Broadband to change Christchurch's CBD?

Will fast broadband mean the new Christchurch doesn't need a central business district?

An online forum has been created, seeking ideas for the rebuilding of Christchurch.

There's a lot of touchy-feely stuff about a green city, sustainability and so on.

There's talk of public transport, buses, trams and walking tracks in a new sustainable eco-city.

But as businesses move out of the city centre now, waiting for reconstruction, they will rely ever more on the internet and realise that perhaps the face-to-face contact of the past won't be needed.

With skype, video conferencing and so on, will meeting in the CBD be necessary?

Do businesses have to be based together, all in one place?

As businesses work out of town, several rival CBDs or business areas may spring up and the businesses might like it there.

Their staff will enjoy the easier commutes around suburbia where parking won't be a pain.

So by the time the rebuild begins in earnest, eco-friendly trains and trams will seem like yesterday's solution to yesterday's problem.

Christchurch could become a city of many centres, not just one.