Creating Creative Christchurch: Thesis Draft Praveen Karunasinghe 417 8463

Creating Creative Christchurch
Thesis Draft
Praveen Karunasinghe
417 8463
Thesis statement
Key defnitions
Education
Employment
Industrial output
Regional economic growth
Quality of life
Creative class
Brain drain
Case studies
Contents
chapter 1: Economic Research
chapter 2: Urban Stategy
chapter 1: economic argument
5 Praveen Karunasinghe
1. Thesis Statement
The quality of life and standards of living in
New Zealand have been declining since its
peak in the 1970s. In 1976, New Zealands
gross domestic product (GDP) per capita was
ranked 12th out of 30 OECD (Organisation for
Economic Co-operation and Development )
countries; by 2006, this rank had fallen to 22nd.
A large part of this deterioration is due to the
sort of employment we engage ourselves in. In
particular, regions around the country relying
heavily on manufacturing as an economic
output will see signifcant declines in relative
(compared nationally or internationally) gross
regional product (GRP). Christchurch is a city
that does not take advantage of its intellectual
capital. Instead its citizens choose to engage in
laborious work yielding low value manufacture
products and consumer goods. However these
manufacturing employment sectors that
employ the highest numbers of people also
have experienced the greatest negative growth
over the last three years (a shortfall of 11% fewer
jobs). This leads to a situation where workers
strikes, job cuts and unhappy workers will come
about due to the shrinking sectors. What is
more, the dairy and agricultural industries that
are major contributors to the economy come
at a high environmental cost. The damages
these industries do to the pristine lakes and
rivers we pride ourselves on compromise our
image as a clean and green country. Terms
like dirty dairy and eutrophication will be
common place in the media. Business as usual
cannot work if we want to sustain our current
quality of life let alone improve it.
The focus of this thesis is to make better use of
the intellectual capital and creative minds that
the city has at its disposal in order to increase
the citys value of the work output. Creating
creative Christchurch focuses on attracting
and retaining the creative class in order to reap
the benefts of their ideas and innovations. In
order for Christchurch to be less reliant on the
manufacturing and agricultural industries,
more of its citizens need to be educated and
specialized in order for them to create high
value products and consumer goods. This
requires a paradigm shift in the way its citizens
perceive the importance of education as well
as a signifcant change in the way education
providers deliver education. Alternative
means of learning are already being used
around the globe in order to make education
readily available and more readily usable.
Institutions like the Khan Academy and the
European Association of Distance Education
Universities have implemented alternative
systems of learning and qualifcation aimed
at extending the reach of education. These
systems are free of charge and open to the
access of anyone. The urban design basis of this
thesis focuses on implementing infrastructure
for the utilization of these forms of education.
Figure 1
Creating Creative Christchurch
6
The inadequacies of our education system
as it exists today has ripples of consequences
exhibited further on in socio-economic
development. As mentioned before, the lack
of high skilled workers increases the regions
reliance on manufacturing and primary
industry as sources for employment and
regional revenue. The defcit of employment
opportunities for educated individuals will
drive them elsewhere leading to the brain
drain phenomenon. This means manufacture
heavy regions of the country like Christchurch
will not be able to retain the students studying
in its schools, universities and polytechnic
colleges. Meanwhile, the industrial output
coming about as a product of its primary
production will not efectively stir the growth of
the GRP. The stagnant growth of the GRP will
hinder the regions quality of life with little or no
investment going into public amenities (parks,
reserves, libraries, waterfront developments
etc). The lower quality of life will have a
further devastating efect on the attraction
and retention of educated individuals like
the creative class. Without the creative class,
opportunities for high value manufacturing,
professional services and innovation based
employment will be severely restricted. This
restarts the cycle of heavy reliance on primary
industry and unskilled jobs. Workers will labor
long hours yielding low value manufacture
products. Thus allowing the viscous cycle of
an uneconomic-economy to continue (refer to
fgure 1).
Similar to the response of regions like the
Finnish city of Lahti, Christchurch needs
to focus on revolutionising the systems of
education that it has in place. Lahti rose from
the economic slump of the early nineties
recession by prioritizing education as the
primary foundation of economic revival. At
its worst, the manufacturing based city saw
the rise of unemployment from 3.8% in 1990
to 26.8% by 1994 (605% increase in 4 years).
Following its knowledge revolution, the
city saw the rates of tertiary qualifcations
grow by 307% in 17 years. This allowed the
GRP to grow by 254% in that space of time.
The civic leaders of Lahti better integrated
education, employment and learning as a
lifestyle in order to reverse signifcant brain
drain statistics . These creative educated
individuals stirred the economy through
their creativity and innovation, created jobs
and improved the citys quality of life. Lahtis
change in perception of education allowed it
to move from an industrial society based on
a manufacturing economy to a knowledge
society based on a creative economy (fgure 2).
The major infrastructural repairs that
Christchurch faces due to the devastating
earthquakes can be used to the advancement
of the citys economic growth. The region
can use this opportunity to address the
lack of infrastructure that has allowed for
the uneconomic employment composition
and lack of innovative businesses. By re-
addressing how the citizens of Christchurch
perceive education, we can begin to take the
frst steps of transforming the economy of the
city for the better.
Figure 2
Creating Creative Christchurch | Chapter 1 | Thesis Statement
2. Defnitions
Innovation
Creativity
Creativity is defned as the tendency to
generate or recognize ideas, alternatives, or
possibilities that may be useful in solving
problems, communicating with others, and
entertaining ourselves and others. Creative Industries
Businesses that make products requiring
constant adaptation including advertising,
architecture, design, fashion, flm, computer
games, electronic publishing music and
publishing
Innovation is the creation of better or more
efective products, processes, services,
technologies, or ideas that are accepted by
markets, governments, and society. Innovation
difers from invention in that innovation refers
to the use of a new idea or method, whereas
invention refers more directly to the creation
of the idea or method itself.
Creative Economy
Urban leaders are now fully aware that
brainpower has taken over from brawn power;
meaning that cities need to compete beyond
merely providing low cost, high volume
productivity. The hallmarks of the 21st century
economy revolve around innovation, an
openness to intense knowledge exchange as
well as technology transfer and an adaptable
multi-national skilled workforce. Knowledge
rivals labour efciency and natural resources
as the primary source of economic growth and
the creation of wealth.
The creative economy is a platform for both
developing the economy and even the city.
This economy revolves around transactions
in the creative output of the four creative
industries:
1.Copyright industries: creating copyrights
as their primary product. These include
advertising, software, photography and flm
2.Patent industries: industries producing trade
in patents . These include pharmaceuticals,
electronics, information technology, industrial
design and engineering
3.Trademark industries: diverse range of
creative enterprises that rely on the protection
of their trademarks or brands
4.Design industries: diverse range of creative
enterprises that rely on individuality in
designs.
Cultural Industries
It is through the prism of cultural industries
that urban development should be seen.
These industries are hotbeds of creativity and
employ 3-5% of the work force in cities such as
London, New York and Berlin. Tourism feeds
of culture, yet most tourism focuses solely on
a part of culture: museums, galleries, theatres
and shopping. The positive attributes of the
cultural industries can be observed when
considering the direct impact of investment
by attracting international companies seeking
vibrant culture for their employees.
Cultural industries have been shown to
strengthen social cohesion, increase personal
confdence and improve peoples mental and
physical well-being. But in this thesis, the focus
is on particular impacts of cultural industries
and how they assist in the greater creative
economy. Particularly, their potential for being
powerful sources of creativity giving the rise
to distinctiveness and identity. For example,
Beirut overcame its image of strife and confict
by focusing on rebuilding its city centre using
its cosmopolitan past and re-established itself
as the capital of Middle Eastern banking and
meeting centre. Similar to Beirut and many
other examples, it was the threat of cultural
loss that brought urban development groups
together.
8
3. Changing our employment
composition: Current education
schemes
Since its invent in the industrial age, public
education has not evolved to the needs of
the current employment sector today. Public
education upon its introduction, focused
young minds to be obedient factory workers
through rote learning (fg 4). Such learning
systems forced memorization without the use
of meaning as a basis to store information
(fg 3). In doing so, this education eliminated
individuality while doing something even
worse: suppressing creativity. Even to this day,
the students who were not engaging in this
rote learning process are often singled out
and labelled with learning disabilities and are
often identifed as cases with attention defcit
hyper active disorder (ADHD).
