Vision for Wellington

Vision for Wellington unites passionate Wellingtonians committed to seeing our city thrive. We’re not a formal membership organisation or legal entity. We’re a collective voice advocating for Wellington – and calling for change.

Purpose & Focus

• A group of passionate, but concerned, Wellingtonians advocating for growth, liveability, advancement of our city and strong civic leadership.
• Nonpartisan and politically neutral. Our sole focus is ensuring that Wellington flourishes.
• A forum to share ideas, propose solutions, and push for positive change.
• Shift the conversation from discontent to action. Make change happen.
• A united voice of reason – and reason for hope.

Key Principles

1. Pride. Build a city that people want to live in, migrate to and visit.
2. Affordability. Ensure Wellington is financially sustainable over the long term.
3. Infrastructure. Provide world class infrastructure around water, transport and accommodation.
4. Innovation. Ensure the city encourages and promotes thriving university, creative and innovation communities.
5. Growth. Build and support our priority growth industries and sporting infrastructure.

Building a Vision

Wellingtonians are experiencing a crisis of confidence – brought about by three things:

1. the City Council’s handling of the city’s finances – in particular, its inability to rein in spending;
2. the sense that the city is drifting in terms of leadership, future direction and economic prosperity; and
3. frustration at in-fighting and perceived ideology-fuelled decision-making at the expense of the needs and wishes of the city’s residents and ratepayers.

We will create a means through which a Vision for Wellington can be shaped, allowing everyone within the City to participate and contribute – in essence, participatory place-making. This will also allow the exploring of a range of pragmatic initiatives, aimed at enabling Wellington to flourish.

• Our goal is to help set a direction for Wellington’s future by collaborating with local experts and engaging with Wellingtonians. We acknowledge that we don’t have all the answers, but we believe that we can help find them.
• We will start by facilitating expert-led panels early next year, gathering local thought leaders in areas like innovation, arts and culture, small business, events and hospitality, economic growth, transport, infrastructure, civic leadership and distinctiveness
• We will engage Wellingtonians through social media, digital polling, newsletters and digital platforms to ensure residents can hear what these thought leaders have to say, contribute ideas and opinions, and keep up with the conversation.
• The feedback will be digested into a format that is simple and easy to understand, to reflect the diverse needs and aspirations of the city’s residents.

We aim to deliver a co-created Vision for Wellington – aspirational and practical in equal measure – and a source of pride and positivity about the city and its future.

• Peter Biggs
• Sinead Boucher
• Mike Egan
• Myles Gazley
• Sir Bob Jones
• Aaron Leech
• Sarah Meikle
• Rob Morrison
• Fran O’Sullivan
• Kirsten (KP) Patterson
• Neil Paviour-Smith
• Luke Pierson
• Dame Kerry Prendergast
• Dame Patsy Reddy
• Phil Royal
• Dame Therese Walsh
• Simon Woolf