What is shaping our future?

A Little About Us...

Shaping our Future Inc was founded in 2011 by a group of leading Queenstown Lakes residents. Our Steering Group and Taskforce members are volunteers working towards achieving our 2011 created long term community vision of "Spectacular environments, enterprising people, exceptional solutions"

We aim to give every person in the community a voice in shaping the future of our district for future generations, not just our children, but grandchildren and beyond. We are independent and apolitical with a process not constrained by single interest groups.

Read our Strategic Plan 2015-18

OUR GUIDING PRINCIPLES

Encouraging exceptional solutions to current and future issues

Providing support for enterprising people and ensuring our spectacular environments are protected and enhanced for future generations

Monitoring the outcomes and encouraging other parties to proactively bring about the vision

Working collaboratively with others

Being a learning and enabling organisation

Conducting our business with integrity in an open, honest, transparent, and accountable way

Maintaining independence from members’ or stakeholders’ political agendas

HOW IT WORKS

We're all about community collaboration...

We use a process of community forums and online input, volunteer taskforces and strategy reports. We aim to engage and promote discussion on long term goals and outcomes for our communities, identifying challenges, and creating a roadmap to achieving our goals. Our process is inclusive and designed to give our people a collective voice in shaping the future.

WHO IS SHAPING OUR FUTURE

WE ARE YOU THE COMMUNITY

Our members are people who are passionate about the Lakes District. Our business leaders, our visitors, our mothers and fathers, our grandparents, our neighbours, our friends. We may individually lead different lives but collectively we create our own unique community.

If we don’t shape our own future them someone else will do it for us.

Ed Taylor

Steering Group Member

I love the environment and the people. The natural environment is awe-inspiring but it is the people who make the area what it is. We attract people from around New Zealand, and the world who bring huge experience and a wide variety of interests. It makes for a vibrant place to live and play.

Shaping our Future stimulates conversation and solves issues

Alexa Forbes

Councillor, Lecturer in Sustainable Practice

My vision is a place that is so connected with its environment that it models the best possible ways of enhancing it. A collection of interconnected communities with opportunities for people to live, work and play and where each community is respected for its difference.

I'm interested in Housing and Transport

Jim Boult

Mayor of Queenstown

I'd like for our innovative approach, standard of environmental care and the friendliness of our people to be envied internationally.

Nothing was done in the last decade regarding transport

Guy Hughes

Language Schools New Zealand: Queenstown

I want our district to retains it’s natural beauty and appeal to visitors whilst leading in sustainable and smart planning and implementation.

Real community planning and actions by the people for their own futures

Megan Williams

Chair, Upper Clutha Conservation Taskforce

I'm passionate about the Environment and the people in our community. I think our biggest challenge is planning and infrastructure for people and the environment to keep in line with current growth.

Our challenge is rapid growth and absentee property owners.

John Glover

Kinloch Lodge, Glenorchy

I want to leave Glenorchy as a better place in the future than it would have otherwise been.

Look around and you will see, hear and taste everything we love.

Trent Yeo

Ziptrek Ecotours, TEDxQueenstown, TEDxScottBase

There are a two things that are vitally important in shaping our future: getting our community to vocalise their opinion and skill towards agreed big picture goals AND a meaningful method for curating that into coherent, quality feedback. Shaping our Future is just that.

WHY DO WE NEED IT?

as a community we can create our future

It is easy to get caught up in the problems of today without considering where we want to be in the future. By collaboratively working towards a common vision we can proactively address tomorrow’s challenges today. Our community is only as strong as its voice, we provide an opportunity to shape our district for future generations - our children, grandchildren and beyond.