Educationalists like Sir Ken Robinson believe
that a revolution needs to occur in public
education systems. The biggest drawback
of the old systems of learning is that talents
and skills not acknowledged by traditional
curriculums are not recognised and as such are
not allowed to develop. Victims of this sort of
ignorance come mainly from the arts namely
dance and drama: activities that are least
addressed by standard traditional curriculums.
His message to the educators of the world is
centred around the notion that the old systems
of education are not good enough to meet the
needs of today.
Figure 3. Old systems of educations based on rote learning Figure 4. Old systems of education trained students to be obedient repetitive workers
Creating Creative Christchurch | Chapter 1 | Education
The dogmas of the quiet past are inadequate to the stormy present. The
occasion in piled high with difculty. And we must rise with the occasion.
As our case is new, we must think anew and act anew.
- Abraham Lincoln
Address to the Second Annual Meeting of Congress
December 1862
Lifestyle Diagram of a Traditional Working Citizen
Lifestyle Diagram of a Creative Citizen
Vs.
The information society we live in is referred to by many experts as
the Knowledge Society. The developments of information and
advancements in technology are leading to a situation where 90%
of currently accepted knowledge will be obsolete in seven years.
This means that learning and knowledge play a central role in the
progress of society. Learning to learn and lifelong learning are new
pedagogical (science of education) developments that are currently
under construction.
These new forms of learning will be made possible through the better
integration of society, school and business giving birth to new types
of qualifcation and certifcation. A knowledge society will increasingly
create learning communities and networks for learning to deal with the
new needs of knowledge. New forms of education will be increasingly
student driven and can be likened to as a consumer. The goal of
educational in the information age will be adjusted to a life in constant
change. The quality of the city will depend on its learning infrastructure
and the ability of its citizens to develop themselves whenever the need
arises.
3.1. The Role of Learning in the
Knowledge Society
What Abraham Lincoln was referring to was that the systems of
problem solving used in the past no longer hold the answer for todays
concerns. The moulds of education based around rote learning used
by schools and education institutes globally need to be broken. As
Robinson sees it, education systems need to be revolutionised in
order to satisfy the demands of todays students becoming tomorrows
workers. Robinson along with other educationalists see the limits of
education transcending the schools, universities and other educational
institutes and allow for life learning. A system of continuous learning
where the boundaries between learning, labour, leisure and lifestyle are
blurred.
10
As the diagram suggests, only 32% of New
Zealand school leavers are qualifed for direct
entry to university. Over the 3 year period the
study was conducted, this number has not
changed signifcantly although it has dropped
by 1%. The remaining 68% still have available
options between polytechnic colleges and
bridging courses (fg 5 &6). However 53% of the
ones that were denied direct tertiary entrance
and attempt further qualifcation have no
success and end up with no qualifcations.
This number increases by 2% over the 2003-
2007 time period. The overall picture of total
tertiary qualifed portion shows no change
over the period the study was conducted and
sits at 42%. This means that 58% of all school
leavers have no tertiary qualifcation and can
be assumed to be the ones opting for low skill
jobs such as factory workers.
Inspecting school leavers tertiary transitions
by region suggests a few things (fg 7).
Firstly Christchurch has the fourth highest
proportion of tertiary transitions regionally.
Secondly, Christchurch shows the least growth
over the fve year period out of all other
regions compared. This means that the region
has prioritised tertiary transitioning lowly for
school leavers over the years. This may be due
to the manufacturing and primary industry
culture where working in a factory is perceived
more productive than getting qualifed. This
is a statistic that needs to change. This thesis
will focus on fostering a greater appreciation
for learning and knowledge than what the fve
year growth pattern suggests
This thesis will focus on fostering a greater
appreciation for learning and knowledge than
what the fve year growth pattern suggests.
3.2. Education in New Zealand:
Tertiary transitions from school
Figure 5. Tertiary transitions among NZ school graduates 2003-04
Figure 6. Tertiary transitions among NZ school graduates 2006-07
Creating Creative Christchurch | Chapter 1 | School Leavers NZ
3.3. Education Alternatives
Institutes like The Khan Academy is a non-
proft educational organization, created in
2006 by American educator Salman Khan, a
graduate of MIT. With the stated mission of
providing a high quality education to anyone,
anywhere, the website supplies a free online
collection of more than 3,000 micro lectures
via video tutorials stored on YouTube teaching
mathematics, history, healthcare and medicine,
fnance, physics, chemistry, biology, astronomy,
economics, cosmology, organic chemistry,
American civics, art history, microeconomics
and computer science. The concepts are learnt
at home via computer to save time in class for
one to one teacher time (fg 8).
EADTU (European Association of Distance
Education Universities) aims to promote the
progress of open and distance education and
e-learning and its position in Europe and
in the world, through active support to the
institutional development of its members and
to the European co-operation between them
in strategic areas. The framework of this is
the creation of the European Area of Higher
Education (Bologna Declaration), the national
and European policies with regard to lifelong
learning, the development of competencies
for the European citizen and the innovation of
e-learning and teaching by the use of ICT.
The next step in understanding and applying
knowledge society ideology involves taking
a closer look at the abstract systems through
the perspective of the citizen. In this world
of change, living beings learn to adapt
and evolve to the changes. The changes
in knowledge presented to humans is no
diferent. When the world changes, due to
the birth of new knowledge, an individuals
identity changes with it. Thus a new world
causes a new psychology. Thus as the debate
rises regarding the creative city as a place
where lifestyles takes on a new dynamic shape,
this essentially refers to creative citizens that
will be at the centre of these developments.
The new infrastructures for interchange of
ideas and communications will provide the
creative citizens with the means by which
they can learn and adapt. These citizens will
be in close contact with the constant changes
occurring around them and use these changes
to shape their own lives (leisure, work or learn).
Figure 8. Conventional education vs alternative. Illustrated is time allocations for a typical day
12
4. The Changing Employment
Composition
4.1 Economic Knowledge vs. Academic
Knowledge
The term knowledge society refers to patterns
emerging as countries move away from the
industrial and post-industrial age. Knowledge
or as Gilbert (2005) sees it Intellectual
Capital has replaced other more tangible
assets like labour, land as the key driver.
Similar to the economy of New Zealand as it
is, Industrial societies are based on economies
with the primary intent of the extraction and
use of natural resources in manufacturing (fg
9). Knowledge societies are moving away from
these traditional means of economies and
instead are more focused on developing and
exploiting new forms of knowledge.
Old industries are disappearing. That is to
say that value added into in cities is created
less through what we manufacture and more
through the application of new knowledge to
products processes and services.
A knowledge based society views knowledge
with a high regard for what it brings to the
economy. Such a society understands that it
is the primary source of all future economic
growth.
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Figure 9. Current employment sector composition
Creating Creative Christchurch | Chapter 1 | Chrisctchurch Employment
4.2 Evolution of Industrial Output:
Manufacturing to Knowledge
4.3 Changing the perspective of
knowledge in New Zealand
Zukin (1995) was interested in comparing
the value of local manufacturing industries
against cultural industries of a city. He found
that the cultural opportunities the city had to
ofer proves far more benefcial to the economy
of a city than local manufacturing industries.
Businesses based on local manufacturing were
susceptible to periodic crises in government
and fnance. On the contrary, the cultural
attributes of the city always had the opportunity
to host tourism and arts oriented functions
of the city. These more vibrant and dynamic
industries often fuel the symbolic economy
of a city and its visible ability to produce both
symbols and space.
The catching the Knowledge Wave project
arose from what Helen Clarks government
recognised as the inadequacy New Zealands
economic performance to sustain the relative
quality of life, the quality of public services and
the social cohesion valued by New Zealanders
(fg 10) . During the opening address of the
Knowledge Conference of 2001 Clark pointed
out that
Our export profle resembles that of
developing countries, not that of a
developed one.
