Shaping Te Upoko o te Ika: 2019 onwards!
It’s been an amazing ride over the last two years, summarised here.
From now, Talk Wellington will roll along like the other stalwart blogs of Wellington, publishing good stuff as energy allows.
See who’s behind Talk Wellington, past and present.
Keeping the ideas flowing
Talk Wellington now has an extensive and growing audience, indicating people’s appetite for good city-shaping information. Make sure you’re signed up to our newsletter as this is where the latest will be at. (If you can’t see the popup, email us)
Now more voices, more good kōrero
Talk Wellington may be playing a smaller role in Wellington’s information ecosystem now, but the information landscape has changed too. In the last wee while, even predating our series with them, we’ve observed The Dominion Post / Wellington Stuff.co.nz becoming noticeably more thoughtful and progressive in their transport coverage (and its new comments policy). TV news are showing greater interest in progressive angles on transport stories.
More signs of the zeitgeist are showing on the fringes – where, as Rebecca Solnit reminds us, progress comes from. Since we’ve been around there’s been a blossoming in the local blogosphere: new local ones like TraNZport and Inside Wellington, plus new Tauranga cousins and Christchurch cousins in blog-land and on Medium), and in podcastland Indigenous Urbanism.
There’s been strong growth in aligned kaupapa groups like Women in Urbanism, Congestion Free Wellington and renewed vigour in Generation Zero. Plus Wellington’s got its foot in the burgeoning cohousing movement, and new Wellington groups like the Urban Justice Contemplaters, Transit and Housing Oriented Teens, and City for People are springing up.
They’re all adding to stalwart local blogs like Eye of the Fish and Island Bay Healthy Streets, who have great stamina and great content.
They’re all small, but it all means more well-informed and articulate folks putting pressure on decision-makers, and supporting regular people to do so too. It means better decisions giving us fairer, more sustainable, more liveable towns and cities.
So keep reading and sharing! It’s really important to help spread progressive urban ideas into new eyes and ears. Tell your decision-makers what you’re reading – you could just share them a link and write “I like this – especially [pull out the bit you like], what’s happening in our area to apply it?”
Get together!
It’s great to see a flourishing in the digital landscape for shaping our towns and cities, but there’s also nothing like a physical gathering of diverse, like-minded folks – especially with some good beverages. Especially precious in pandemic times.
Te Upoko o te Ika is full of great little groups of people who share the big values of sustainability, fairness, accessibility, and liveability for all and for future generations, and want to help make the city deliver that for people.
Our favourite meetup is the excellent Urbanerds, meeting in Pōneke monthly for lots of friendly urban nerding.
Help us evolve
Please help Talk Wellington find our new groove. If you’ve got a good idea for the new groove, or some ready content, and can help (or wholly) deliver, get in touch!
Or you can just donate – less effort, and always appreciated.