Awesome Christchurch: Christchurch City Mayor Phil Mauger

I was chuffed to read that Christchurch is ranked the happiest city in New Zealand in a 2024 Happy City Index, ranking us at number 32 on the list of cities – well above Wellington and Auckland.

It really shows that we’re on the right track and reflects the hard work, planning and investment that’s gone into the city since the earthquakes. hristchurch is now a city of choice and draws people from around New Zealand and overseas with its affordable housing, lifestyle, study options, and wide range of career opportunities. The opening of Te Kaha, Canterbury’s Multi-Use Arena in 2026 will also cement our reputation as a top city for sports and events.

Enrolments are up at all our tertiary institutions this year, which means an increasing wealth of talent coming out of the tertiary sector into the local economy.

Places like the Ministry of Awesome are helping to tap into that. They support almost 500 startup Founders a year and have helped Christchurch startups raise over $100 million in the last four years. Visiting them recently was a great chance to hear about this local success story.

On a final note – it’s great to have the 2024-34 Long Term Plan finalised. We have finished with a 9.9% increase from 1 July, lower than we started but we know must keep finding savings in how we do things to get these numbers down. I’m confident it sets a positive future path for Christchurch in the coming decade and by 2034 we’ll be in the top 20 on the Happy City Index.