Communicating well lays the foundations for lovable cities

Melissa Wardell | July 28, 2016

The ultimate key to creating a lovable city, according to author and international thought leader Peter Kageyama, is emotional engagement. And emotional engagement is strongly linked to high levels of local GDP and economic vitality — two outcomes any city would welcome.

It’s the job of local government to focus on nurturing and creating lovable cities, places that residents care about and love to live in. And that’s because what people care about, they’ll invest in and protect, says Peter.

Green space: just one of the things that make a city great to live in. Image by Rebecca Cox CC BY

But how do councils know what people love?

Communicating well with communities is essential for creating great places. Councils have to find out what citizens want, what they don’t want, and what will inspire them to embrace change.

Smart councils take engagement seriously. They get creative and tell stories to get people excited.

Coming together to focus on the future

This week, local councils from around New Zealand have come together at the LGNZ 2016 Conference in Dunedin. They’ve been focusing on how to create places where people love to live, work and play.

We’re proud to be working with many of the councils represented in Dunedin this week, helping them to create, formulate, and express plans to improve their cities.