LEARNING FUTURES WORKSHOP 2026

On Thursday 16 April 2026, Ako Ōtautahi Learning City Christchurch convened a group of 30 participants at the Multicultural Recreation and Community Centre in Ōtautahi Christchurch for a Learning City Futures Workshop. This interactive, futures-focused session brought together rangatahi, educators, community leaders, creatives, businesses, and systems-change practitioners to reconnect the learning ecosystem and explore the next steps toward becoming a thriving Learning City.

The workshop built on a 2024 Learning City conversation “A Vision for Ōtautahi Christchurch as a Learning City”, exploring the central pātai of “What does a learning city look like in 2050?” The 2024 workshop resulted in the development of a manifesto to guide the mahi of AŌLCC. This included actionable outcomes that served as an initial roadmap towards realising the vision of transforming Ōtautahi Christchurch as a learning city. Since then, AŌLCC has moved the vision forward by sharing city stories, developing capabilities for organisations to tell their own stories and developing of a city learning calendar.

The Learning Futures 2026 workshop created space to reflect on what has shifted, surface emerging signals, and collaboratively prototype initiatives that make learning more visible, connected, and celebrated across the city. How do we take some of the ideas suggested, such as a city wide ambassador system, and breathe life into them - from vision to visible?