You are here

Felicity Powell. the driving force behind “ Rebuild this City __&__ ” was our first speaker at our 108th Coffee and Jam yesterday morning, pitching a innovative way to look at creating new beginnings in Christchurch post the 2010/2011 earthquakes. Felicity, a former wine consultant now a full time student at the University of Canterbury, took the universities CHCH101 Rebuilding Christchurch course in the summer school program. This being where “Rebuild this City __&__” was born. Felicity gained her inspiration for this from the likes of interactive work from Kerry Smith and her own mother, as during family international travels she would encourage her and her brother to create their on log of their experiences, which she called her ‘journey book.’

The interactive side of this project is different on a multitude of levels as it encourages you to interact with the environment and the city itself rather than the book. The book acts as a guide in whom “you” are the main character, as you get to creatively connect yourself with the city, filling in the pages. Another awesome thing about this project is that there is no set outline to use it, you can stop and start at any point within the book as it follows a similar outline to the ‘create your own adventure books series. ’

Felicity’s vision is to create a series of this and wants people to “adopt” pages for illustrative purposes and also to be able to expand the book into its own hierarchy having a web-based version. Being made successful through the help of QR codes and applications such as IOS. People can then annotate and add different ideas in order to keep it dynamic as the city transforms. Essentially Felicity said this is “your baby.” The central idea of this project is to improve and benefit the community; it is a collaboration of Christchurch and its talents with a vision of the people, and to show that even in hard times it is an adventure, in which people can create and contribute something new to our beloved city.

For more information or enquiry’s on this awesome project you can contact Felicity directly here at: felicityjanepowell@gmail.com and to follow the progress of “Rebuild this City __&__” you can check it out here on: rebuildthiscity.tumblr.com.

Our second speaker yesterday was Tim Taylor from Korimako-Delivering Sustainability, pitching the project “Creating Complementary Currency for Christchurch .” So what is a complementary currency? It’s a means of exchange done through a voluntary way usually with the help of companies rather than a legal currency. So think along the lines of vouchers, and crypto currency. It is a way to create a local currency and strengthen the economic resilience in times of distress. Tim then continued to talk about the challenges ahead, like in any project, but with the backing from local council man Raf Manji,“Raf Currency” as it is commonly dubbed, needs full support of the council and the people alike. After talking with Raf he said it definitely has great potential and is easily achievable, as it has been done in other cities globally. It is about creating revenue for the city and the council whilst also achieving goals that are beneficial for the people in many other ways. It is creative, innovative, cutting edge and most importantly community involved!

In order for Tim to get this idea of the ground he needs your support! To do this you can contact him directly at: tim@korimako.org and make a submission.

That’s all for today, stay awesome and be sure to come along to our coffee and jam sessions every Tuesday in the BNZ EPIC building at 12.30pm!

• Seftonian Battle-Sport, Medieval Swordplay with set positions on a Neo-Gothic Live Action Battlefield. Contact Leon Chambers at lwc23@uclive.ac.nz to find out about upcoming events!
• Apolo Power Yoga is starting a Budokon Yoga class, a fusion of yoga and martial arts! See their timetable on the website.
• For information on complementary currencies and local money (and also Savings Pools, Food Pools and Time Banks) go to www.le.org.nz
• There’s an international movement for divestment from fossil fuel companies. Investment in fossil fuel companies pays for new fossil fuel exploration and extraction. But to keep within a ‘safe’ 2 degrees of warming, 80% of known reserves must stay in the ground. It’s also financially irresponsible to be investing in the sector — oil and coal prices have crashed, and the TSB just wrote off $54 million on a bad loan to Solid Energy/ 350 Aotearoa has begun a year-long campaign for banks to divest. To find out more or be involved, contact 350christchurch@gmail.com .
• WikiHouseNZ  is looking for various people with the following skills to help, contact Martin Luff at: martin@spacecraft.co.nz

1. HTML, CSS, Java Script
2. GoogleDrive guru to help with transferring ownership
3. SquareSpace website developer

•  Christchurch City Council has adopred the consultation document for its Long Term Plan 2015-25. The version will go online at www.ccc.govt.nz/LTP. Public consultation on the Plan runs from Tuesday 17 March until midday Tuesday 28 April. Make submissions!
• Catarina Gutierrez runs Cycle Christchurch  and invites you to join the upcoming Pinic and Bike Games event on Thursday 19 March, 6:30pm at Hagley Park. Find out more on Facebook.  
• Interested in Living Building Challenge? The Collaborative in Christchurch now has a Facebook page! Amanda Sturgeon, a sustainability leader and architect is speaking on Monday 23 March, 3:15pm — 5:30pm at CPIT. Register on Eventbrite .
• Startup Weekend Christchurch is coming up and it’s already half sold-out! 8-10 May at EPIC. Get your tickets today !
• Lightning Lab is coming to Christchurch! Expression of Interest opens in April/May 2015. 
• Hi-Growth Launch Programme Information Evening is on Tuesday 17 March, 4:30pm — 6pm at CDC Boardroom (Level 1, 99 Cashel St). Looking for businesses who work within core sectors (digital/manufacturing/agribusiness and Food & Beverage and health) Click here to register .