The country already has examples of highly
New Zealands economic performance
is inadequate to sustain the quality of
life, the quality of public services, and
the social cohesion valued by New
Zealanders.
- Helen Clark
Knowledge Wave Conference 2001
successful frms in this space and the number
is growing. The traditional contribution of
our food and fbre based sectors will remain
critically important for our future, but
international experience shows that growth
of the HVMSS ofers a pathway to higher
productivity and a means to reverse our
relative decline in living standards. Notably,
there is a relatively low level of investment
in research and development (R&D) by New
Zealand business (0.54% of gross domestic
product (GDP) in 2010, compared with the
Organisation for Economic Cooperation
and Development (OECD) average of
approximately 1.5%); similarly there is a
relatively low level of overall expenditure on
R&D as a percentage of GDP (1.30% in 2010,
compared with the OECD average of 2.33%).
In 1976, NZ was ranked 12th in GDP per Capita
By 2006, NZ had fallen to 22nd out of 30 OECD countries
Traditional cultural industries revolve around
music, visual and the performing arts, as well
as flm and media.
However another sect of cultural industries
exists which is based on design, digital
imaging, multimedia and internet based
activities. It is referred to by OConnor
(1999) as Urban Cultural Industries. These
industries are responsible for creating
new employment and the regeneration of
abandoned, dilapidated industrial areas such
as NZ example here. Unfortunately, local
governments and national authorities often
fail to understand the importance of these
urban cultural industries. These governing
bodies overlook the potential of such places
to efectively support an innovative milieu
for these new cultural industries. As a result
projects are frequently underfunded or have
no government backing at all. OConnor (1999)
described this frustration:
Rather knowledge with economic application
is using knowledge to do things. The value of
this application of knowledge is determined by
what it accomplishes for economic activity. On
the contrary, knowledge for academic purposes
has its value determined by how widely
acceptable a new contribution is among a class
of highly educated elites and often cannot
be appreciated by the lay-person. Thus the
contributions made in economic knowledge
are far more accepted and recognised than
the large portions of contributions made as
academic knowledge.
Figure 10.
14
5. The Creative City Movement
Preceding the creative city movement
were large scale developments in cultural
planning. Initiated in European cities such
as Glasgow, Birmingham, London, Barcelona,
Cracow, Manta and Helsinki the leaders
instigated a common European Cultural Policy.
The intent was to develop an appreciation for
cultural resources and integrate aspects of
the arts into qualities of daily life in cities.
These cultural resources ranged from the arts,
the media, crafts, fashion, design, townscape,
architecture, heritage and tourism. The policy
developed into a framework aimed at bridging
divides between diferent professional
disciplines, diferent institutional concerns and
even aimed at strengthening the connection
between public, private and voluntary sectors.
As an overall image, the country leaders saw
the initiative as means to encourage and enable
public policy makers to think strategically
about the application of cultural resources
in all aspects of urban development in felds
as diverse as town planning, architecture,
tourism, industrial and product development,
marketing, retailing, community development,
education and training.
Despite this overall strategy yielding results,
the greater interdepartmental cooperation
fell short of fully harnessing the potential of
cultural resources. Unfortunately, it was only
a select few complementary disciplines such
as town planning and economic development
that successfully managed to cooperate with
each other and achieved goals leaving lasting
transformations. As a consequence, cultural
planning soon was recognised as simply
another policy among others as opposed
to its original intention as a transformative
process that reinvents the philosophy and
practice of public policy making. Critics of this
scheme, like Landry (1994), argue that cultural
planning was used by policy makers as a way
of responding to widespread public anxiety
for more sophisticated approaches towards
urban policy. Similar to the issues faced by
developed nations today, at the time there was
a growing public concern in Europe for public
policy to address such issues as ageing urban
populations (requiring more investment in
health care), the unequal distribution of wealth
(at the time 500 companies controlled 60% of
world production) the economic infeasibility
of primary production (and resultant job
losses) and environmental concerns (and the
recognition that the worlds resources are fnite).
Despite the shortfalls of cultural planning to
solve these large scale issues, Landry argues
in Creative Cities that the lessons learned in
cultural planning highlighted the movement
as a process in thinking that is creative, holistic,
anticipatory, people-based and philosophical.
Without the step of cultural planning,
changing the underlying thinking of policy
makers would not occur. Neither would any
lasting transformations of public policy be
possible.
The cultural planning investigation had strong
implication in urban planning. It helped
recognize that strategy formation needs to
be fexible, anticipatory and fexible. Needs
of cities, regions and countries will emerge
and change subtly and rapidly meaning
policy makers will need to be process-
oriented. These policy makers will need to
have strong communication links between
key constituencies such as local residents and
potential investors as they will be operating
in a dynamic fast changing environment
These ratios are considerably less than those
in other economies similar to that in New
Zealand.
Following the global trend during the 1970s,
the study of knowledge began as a subject of
intense debate for sociologists in New Zealand.
They studied the creation of knowledge and the
use of it from the perspective of people who use
it and why it is that some forms of knowledge
are more useful than others. Knowledge is
no longer the realm of philosophers as it was
during earlier stages of civilizations. With
regards to much more recent times, no longer
is it exclusively for scientists either. During
this modern day, it is the business world that
sees the latest benefts of the application of
knowledge. During this day, the world has
knowledge creating companies, knowledge
based economies and the latest concept: the
knowledge society.
Creating Creative Christchurch | Chapter 1 | Knowledge Society
5.1 The need for creativity
The method of thinking that has dominated
western society is based on the application of
logic. This method of applying logic, though
specifc is a narrow tool and unfortunately
has become incorporated into professional
disciplines, such as urban planning. The
application of logic can be described as narrow
due to the fact that it allows for only a polarized
(either/or) solution to a problem. Due to the
nature of logic based problem solving, when
used on its own, only a very limited number of
solutions can be derived and other possibilities
can very easily be overlooked. What is
unfortunate about this method of problem
solving is that the world we inhabit is not made
up of perfect logic. Rather, it I made up of real
resources, skills, products, natural systems as
well as emotions, passions, aspirations and
needs of individuals. Contrary to how logic
operates, these real world constraints often
unfold in contradictory ways. (Such as).
This style of thinking has not yielded the
kinds of solutions necessary to address
interconnected problems of economic crisis,
environmental pressures, social conficts and
most importantly, how these issues play out
at the level of the individual. There is a strong
refection of these issues in cities as many of
them struggle to reassess their environmental
responsibilities (more), develop innovative
economic strategies, confront crisis in the rise
of the urban under class
often resulting in unpredictable outcomes. In
simple terms, the policy makers will need to be
creative in the way they handle policies.
16
Looking beyond the clean and green facade
of New Zealands high quality world class
dairy and agricultural industries is a serious
ecological concern. The environmental costs
of the pollution caused by our dairy industry
is compromising the brand of clean and
green marketing we use to attract tourists
immigrants and businesses (fg 14). Terms
like Dirty Dairy and eutrophication are
becoming common place in media. The focus
in on the polluted rivers and lakes that become
inhospitable for local wildlife and compromise
recreational activities. Growth of these
industries are and will continue to be heavily
monitored. This means we can no longer rely
so heavily on the industries that allowed us
to rise the ranks of the OECD in the decades
6 Negatives of Current Industry
Trends
gone by.
In the manufacture and resource based
economy returns begin to diminish with the
increasing scale of production. The costs of
inputs increases as raw materials become
scarcer and costs are translated to the consumer
until production becomes uneconomical.
Or in the case of the dairy and agricultural
industries, due to the scale of production, costs
of cleaning will soon become uneconomical to
the consumer. In contrast to this industrial and
manufacture based economy is the creative
economy. This economy sees none of the
limits bordering the growth of other economies.
Endless increasing returns are possible from
the production of more ideas. Moreover the
subsequent commercialisation of innovation
that generates further transaction (Landry
2008).
