Once in a Lifetime travels north!

Once in a Lifetime: City-building after Disaster in Christchurch travels north!

After Once in a Lifetime’s packed launch and sold-out panel discussion at the Christchurch Word Writers and Readers Festival, members of the editorial team are presenting the book to Auckland and Wellington audiences, in an attempt to increase awareness about the issues that have arisen from the Christchurch recovery process.

New Zealand has to rebuild the majority of its second-largest city after a devastating series of earthquakes – a unique challenge for a developed country in the twenty-first century and one that is of significant national importance. Freerange Press's Once in a Lifetime offers the first substantial critique of the Government’s recovery plan for Christchurch, presents alternative approaches to city-building and archives a vital and extraordinary time.

The public of Auckland and Wellington are invited to join members of the editorial team and some of the book’s contributing authors in a series of lunchtime panel discussions. Giovanni Tiso recently observed in his blog of the Christchurch panel discussion: ‘It was, like the book itself, a blueprint of the kind of discussions that need to be had. If the panel and how it was received by the packed room are any indication, Once in a Lifetime will become a significant tool with which to think again about the task and find new forms of engagement.’

The panel discussion in Auckland on 17 September, chaired by Russell Brown, will reflect on the issues and challenges that have emerged in the Christchurch recovery process and answer questions sourced from the public via Public Address. It takes place at 12pm in the Exhibition Studio of the School ofSchool of Architecture and Planning at the University of Auckland.

The Wellington panel discussion on18 September, features authors that have contributed to the book including economist Dr Eric Crampton, public health and housing specialist Graciela River Munoz, architect Chris Moller and writer Giovanni Tiso in discussion with co-editor Barnaby Bennett. Open to the public, it starts at 12.30pm at the School of Architecture and Design at Victoria University.

Gaylene Preston of Hope & Wire states that Once in a Lifetime ‘illuminates the problems and opportunities that flowed from Christchurch after the quakes, and interrogates the manmade disaster that followed.’ Freerange Press and the editors welcome the public to join them in an analysis of this manmade disaster.

Please visit www.onceinalifetime.org.nz for more details.

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