Share an idea: AI-augmented urban narrative

Abstract

Many lessons were learnt from Christchurch City Council's attempt to empower local citizens to co-design the redevelopment of the city centre following the devastating events of a series of major earthquakes between 2011 and 2012. Running against the grain of national politics, the grassroots public consultation exercise was largely over-ridden by the central government's decision to hand over final responsibility for rebuilding of the city to the Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Authority (CERA). Predictably, the centrally administered bureaucratic process attracted considerable criticism with studies indicating that CERA was ill-equipped and unwilling to engage effectively with the public, which resulted in predictably poor public perceptions. The outcome pointed towards the need for greater clarity about the willingness or otherwise of public agencies or government to share decision making before public engagement to avoid disappointment and disillusionment. Without which, the perception of power-sharing becomes an illusion that can quickly turn into public dissatisfaction with public authorities. Furthermore, the problem arose in part due to a focus on solutions rather than prioritising user needs underpinned by shared culture values. To overcome future political impasses between local and national government agencies, an alternative method of collecting and analysing data from public consultation is proposed using AI where large volumes of public data can be readily processed to communicate shared narratives about shared values for future public works such as the rebuild of Christchurch.