press.co.nz THE PRESS, Saturday & Sunday, February 22 - 23, 2014 Mainlander editor: Ewan Sargent C1 HUNTERS LALAZBOYZ BOY® GALLERY *Only available in stated leather or fabric. Strictly a limited number available. Image shown may vary in colour and/or leather/fabric from sale item. Accessories not included, available from Hunters La-Z-Boy Gallery. Sale prices available from 20.02.14 -23.02.14 or while stocks last. LZB_RLX_O1 C2 Saturday, February 22, 2014 THE PRESS, Christchurch 2031 COME WITH US TO 2031 obody can predict what know what the future holds,’’ professional you have to rely on sometimes scant The point is not mere entertainment, Fiction in newspapers dates back Christchurch will be like on futurist Stuart Candy once said. information provided by the Canterbury although there is that. The point, a la Stuart centuries. Charles Dickens published some February 22, 2031 – 20 years Long-term predictions are almost always Earthquake Recovery Authority, Candy, is that readers may find in our novels in serialised form. after the worst earthquake wrong because ‘‘mere extrapolation can’t Christchurch City Council and other public fiction possible futures they love or hate. It appeared regularly in the The Evening and 17 years from today. stand up to the complexity’’ of time, he told bodies. It may even spark an idea, stir some News,adailyeveningpaperthatserved Will the anchor projects aTedXChristchurchaudiencelastyear. So, with so much still unknown we latent urge to get involved. If it does, we London from 1881 to 1980. Authors included of the central city – The better alternative is to understand decided to experiment. urge readers to do something about it. AAMilne,ArthurCClarkeandKen invented and sited behind that the future is plural, Candy argued. What if The Press visited Christchurch Rally, protest, cheer, plant . do something Follett. closed doors in just 100 days in 2012 – be There are multiple futures open to on February 22, 2031, and reported back that changes the future. On these pages we challenged The Press Nbuilt and tenanted, popular and prospering? Canterbury and we can make decisions what we found? Obviously we can’t time And one further message for those who reporters to write fictional non-fiction and Will sporting and cultural events fill a today that will help make or prevent those travel, but we can imagine futures and are challenged by the appearance of fiction the results, we think, are provocative. 35,000-seat covered stadium? We can’t know. futures. report them. So we did. What follows is in this well-read section of the newspaper, Some of it’s good news, some bad. ‘‘I’m suspicious of people who claim to But to understand future-Christchurch, entirely fictional. Mainlander. Come with us to 2031. Changing guard Tony Smith grandpa,’’ Hansen said,a tear G GGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG G SPORT, 2031 streaking his ruddy, chubby he All Blacks have crashed cheek. out of the global world point margin and rely on the Meanwhile, New Zealand championships playoffs winless Wallabies to upset the Rugby Union chief executive Sir after a shock loss to ladder-leading Springboks, Richard McCaw said the Argentina at Ballantynes- coached by Robbie Deans, 71, for 13,339-turnout in the 45,000-seat TNgai Tahu Stadium in the New Zealanders to win the stadium was disappointing. ‘‘We Christchurch. southern hemisphere leg of the had a full house, but most people The Pumas beat the five-time world championships league and left before kickoff after Sonny Bill Rugby World Cup winners 31-29 in qualify for the March 15 global Williams’ pre-match boxing bout. golden point extra-time for an grand final in Dubai against the But at least they saw old Sonny historic first victory over New winner of Europe’s Six Nations (aged 45) win the world Zealand. championships. heavyweight geriatric Argentina’s ambassador to New Immediately after the final championship.’’ Zealand – watching while sharing whistle, All Blacks head coach Sir Richard said the walk-up asteakdinnerwithGovernor- Steve Hansen – the first coach to crowd were ‘‘probably saving their General Gerry Brownlee – hailed win four World Cup gold medals – money’’ for tomorrow’s first home the upset as his country’s greatest announced he was ending his game of the 2031 season by the Te sporting result of the 21st century. 19-year reign to give the team nine Wai Pounamu Taniwha, the three- Argentina scored five tries and months to prepare for the next time National Rugby League three conversions to one try and World Cup tournament in India. champions. ‘‘And the Southern eight penalties by the All Blacks, Hansen, 72 in May, said it was Mustangs play here in the who abandoned their usual time he gave long-time assistant A-League playoffs on Monday expansive game to play 10-man Ian Foster a crack at the top job night; so 13,339 isn’t a bad crowd rugby. ‘‘before he qualifies for his gold really; it’s not like rugby’s our The All Blacks needed to beat card’’. national sport.’’ Argentina by a four-try bonus ‘‘I’ll miss the boys; they call me CLIMATE CHANGE TOWN HALL, 2031 ARTS PRECINCT, 2031 Stars return for Godot Sounds of silence Philip Matthews ‘‘Ultimately, the Christchurch Ewan Sargent be working hard at the Eezi-Air GGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG GGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG After the flood Town Hall was the only venue that Soundproof Complex. eteran British theatre actors really suited,’’ he said. tanding in the deserted Town And the city’s only professional Ian McKellen and Patrick ‘‘We needed all 2500 seats in the Hall car park last night you theatre company, the Rangiora Sarah-Jane O’Connor Stewart have returned to auditorium. could catch snatches of music Players (oldies will remember it as G GGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG G V S Christchurch for another sold-out ‘‘I remember that there were drifting over from Addington the Court Theatre) would be of ast Christchurch residents season of Waiting for Godot. suggestions that the Christchurch when the wind shifted. course gearing up for its inundated with floodwaters Interviewed before the opening Town Hall be demolished after the Ageing boy band One Direction controversial new play Where’d the E last year are once again night performance, McKellen, 91, 2011 earthquake. was belting out the back catalogue Waimak River Go? in its new battling with insurers to replace said Christchurch audiences had ‘‘Thank goodness that didn’t to its middle-aged mum fans. theatre-stage complex in Blackett belongings and repair their embraced his interpretation of the happen.’’ Those snatches aside, it was a St. waterlogged homes. Samuel Beckett play about waiting He said the prestigious lovely Christchurch night. And if So things were humming in the Residents around the mouth of ages and ages for something to International Modernist you wanted peace and quiet, this city’s arts and entertainment the Avon woke up the day after happen. Masterpieces Award given to the was the place to be. You know the world . everywhere but right Boxing Day to find water rapidly ‘‘There may be an element of Christchurch City Council in 2019 old joke – Christchurch CBD – here among the grass and daisies. encroaching on their homes. The nostalgia for the days before the for its sensitive and thorough Centre Bit of Doughnut. But is it OK, except in one thing. It king tide, which arrived at 7am on earthquake in the overwhelming repair and renovation of the Town right that we can happily meditate wasn’t a complete entertainment Friday, December 27, brought with audience responses, but I think Hall, guided by original architect in the middle of the country’s void. Distant Manchester St was it devastation to homes still Cantabrians also get Beckett’s Sir Miles Warren, showed that it second-biggest city on a Saturday glowing thanks to the headlights of clinging on to the banks of the message about futility,’’ McKellen was on the right track. night? dozens of cars moving slowly up Avon River. said. ‘‘Can you believe that the Looking across the vast empty and down. The December floods have ‘‘People come again and again, government of the day wanted to grassy lawns and gardens But this big grassy park in the renewed calls to remediate Plant Science Park: Woo-Min Lee proposed a Plant Science Park in the Green bringing all the family.’’ bowl the Town Hall and steer the spreading out from the river and city centre, Baby Hagley I think earthquake-damaged land and Frame where the ‘‘research facility is a park and the park is the research facility’’. McKellen and Stewart, 90, had council towards paying for some towards the cathedral, the lonely the office workers call it, is what push ahead with raising floor hoped to perform their fourth sort of performing arts precinct Theatre Royal sat pale in the you get when a city spreads like an levels in line with the sunken land makes the area more the end of the century the total Christchurch season of Waiting for instead?’’ McKellen said. moonlight. It was also deserted – old egg in a cold frypan and the Christchurch City Council’s Flood vulnerable to flooding, and with increase will be about one metre Godot at the Isaac Theatre Royal, ‘‘Imagine if Christchurch had another casualty of the big crowds money runs out to scrape it back Management Plan. human-induced climate change above 1990s levels. Climate but that theatre was already lost this incredible building. It that Specialised Cranes Addington together. Land around the western edge raising the sea level, experts say scientists have warned that king booked for next week’s world really is the city’s living room.