Subsequent job cuts and workers strikes
already have become common place as
the manufacturing sector of the economy
experiences shrinkages. Unfortunately for
the case of New Zealand, this sectors hire the
highest numbers of employees. This has the
potential to escalate into a dire unemployment
crisis throughout the nation. Particularly
afected would be regions heavily reliant on the
manufacturing sector for employment (such
as Canterbury). This is a clearly unsustainable
way to grow the economy

18
6.1 Our Current Quality of Life as a Product of Industrial
Output
New Zealanders have in the past enjoyed a relatively high standard of
living and an attractive quality of life compared to other OECD countries.
As a country, we have marketed this image to the to the rest of the world
with the clean and green symbol often associated with the countrys
unique, picturesque natural scenery and farmland (fg 11). This image and
the subsequent economic output led the country to be prosperous as a
high ranking country in the OECD (The Organisation for Economic Co-
operation and Development) during the 1970s.
In many ways, our industrial output is a refection of this image as our
export portfolio is dominated by contributions from the dairy and
agricultural industries (fg 12). However as technology evolved globally,
reliance on primary production no longer guaranteed the economically
competitive edge. During the passage of the last forty odd years, New
Zealand continues to rely heavily on primary production, while other
countries capitalised on the development and export of technology.
Research and development allowed those countries to have larger profts
per employee than the primitive New Zealand economy yielding lower
pay for its workers. New Zealand has among the OECDs hardest working
employees with our workers engaging in some of the longest work
hours. Unfortunately, we also have THE WORST work output per hour
in the OECD. This means that our hard working labourers engage in the
least proftable work in the OECD (fg 13). Subsequently, since the glory
days of the 1970s, the New Zealand comparative standard of living has
plummeted. The GDP per person has fallen from 12th in the OECD in
1976 to 22nd in 2006.

Creating Creative Christchurch | Chapter 1 | Quality of life

7. The Creative class
Over many decades urban theorists,
economists, geographers, social - and ekistics
- scientists have attempted to identify and
defne the characteristics of a city that lead
to its economic growth, productivity and
ultimately its prosperity. Through their
extensive investigations, urban studies
theorists like Richard Florida have identifed
crucial factors that lead to the prosperity of a
city. These researchers explain in detail why
it is that some regions grow and prosper over
time, leaving others to shrink and deteriorate.
Earlier more conventional explanations held
that the success of a thriving city could be
correlated with geo-productive attributes
which acknowledged geographic amenities
to economic success. However the work of
Florida , Jacobs , Lucas and Landry prove that
the success of a fourishing city is driven by
intelligent creative people and not attributes
such as the availability of natural resources or
proximity to trade networks.
Figure 18. Industrial vs. creative economy
20
7.1 Creative Economy vs. Industrial
Economy
The industrial economy uses unskilled labour
an relies on limited natural resources to make
revenue. Over time, the resources become
more scarce and more investment is needed
to extract these resources. Often, as the case of
dairy, the costs of clean up soon demand more
investment. These initial investments are
passed on to the consumer (the rising price
of oil). As a consequence over time, earning
reduce as the customer base shrinks. Greater
initial investment and smaller earnings leads
to smaller profts and thus the industrial
economy shrinks over time.
The creative post-industrial economy relies on
the creativity of educated individuals. Although
initial investment in the form of research and
development is high, the earnings that come
about due to the widely sought after nature of
creative outputs are also high. Creative minds
often solve problems through their creative
inventions and as a consequence demand will
always be high. Thus proft margins will not
be compromised and moreover will continue
to grow.
Figure 19. Number of foreign fee paying students regionally
Figure 20. % of tertiary graduates globally compared
Even as recently as a century ago, it was
natural resources and a abundance of
a physical labour that determined the
creation of wealth and economic growth. For
example, during the industrial revolution
mass consumption of garments led to the
boom of the cotton industry . This caused a
great demand for this natural resource and a
large physically capable labour force to meet
production pressures. On the contrary, in the
21st Century, adaptive technologies (forms of
innovation) have revolutionised the means
by which many conventional tasks such as
tedious manual labour (cotton picking for
example) can be achieved. Machines that
were designed and created with the specifc
purpose of completing these laborious tasks
revolutionised the way in which supply met
demand. Through innovation, creative minds
over time have optimised these machines
maximising efciency and have streamlined
the rates of production. Therefore, human
capital or talent has become the key factor for
production in this new era. The regions that are
fortunate enough to have these creative minds
reap the monetary benefts of their labours.
The unique characteristic of the creative
class is that its individuals engage in working
towards creating meaningful new forms or
designs that are broadly useful. This class
of economically infuential people labour
in creative problem solving by drawing on a
large wealth of knowledge accumulated from
years of learning.
The meaningful new forms they create are
widely useful. This elite class of individuals are
not just an endowment or stock that appears
in a certain region. Rather, specifc regional
factors are a necessity to create environments
that are capable of attracting creative capital.
Thus developing the city in order to cater to
these individuals is a key approach in regional
growth. Attracting and retaining the creative
class ensures the benefts of the innovative
new products they produce stay within the
region.
Christchurch and the country as a whole
has the ability to attract eager young minds,
internationally, that are capable of such
innovation (fg 19 & 20). The city itself boasts
the second largest number of foreign fee
paying students, behind Auckland (fgure
5). Thus it has the potential to be used as
a creative centre. However, its potential is
severly restriceted by the number of students
leaving to their home countris or elsewhere
following the completion of their studying.
Creating Creative Christchurch | Chapter 1 | Industrial Output
7.3 Creative class needs
Lively urbanscape
Residential model:
Plug and Play Communities
Florida concludes by stating four important
factors regarding the location choices for
members of the creative class. Firstly, he
found that the creative class is distancing
from traditional corporate communities and
working class centres in search of what he
calls creative centres such as San Franciscos
Silicon Valley. Secondly, these creative
centres become highly proftable due to the
creative class people and the various forms of
innovation they produce.
These centres beneft the overall region by
increasing employment and population.
Thirdly, these thriving centres are not
prospering due to conventional reasons such
as abundance in natural resources or proximity
to major transport networks. Nor do they
thrive because of daring local governments
compromising fnancial stability by imposing
tax cuts in an attempt to seduce businesses
immigration. They succeed largely due to the
people living there. This causes companies
to seek after the creative class and in many
cases are started up by them. Lastly, Florida
fnds what attracts the creative class is not
the conventional urban attributes of regions
such as sports stadiums, malls, freeways or
tourist-centred attractions that most cities
focus on. Instead, they seek communities
that are bountiful in high quality experiences,
openness to diversity and the opportunity
7.2 Defining the creative class
Richard Florida, an economist and social
science professor at the University of Toronto
identifes the creative class as a key driving
force for economic development of post-
industrial cities. His data indicates that this
class comprises 40million workers in the
America (30 percent of the workforces). His
defnition breaks the creative class into two
groups:
Firstly there is the Super-Creative Core
comprising a wide range of occupations
including science, engineering, education,
computer programming and research. Along
with these standard occupations are others
forming a small subset of the super-creative
core. These come from the arts industries,
design, media. The super-creative core are
widely recognised as innovative with their
creations forming commercially viable
products and consumer goods. The primary
job function of this group is to be creative and
innovative in how they perceive the needs of
society. Along with problem solving, Florida
states that their work entails problem fnding.
Creative professionals form the second half of
the creative class. These occupations are from
health care, business, fnance, the legal sector
and education industries. These professionals
draw on a large body of knowledge accumulated
through years of learning and training in order
to solve occupation specifc problems.
to acknowledge their identity as creative
individuals. In his research, Florida delves
deeper into the original Jacobsian argument,
and thus elaborates on some of the specifcs of
human capital theory.
Creating Creative Christchurch | Chapter 1 | Creative Class
22
Human capital (educated minds) is a necessary
prerequisite for the application of creativity to
produce innovation. Due to the widely useful
nature of these novel innovations, demand is
created and supplying this demand generates
revenue. Florida argues that this creative
economy is revolutionising almost every aspect
of economic development as we know it. As
he sees it, the creative currency has come a
long way in a short while . Even as recently as
a century ago, it was natural resources and a
abundance of a physical labour that determined
the creation of wealth and economic growth.
