in a low-traffic neighbourhood during lockdown. She is interested in how we can create and protect opportunities for safe and enjoyable movement in our cities during the Covid-19 public health emergency and beyond.
During Level 4 Lockdown in Aotearoa New Zealand Kirsty also recently completed Life in a Low traffic Neighbourhood for Women in Urbanism Aotearoa, in which she explored the impact that reducing traffic levels has on
neighbourhood life. https://www.womeninurban.org.nz/lifeinalowtrafficneighbourhood