Winds of Change

Formerly the Excelsior Hotel

The beautiful city that I have lived in all my life, like my father and grandfather, is changing at an accelerated rate. From the business capital of New Zealand 150 years ago to a sleepy stasis in recent decades, Dunedin is awakening to development and business opportunities; some good, some short-sighted and contentious. As I write, a civic committee is considering submissions as to the worthiness or otherwise of a proposed 28 storey glass-box hotel, nearly 3 times higher than our current tallest building, in a position at the end of Otago Harbour that would be highly visible from almost every worthwhile veiwpoint. The project brings a number of issues into sharp relief.

Much in the manner that local Maori must have felt as they saw the great masted ships of our forefathers come sailing up the harbour, so now we look on as wealthy Chinese (or so we are to believe) investors eye up our real estate and present us with what the Chamber of Commerce calls "growth opportunities we'd be foolish to spurn", we are on the cusp of a major cultural change: not European to Chinese but rather from a city of heritage buildings, academic excellence and wildlife treasures to a commercially driven one of fashion, tourism and opportunistic growth.

There's no reason, I suppose, that these uneasy bedfellows cannot coexist, garnering the best from each other without killing the golden goose. In the meantime, my surprise at the degree of polarisation this issue has incurred is surpassed only by the growing awareness that a massive number of middle-dwellers don't care at all.