For example, during the industrial revolution
21st Century, adaptive technologies (forms
of innovation) have revolutionised the means
7.4 An Illustrated Example of the
Influence of Creative Innovation
Year : 2007
Model : Module Express 625
Payload : 5443 Kg
Year : 1980
Model : John Deere 9940
Payload : 2896 Kg
Year : 1956
Model : International Harvester II
Payload : 942 Kg
Year : 1943
Model : International Harvester
Payload : ~682 Kg
Year : 1924
Model : Campbel Price Ctton Picker
Payload : ~415 Kg
Year : 1940
Model : Rust cotton picker
Payload : ~347 Kg
Year : 1850
Model : Taylure Paige Cotton Picker
Payload : ~75 Kg
Year : pre 1850
Model : Slave
Payload : 15-25Kg
maximising effciency and have streamlined

In order to understand the how the creative
class works and to attract them to New
Zealand, it is important to acknowledge how
they behave and chose certain countries and
regions over others. In his book Flight of the
Creative Class, Florida argues that if countries
make it difcult for the worlds talented
students and workers to thrive, these highly
mobile individuals will simply move to another
place where their capabilities as creative
individuals can be used. He uses the example
of America where its educated and talented
individuals seek environments more suitable
than an increasingly repressive country.
Even the loss of a few brilliant minds have
tremendous impact- a situation exacerbated
by New Zealands small size.
New Zealand students are blessed as large
portions of their education are funded by
the taxpayer (provided that they are a citizen
or a permanent resident). Through the
government, the taxpayer treats the student
as an investment. Similar to any investment,
the goal is for the investor (taxpayer) is to see
return of investment. For the student, this
8.2. Brain Drain in New Zealand
8. Brain Drain: Flight of the Creative
Class
return will be in the form of taxes over his or
her life-time as well as their productive outputs
as a worker within the country. However when
these educated minds leave the country,
not only are they taking away potential
productivity, but they also break the implicit
contract with the taxpayer.
If the issue of brain drain is not addressed,
New Zealand taxpayers in efect subsidise the
growth of other countries. The efect can be
devastating to the country when considering
how educated individuals avoid paying their
contribution by avoiding taxes or student loan
repayments.
Figure 22. Emigration of skilled workers
Figure 23. Emigration of skilled workers
24
When investigating the brain drain
phenomena, the movements of some groups
hold more signifcance than others. An
immediate way to investigate the most
important core of people considered in brain
drain data is by examining age composition
of permanent long term departures. Age is
important as those in the working category
are assumed to be the net contributors to the
economy (particularly in the labour market).
Large departures of very young or very senior
people who do not fall under the working
category would not raise as much signifcance
as large departures of working are people (fg
24).
The data collected by and Kin Coy (2006) give
the indication that our immigrants are older
than our emigrants. Looking more specifcally
at the data, it is clear that every year for the
last two decades years, an increasing number
of 20-24 year olds have left for more than a
year. Figure 23 indicates that once students do
graduate, signifcant disparity exists between
recent New Zealand graduates who stay in
New Zealand versus their overseas peers. Not
only does that disparity begin immediately on
graduation, but the gap widens considerably
with experience. This suggests that in order to
retain talent in New Zealand it will be necessary
to increase salaries, promote existing benefts
and/or provide further incentives.
The research also draws a clear conclusion
between the diference in equivalent salaries
when comparing national and global averages
for tertiary graduates. Signifcant earning
disparity exists between recent national
8.3. Age Composition
graduates choosing to remain in the country
when compared to their peers oversees.
Unfortunately this diference only grows when
comparing middle aged workers who have
tertiary qualifcations. The data indicates a 24%
diference in salary for graduates and a 33%
diference for senior workers. The migration
patterns of 30-49 year olds are very closely
related to 0-14 year olds. This can be assumed
to be due to the fact that the 30-49 age group
bring their children with them.
The end result is that permanent long term
immigrants seem to become older. The data
indicates this trend when considering that
during the 1970s the 20-24 year old age group
accounted for 21% of immigration; while by the
year 2000 this had shrunk to 13%. Meanwhile
the 30-49 year old age group increased from
22% to 31% over the same time period.
Studies are conducted with data gathered
from departure and arrival cards from airlines.
The focus of these studies are Permanent
8.4. How Serious is the Flight of the
Creative Class in New Zealand?
Long Term (PLT) migrants defned as people
intending to stay in or leave the country for
a period over a year. The others are holiday
goers, tourists and business people.
The conclusions drawn out by Kin Coy (2006)
state that there is a long term trend for net
outfow of New Zealand citizens. Over the last
47 years, 484, 000 citizens have left the country
seeking opportunities elsewhere in the globe.
This amounts to an average of just over 10, 000
citizens leaving per annum. These departure
patterns have shown a general trend of growth
beginning in 1993. Meanwhile, permanent long
term arrivals (PLT arrivals) have been almost
static over the last 20 years. The end result,
culminating as a consequence of permanent
long term departures exceeding the growth
of permanent long term arrivals is driving the
phenomena referred to as brain drain.
As fgure 25 illustrates, in almost every year
during the period shown, this country has lost
more people to Australia than it has got back.
The extent of the fow varies greatly over time
due to various socio-economic and political
reasons.
Figure 24. Migration patterns of particular age groups
Creating Creative Christchurch | Chapter 1 | Brain Drain
8.5 Regional Specifics
Comparing Auckland, Christchurch and the
whole of new Zealand, a few characteristics
become clear. Firstly, brain drain is region
specifc with diferent departure and arrival
proportions existing over the three separate
skill categories for the three compared
regions. Auckland fairs well as its rate of high
skill worker departures are compensated by
the arrivals allowing for a net overall 9% gain
in high skill workers. New Zealand as a whole
also exhibits a similar pattern although it is
to a less optimistic extent with its net gain of
high skill workers at 1% (fg 26).
Christchurch on the other hand, exhibits
a far less positive pattern as its net gain of
high skill workers sits at -8%. This means the
rate of departures of high skill workers in
Christchurch exceeds the arrivals. This outfow
can be viewed as one half of the diminishing
creative output of Christchurch. The other
part of the problem is that Christchurch
Figure 25. Permanent Long
Term migration (lasting over
a year) patterns between
Australia
Figure 26. Regional and national skill level migration patterns
26
Figure 27. Skilled migration patterns summary chart
Figure 28a. Skilled migration patterns graph
Figure 1Figure 28. Summary diagram of age and skill level migration
Figure 2Fi gur e
28. Summary
diagram of age
and skill level
migration
boasts the highest proportion of low skilled
workers in the three regions compared. The
density of working and service class labourers
combined with the fight of the creative class
from Christchurch leads to a situation where
regional growth being severely limited.
In the longer term, we can expect competition
amongst countries for skilled labour to
continue to grow as a result of shortages of
labour in particular occupations, shortages of
young, skilled, highly-mobile professionals,
and slow growth in domestic labour forces as a
result of sub-replacement fertility (see Bedford
et al, 2000). People will move countries more
and more frequently, and thus there will
continue to be scope for facilitating short-
term fows of skilled labour, rather than
focusing on the PLT fows.
Countries that do not respond to global
competition can expect to lose skilled workers.
Immigrants to New Zealand will increasingly
come from Asia and Southern Africa (fg 27, 28
and 28a), and they will increase the diversity
of New Zealands population (Bedford et al
2000). In terms of the trans-Tasman picture,
it is likely that there will continue to be net
outfows to Australia. These outfows will be
signifcant particularly in these times of the
strong Australian economy.
Creating Creative Christchurch | Chapter 1 | Brain Drain
Figure 1Figure 28. Summary diagram of age and skill level migration
During the 1990s Lahti was a small industrial
based city of 95, 000 inhabitants. Following the
severe economic recession that struck during
9. Case Study: City of Lahti, Finland
the early 90s many workers of the traditional
industrial and public services sectors lost their
jobs. as a result, the region sufered heavily
from its qualifed and educated students
seeking employment elsewhere.
The city leaders began a growth strategy
centres around what they called The
Gardens of Anchor Project. The emphasis
on this development was to cultivate and
grow both human and natural resources.
