Excellent point Rosalee Jenkin and a great article to boot.
We need to keep in mind though that with the extent of global warming we are experiencing, the three issues: increasing and soaring temperatures, abnormal rainfalls and floodings, and extreme weather events will occur throughout the world, and neither Canterbury nor Christchurch will be immune from their impacts. We are already seeing the impacts on our turfs as farming community in Canterbury have suffered a lot over the last few years and extreme weather events keep on happening.
Every little thing helps. This makes me hopeful that rebuilding a city centre from scratch is a great idea to make it climate friendly, carbon-negative (not just zero), and we hope that this will spread to other parts of the country as well. As we continue to live healthier and climate friendly lives in Christchurch and Canterbury, a lot will change.