When I walk around the city centre, it feels somewhat hollowed out. Queen St has become an asphalt wasteland with no street cafes or attractions to entice the visitor and convince them to stay. Most of our investment in the city centre has been to put in cycleways and pave things over. France has added a major new contemporary art destination in Paris by relocating the Fondation Cartier pour l’Art Contemporain on top of all the sites it already has. People would come and stay, spend multiple hotel nights, eat and drink and shop, spend the kind of money that helps a city invest in itself.

Source: New Zealand Herald January 26, 2026 00:33 UTC