While the gardens themselves integrated
the preservation of cultural heritage and
environmental issues, the central emphasis was
on the use of knowledge related activities. The
Gardens of Anchor came to be an innovative
community with diferent kinds of synergetic
activities where contemporary people would
want to live and work. The project forms links
between timescales of the past present and
future as it amalgamates old industrial regions
with modern urban and architectural design.
Education and future jobs
The goal of the city administration involved
raising the level of education and know-how
of the average citizen in Lahti. The Garden
of Anchors project gathered together pre-
existing development potential around the
city. The leaders knew that survival relied on
innovation, networking and synergy. The most
natural and readily available means by which it
could do this was by encouraging the students
of the Lahti Polytechnic to remain in Lahti
following graduation. These students were
seen to become the innovators entrepreneurs
who will become potential employers for the
less educated. The students of the early 90s
became international virtual entrepreneurs
300% Increase in 17years
}
Figure 34. Lahti Finland
Figure 34. Unemployment rates in Lahti Finland
Figure 35. Education proportions in Lahti Finland
28
later on in the decade and generating new jobs.
The project acted as a magnet for new enterprise
attracted by the citys image and services. The
aim was to develop virtual know-how and lots
of small enterprises in the Gardens of Anchor
The project spawned a new generation of
network based employment, small enterprises
and co-operatives in feld such as information
systems, arts and crafts. Lahti Polytechnic
linked studies and employment by helping
students create their own enterprises in
the Gardens of Anchor already during their
studies. The feld of virtual jobs created a form
of a cyber forum and the The project acted
as a magnet for new enterprise attracted by
the citys image and services. The aim was to
develop virtual know-how and lots of small
enterprises in the Gardens of Anchor The
project spawned a new generation of network
based employment, small enterprises and co-
operatives in feld such as information systems,
arts and crafts. Lahti Polytechnic linked
studies and employment by helping students
create their own enterprises in the Gardens of
Anchor already during their studies. The feld
of virtual jobs created a form of a cyber forum
and the cultural and research related services
of the project made the place attractive for
both researchers and the general public.
Phased implementation
Renovation was a continuous process
occurring in multiple stages. At the frst phase
activity was renovation activity occurring
in spaces of the carpentry factory. Gradual
renovation ofered relatively cheap real estate
for young entrepreneurs. As the profts of their
business streamed into the economy, soon
there was enough funding to invest in larger
cultural outputs of the city such as the Concert
Hall and the Cultural Centre for Children and
Youth.
9.1 The Virtual Office
Even during the 90s the Lahti civil leaders
recognised the surge of virtual work in every
sector. Cyber-Anchor is a virtual ofce forum
a new distance from work where the variability
of the ofce is connected with networked
solutions. The intent was to use the project to
link the educational world and business world.
Cyber-anchor was a pioneering activity in the
overall gardens of anchor pilot project. The
virtual entrepreneurs of Cyber-anchor formed
a co-operative giving independent small
companies and entrepreneurs an opportunity
to work use teamwork.
9.2The Euro-Study Centre
Is a network of 50 universities in 13 European
countries and is co-ordinated by the European
Association of Distance Teaching Universities.
The aim of the association is to promote
and develop tertiary education and training
via distance learning and international co-
operation. The Lahti ESC integrated these
activities heavily with those of cyber-anchor.
9.3 Gardens of Assemblies
A public utility company by the name of
Oppilastalo Oy became responsible for
student housing in Lahti. It build student
housing by converting the upper foors of a
derelict glass factory for 150 students. The
intent was to combine learning with work
and living. The ground foor housed an
exhibition hall, various workshops and retail
outlets where the products of the Anchor
Centre will be sold. Student apartments also
became accommodation for participants of
various courses and seminars arranges as
part of the larger Gardens of Anchor Project.
This encourages interaction and networking
Figure 36. Employment sector comparisons in Lahti Finland. Note the growth of professional services and decline of the
industrial sector
Figure 37. GDP in Lahti Finland.
Creating Creative Christchurch | Chapter 1 | Case Study1 : Lahti Finland
Figure 38. Transformation of citizens in Lahti Finland.
Figure 39. High quality build environment and urban design leading to a high standard of living
between students and professionals.
9.4 Conclusion
The project had the intent of retaining
the creative class individuals that the city
educated. It completed this goal by ofering
a lifestyle these individuals sought after.
One where the distinctions between labour,
leisure, living and learning were blurred. The
project heavily integrated study and work
creating innovation and helped young people
to establish their own enterprises within their
city. All in all, the Gardens of Anchor project
symbolised the development of an industrial
city into and environmentally, culturally and
creatively competitive centre.
Human capital is a necessary prerequisite
for the application of creativity to produce
innovation. Due to the widely useful nature
of these novel innovations, demand is created
and supplying this demand generates revenue.
Florida argues that this creative economy
is revolutionising almost every aspect of
economic development as we know it. As he
sees it, the creative currency has come a long
way in a short while . Even as recently as a
century ago, it was natural resources and a
abundance of a physical labour that determined
the creation of wealth and economic growth.
For example, during the industrial revolution
21st Century, adaptive technologies (forms of
innovation) have revolutionised the means
maximising efciency and have streamlined
30
10. Case study 2:
Burlington Vermont
Burlington is a city with many amenities that its
citizens can be proud of. From natural features
such as the Lake Champlain or qualities of its
built environment such as the high technology
industry, this city has a lot to ofer. The city
leaders have used these positive attributes as
a lever for economic development. Burlington
combines environmental health and outdoor
amenities with economic development in
order to create a sustainable advantage.
The city has amalgamated entrepreneurship,
commitment to diversity, civic culture and
development of natural amenities in order
to spur economic development. This was
made possible via a series of steps beginning
with encouraging local business ownership
ensuring profts staying within Burlington. The
revenue generated by the businesses allows
for the local government to invest in city side
development via taxes. These developments
attract more people by making the city-scape
more enjoyable and as such increases the
exposure of neighbouring businesses.
The citywide infrastructural, economic and
social objectives allowed for the type of smart
growth needed for the regions economic
development. Between 2005 and 2009, Vermont
has seen an increase in its gross state product
from $21 to $25 billion US Dollars. The success
of this growth rate (20% in four years) allowed
Burlington to rank ffth in POV Magazines
list of 75 top American Boomtowns. Its
development can be attributed to its thorough
planning and use of its assets to ensure smart
and sustainable growth.
Burlington distanced itself from its car-centric-
Figure 40. Pedestrian mall born out of a main road closure
Figure 41. Christchurch 1970s
Figure 41. Christchurch today. Not the unchanged car
culture
culture by converting a road connecting
the university to the waterfront to one long
pedestrian mall (fg 40). The local government
allowed tax cuts and subsidised rents to local
store owners to encourage them to occupy
the sought after real estate. Alongside the
great retain opportunities were open spaces,
playgrounds and various other spaces that
encouraged pedestrian usage over vehicular
transport. Here in which may lie the lesson
for Christchurch. In order to reshape its city
culture from car centric to pedestrian oriented,
perhaps something similar can be employed
(fg 41 & 42).
Creating Creative Christchurch | Chapter 1 | Case Study1 : Lahti Finland

References
chapter 1

__

32
chapter 2: urban strategy
Mapping schools and their decile ratings
The economic argument put forward so far,
identifed the need of education revitalisation
in order to transition Christchurch from a
manufacturing society to a knowledge society.
With such a heavy emphasis on schools in
Christchurch, my urban strategy began with
an investigation into the existing schools in
Christchurch, with a particular focus on decile
ratings. A decile rating corresponds to the
wealth of the families of students attending
a school. Decile one schools have the highest
proportion of students from low socio-
economic backgrounds whereas decile ten
schools have the highest proportion of students
from high socio-economic backgrounds.
The intent was to investigate and qualify my
hypothesis that poor neighbourhoods lead to a
bad quality education.
Figure 3
34
As mentioned earlier, my hypothesis was to
investigate the common association of less
afuent neighbourhoods being privileged to a
lower quality of education. Subsequently, only
the wealthy neighbourhoods will beneft form
a high quality education. T he above cycle is a
summary of my hypothesis. Starting at decile
rating, working clockwise, the cycle explains
how I believe the education systems in place so
far operate on a biased system which deprives
the poor and favours the afuent. Moreover
the failures of this educational infrastructure
can ultimately lengthen the gap between the
rich and the poor ultimately breakdown social
cohesion.
