Author: chrismorahan

What will Replace Oil? Hydrogen or Batteries?

There is an interesting sub-plot going on in the race to replace fossil fueled vehicles with something more environmentally sustainable. This is a summary of the situation as far as I can make it out. It's fairly universally acknowledged now that we need to stop burning fossil fuels. One way of doing this is to … Continue reading What will Replace Oil? Hydrogen or Batteries? →

What’s Happening in the World of Road Pricing?

I've seen quite a bit of stuff popping up over the last few weeks on road pricing, so I thought I'd quickly  summarise what's going on. For almost as long as cars have existed, congestion has existed. And for almost as long as congestion has existed, the concept of road pricing has existed. For decades, … Continue reading What’s Happening in the World of Road Pricing? →

Canterbury Rail and Housing Workshop 4 Results

Thanks to everyone who came to the 4th Canterbury Rail and Housing Workshop last week. We had some good discussion with 30-odd people debating the pros and cons of 6 different options for mass rapid transit in Christchurch. To kick things off Glen presented on some of the similarities and differences between the three main … Continue reading Canterbury Rail and Housing Workshop 4 Results →

Different Cities, Different Shapes 3/2

I've written previously about the similarities and differences in the shapes of the various cities in New Zealand here, here and here. Lately I've been playing around with the 3D visualisation tool in QGIS to see what it can do. First I downloaded the population density by meshblock data from the 2013 census. As I've … Continue reading Different Cities, Different Shapes 3/2 →

Canterbury Passenger Rail Workshop 4

Just a reminder that in one week (Monday 27th May) we are holding our 4th workshop on Canterbury passenger rail. We are getting close to the end now and will be starting to pull together everything we've talked about so far into some possible options, which we'll then explore together. To get your creative juices … Continue reading Canterbury Passenger Rail Workshop 4 →

Competitive Cities: A Decade of Shifting Fortunes

PwC recently released a report called Competitive Cities: A Decade of Shifting Fortunes. This investigated the economic competitiveness of ten New Zealand and Australian cities over the last ten years. They also produced summary documents for each city, including Christchurch. The reports focus on income and living costs, and how to maximise the difference between … Continue reading Competitive Cities: A Decade of Shifting Fortunes →

Canterbury passenger rail and housing workshop 4

Please be invited to the fourth public workshop on passenger rail and housing for Canterbury, to be held on Monday, 27 May 2019, 6.00 to 7.30pm at Tūranga (central library) in the Auaha Hīhī / Spark Space meeting room on the ground floor. We will return to the ideas and maps we drew up in … Continue reading Canterbury passenger rail and housing workshop 4 →

Victoria Street Improvements

Christchurch City Council is consulting on improvements to Victoria Street. Cycling Christchurch wrote an article about it here. The author openly says that the whole situation is a little confusing. Michael Hayward wrote an article on Stuff - the comments suggest most readers there are confused about what's being proposed. I have to admit I'm … Continue reading Victoria Street Improvements →

Council Climate Change Survey

Christchurch City Council is undertaking a survey of resident's views on climate change, which will inform its new Climate Change Strategy currently being prepared. Council Head of Strategic Policy Emma Davis says: “Climate change has major implications for the health and well-being of current and future residents and for the planning and nature of urban … Continue reading Council Climate Change Survey →