The negative efects of educational depravity
are not theoretical. Nor are they solely
occurring in remote third world countries.
If one was to consider the plight of a biased
education system, consider the United States
of America. The failures in its education
system beginning in the 1980s saw a decline
in relative school standards. As time passed, a
good quality education became increasingly
out of reach for the average American student
and their family.
Educational Cycle of Bias
Creating Creative Christchurch | Chapter 1 | Education Bias
The bottom diagram maps every school in
Christchurch relative to enrollment size and
decile rating. It is an illustration of how many
schools are underprivileged and in danger
of potentially providing their pupils with an
inadequate quality education. Conversely it
also points out which schools have privileged
students fortunate enough to take advantage
of a potentially better quality education.
The ministry of education states that there
should be an even distribution of schools
among the ten decile ratings. However the
The Deprived Underclass of Pupils
diagram indicates that among Christchurch
schools this spread unfavorably uneven.
Despite there being a large number of higher
decile schools, the largest cluster of schools
occurs on the second decile. Most of these
schools at the second decile are highlighted in
the master map of schools on page 31. Among
these are Hornby High School, Hornby
Primary, Sockburn High, Sockburn Primary,
Aranui School and many others located in the
highlighted concern areas to the east and the
west of the city.
Figure 4
36
Every student is capable of learning. Through
means of traditional assessment (tests, exams,
assignments and other assessments) some
are perceived to be able to learn more than
others. This distribution of students and their
collective learning abilities can be statistically
modelled. Simply illustrated, this spread can
be modelled via a bell curve or a normal
distribution curve. This curve shows that at
either end of the spectrum are few students
with the majority being in the middle.
To put in other words, there are few less/
more capable students in the upper and
lower quarltiles with most being considered
mediocre students in the middle.
Students and Capacities to Learn
Creating Creative Christchurch | Chapter 1 | Definitions
Figure 5
Figure 6
Without regards to the wealth of the
educational institute, every school can only
have a limited number of resources. These
resources include: good teachers, classrooms,
desks, halls, books, felds, playgrounds, pools,
sports facilities, computers and other multi
media facilities etc. These resources cost the
school and as a consequence the wealthier the
school is, the more that they can aford to have.
Due to socioeconomic reasons, it is the
generally accepted truth that high decile
schools can charge larger school fees and
thus be privileged to better resources. The
converse applies to low decile schools where
students or families of students are charged
smaller fees in comparison to their high decile
counterparts.
The Bias of Learning Capacity
As a result, high decile schools have a wider
range of resources and thus are able to cater
to a wider spectrum of the normal distribution
of students. Whereas less afuent schools
with fewer resources can only cater to a
smaller region of this spectrum. The students
that these resources cannot cater to can be
considered to be the tail end. As observed by
Gilbert (2005) high decile schools have much
smaller tails than low decile schools.
Over time, the normal distribution of students
can often become skewed due to these
conditions. Often High decile schools are
percieved to be better schools as they have a
positive skew. This means a larger proportion
of students in these more afuent schools
will move onto post-school qualifcations and
these schools will also have a smaller drop out
rate.
This the bias of learning capacity based on
socioeconomic factors. If this prejudice is not
addressed Christchurch, along with many
other regions in New Zealand, will be in danger
of becoming similar to a cycle of depravity
seen on North America.
Figure 7
Figure 8
38 Creating Creative Christchurch | Chapter 1 | Definitions
The following data is gathered from
Statistics New Zealand (2006). The aim of
the data collection was to quantitatively
and qualitatively verify the link between:
education, employment, income with regards
to geographic location in Christchurch. The
goal was to identify regions in Christchurch
Demographic Data of Christchurch
that are most in danger of contributing to
the 58% of non-qualifed low skill, low value
labourers. The hypothesis was that the
regions with low decile schools will have low
proportions of higher educated individuals,
high proportions of low skill labour based jobs
and consequently low median incomes. Thus
restart the cycle of low decile schools.

The social concern in this thesis project is that
these low decile areas will remain deprived do
to this cycle relating education, employment
and income. The aim of the thesis is to ofset
this bias.
Figure 9
The following work is based upon sets of
data that are highly specifc and consistent
across all 119 suburbs and subclassifcations of
suburbs in Chrisctchurch (Halswell, Halswell
Domain, Hallswell West .etc). Statistics New
Zealand (2006) refers to these 119 regions
(listing from Addington to Yardhurst) as area
units.
Each PDF of each area unit has information
regarding the composition of population,
population growth, age, ethnicity, education,
employment, unemployment, income, access
to domestic communication (home phone,
internet and fax), vehicle ownership, home
ownership, families and marital status. The
below diagram has summed, in ascending
order of relative importance to size, the
information gathered from these PDFs.
Data Collection
Figure 10
Figure 9
Figure 11
40
Data Modelling
The data was entered categorically into
a grasshopper defnition. The aim was to
generate a virtual data terrain with the high
points corresponding to high points in data
and low points corresponding to the converse.
A colour gradient was added in order to
exaggerate the extremities.
Given the specifcity of the data, it would have
been possible to map age, ethnicity, education,
employment, unemployment, income, access
to domestic communication (home phone,
internet and fax), vehicle ownership, home
ownership, families and marital status.
However only a few of these factors were
particularly relevant to the argument. These
relevant factors included higher educated
proportion, school educated proportion, non-
educated proportion, high value employed
proportion, low value employed proportion,
median income, income less than $10 000,
between 10 000 and $20 000, between 20 000
and $30 000, between 30 000 and $40 000,
between 40 000 and $50 000, income over $50
000, access to internet and population growth
percentage for the 119 are units.
The end result is 20 data terrains. The most
signifcant of which are mentioned in the
following few pages.
Figure 12
The following are isometric data terrain maps
of Chriscthurch. The thick red line is the CBD.
There are 116 data points corresponding to all
the area units of Christchurch.
1 Bromley: Has a shrinking population
of 3% over the last decade. This shrinkage
was exacerbated due to the earthquake and
liquefaction damage (Opus 2011).
2 Hornby: Strong population 76% growth
due to afordable housing and a seeming
abundance of employment (most of it is low
impact factory based work)
3 Merivale: Near stagnant population
growth due to unafordability of Merivalian
real-estate for the average Canterberian.
4 Wingram: Following the in-fll of housing
out of the Wingram air-port strong population
growth, 78%, is occurring and predicted to
occur here.
5 Halswell: Positive growth of 75% here
is supported by afordable housing. The
downside is that the housing developments
were established in the 90s during the leaky
homes crisis. Currently, property prices are low
due to this.
6 Cashmere: Is a positive indicator of
population, 67% over the last decade. Desirable
quality schools attract residents and house
prices are lower than the wealthier north.
7 Eastern Suburbs: A general pattern can
be observed where low or negative growth
occurred over the last decade.
8 Western Suburbs: A general pattern
can be observed where high growth occurred
over the last decade. The earthquake and
liquefaction damage exaggerated these
population movements (Opus 2011).
Demographic Data Mapping
119 area units of Christchurch city
population growth
42
Education
higher educated proportion
non-educated proportion
proportions of households with access to internet
1 Hornby: At a mere 22% of residents
holding higher level qualifcations, Hornby
is a clearly a concern area with regards to the
lack of educated residents. This region also
has low internet availability: 42%. Moreover,
the abundance of non-educated proportion,
57%, makes this region a further concern.
2 Merivale: At 58% of residents holding
higher level qualifcations, Merivale is well
equipped with educated individuals. Add to
this the small proportion, 27%, of non-educated
residents, this suburb is well endowed with
educated minds.
3 Bromley: At a mere 23% of residents
holding higher level qualifcations, Bromley
is a clearly a concern area with regards to the
lack of educated residents. This region also
has low internet availability: 42%. Moreover,
the abundance of non-educated proportion,
56%, makes this region a further concern.
4 Aranui: At a mere 20% of residents holding
higher level qualifcations, Aranui is a clearly
a concern area with regards to the lack of
educated residents. This region also has
low internet availability: 42%. Moreover, the
abundance of non-educated proportion, 58%,
makes this region a further concern.
5 Cashmere: At 58% of residents holding
higher level qualifcations, Merivale is well
equipped with educated individuals. Add to
this the small proportion, 27%, of non-educated
residents, this suburb is well endowed with
educated minds.
6 Halwell: At a small 27% of residents
holding higher level qualifcations, Halswell
is a concern area due to the lack of educated
residents. This may be due to the leaky homes
crisis. The crisis screens out the wealthy.
Employment
proportion engaging in high value work*

proportion engaging in low value work*
proportions of households with access to internet
1 Hornby: At a mere 4% of residents
engaging in high value employment, Hornby
is a clearly a concern area with regards to
the lack of skilled workers. Moreover, the low
impact workers, 36%, makes this region a
further concern.
2 Merivale: At 48% of residents engaging
in high value employment, Merivale is well
equipped with high skill workers. Add to
this the small proportion, 5%, of low impact
workers, this suburb is well endowed with high
impact workers.
3 Bromley: With unemployment at 5.4% and
a mere 4% of residents engaging in high value
employment, Hornby is a clearly a concern
area with regards to the lack of skilled workers.
Moreover, the low impact workers, 36%, makes
this region a further concern.
4 Aranui: With unemployment at 8.3% and
a mere 4% of residents engaging in high value
employment, Hornby is a clearly a concern
area with regards to the lack of skilled workers.
Moreover, the low impact workers, 36%, makes
this region a further concern.
5 Cashmere: At 58% of residents engaging
in high value employment, Merivale is well
equipped with high skill workers. Add to
this the small proportion, 5%, of low impact
workers, this suburb is well endowed with high
impact workers.
5 Jellie Park: At unemployment at 10.3%
Jellie park is a concern area
44
median income
proportion earning more than $50, 000 per household per annum
proportion earning less than $30, 000 per household per annum
1 Hornby: With a median income of $17,300
household per annum and a high proportion
of low earners, 32%, combined with a low
proportion of high earners, 8%, Hornby is
among the poorer suburbs in Christchurch.
The abundance of employment opportunities
save Hornby from being among the least
wealthy suburbs in Christchurch
2 Merivale: With a high median income of
$35, 900 and a low proportion of low earners,
4%, combined with a high proportion of high
earners, 43%, Merivale is among the most
wealthy suburbs in Christchurch.
3 Bromley: With a median income of
$16,100 household per annum aand a high
proportion of low earners, 35%, combined
with a low proportion of high earners, 3%,
Bromley is among the least wealthy suburbs in
Christchurch.
4 Aranui: With a median income of $15,
700 and a high proportion of low earners,
34%, combined with a low proportion of high
earners, 3%, Aranui is among the least wealthy
suburbs in Christchurch.
5 Cashmere: With a high median income of
9%, combined with a high proportion of high
earners, 38%, Cashmere is among the wealthier
suburbs in Christchurch.
6 Ilam: With a low median income of $11,
000 Ilam seems to be the least wealthy suburb
in christchurch. However this is a distorted
statistic due to the abundance of students and
student accommodation.
Income
45 Praveen Karunasinghe Praveen Karunasinghe
Hornby: Apart from population, Hornby is
a constant negative indicator. Coupled with
a high population growth rate, this suburb
runs the risk of diminishing quality of life,
characterless neighborhoods and general
unhealthy growth.
Merivale: Apart from population, Merivale
is a constant positive indicator. Limited
population growth in this suburb is most likely
related to afordability of housing relative to
Christchurch incomes: only the wealthy can
aford real estate here
Bromley: Is a constant negative indicator.
Similar to most eastern suburbs, population
does not grow very fast here. This suburb is
also home to high proportions of low income
earners, non-educated residents and low
impact workers.
Aranui: Is a constant negative indicator.
Similar to most eastern suburbs, population
does not grow very fast here.
Cashmere: Cashmere is a constant positive
indicator. Desirable quality schools allow for
high qualifed workers and higher resultant
incomes.
Ilam: Although coming of as an overall
negative indicator, the statistics are distorted
due to the abundance of students living here.
Jellie Park: Highest proportion of
unemployed.
Halswell: Here there is high population
growth. This is due to afordable housing.
However there is a catch. The housing
schemes are cheap due to an excess of leaky
homes. This screens out the wealthy and over
time has the potential to turn the suburb into a
desperately poor area.
demographic data mapping via data terrains
Overall Picture: The Urban Strategy
Built Environment Composition
Merivale
Figure 13
Merivale: With a high median income of
4%, high proportion of high income earners,
49%, higher educated proportion of 60% and
a non-educated proportion of 32%, Merivale is
among the most wealthy and educated suburbs
in Christchurch.
In the composition of its built environment,
there is an abundance of residential at 73%
followed by education at 11%. With little
priority being given to businesses outside of
retail and no priority being given to low value
manufacture. It among the most densely built
suburbs outside of the central city which is a
central reason as to why the population growth
of the suburb is relatively stagnant (3% growth
over the last decade).
Figure 14
Figure 13 Figure 15
Sydenham
Sydenham: With a high median income
of $23 000 and a medium proportion of low
earners, 30%, medium proportion of medium
income earners, 31%, medium educated
proportion of 43% and a non-educated
proportion of 43%, Sydenham is among the
suburbs closes to the Christchurch average.
there is an abundance of retail at 27% followed
low value employment 25%, 25% residential
and 14% high value manufacture goods and
services. It among the most mixed built
suburbs of Christchuch.
Figure 16
Hornby
Hornby: With a high relatively low income of
$17, 000 and a low proportion of high earners,
5%, high proportion of low income earners,
49%, higher educated proportion of 20% and
a non-educated proportion of 57%, Hornby
is among the least wealthy and educated
suburbs in Christchurch. Although it is not the
poorest due to an abundance of factory work
and a relatively moderate unemployment
percentage.
there is an abundance of low value manufacture
at 64% followed by residential at 24%. With
little and almost no priority being given to
high value manufacture goods and services.
The suburb has large plots of vacant land
which may be facilitating a sharp population
growth (common to the wester suburbs) of 73%
over past ten years.
Figure 17
Figure 18
Bromley
Bromley: With a high relatively low income
of $19, 000 and a low proportion of high
earners, 10%, high proportion of low income
earners, 35%, higher educated proportion of
22% and a non-educated proportion of 56% and
a high unemployment rate of 8.3%, Bromley is
among the least wealthy and educated suburbs
in Christchurch. Although it is not the poorest
due to an abundance of factory work and a
some high value manufacture employment
opportunities.
there is an abundance of low value manufacture
at 56% followed by residential at 30%. Similar
to many other Eastern suburbs such as Aranui,
Bromley is experiencing stagnant population
growth. In the 2006 census (Statistics New
Zealand 2006) there was even a 0.6% drop in
population.
Figure 19
Figure 20
50
The following graphs map out statistical
correlations. The intent is to support the
graphical correlations illustrated in the data
terrains with mathematical relationships.
The r
2
value and the p value validate the
relationships. The r
2
value is a good indicator
of the line of ft and the p value is a good
indicator of the gradient of the line (Parker
2012). The larger the r
2
value and the smaller
the p value the more accurate the data. The
accuracy of the data gives me confdence to
make the conclusive statement in the blue box.
The regions highlighted in red are student
rich zones. These suburbs skew the data and
can instead be considered to be outliers.
Statistical Correlation Graphs
Positive Correlation Between
High Value Employment and Higher Level Education
52
Median Income and Higher Level Education
The regions circled in red are outliers occurring due to high proportions of students
House Hold Internet Access and Higher Level Education
Negative Correlations
Negatively correlating relationships can also
be observed regarding the afore mentioned
factors. Generally, a lack of higher educated
individuals leads to low value employment and
lower incomes. An abundance of uneducated
leads to low value employment and lower
incomes. These statistical relationships
illustrated via these positive/negative
correlation graphs are another indicator of the
urgency of education as an economic driver at
the scale of suburbs within Christchurch.
The regions circled in red are outliers occurring due to high proportions of students
56
References



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