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Is it possible one of the great mistakes of the modern era has been made around our cities?\xa0

There are increasing areas of life in which the theory, the promise, or the dream is not only not coming to pass, but it's possible it never will\xa0

The EV industry globally is in a major state of flux. Any number of large producers have not only promised to stop selling engines by 2030-ish, they\u2019ve now realised that\u2019s not real so have had to back track. But they've also realised that all the money they didn\u2019t spend on the next generation of engines has been lost and they now have to fill the gap.\xa0

Renewables are in a similar place. Larry Ellison this week told investors AI is so crazy when it comes to power consumption that they are building a data centre that will be run by three small nuclear reactors.\xa0

The world largely doesn\u2019t have such reactors right now and it certainly doesn\u2019t have the renewable capability to run data centres.\xa0

Then to downtown New Zealand. Reform of city centres was predicated on several theories; essentially, we wanted to save the planet while living like Europe.\xa0

What we have ended up with is downtown Auckland, downtown Tauranga, and downtown Wellington all, if not destroyed, certainly in a state no one is proud of.\xa0

As the bike lanes, bus lanes, and lack of parking has taken its toll, the businesses have closed, people have gone home to never come back, the malls have popped up in suburbia, and the CBD is shot to pieces.\xa0

We weren't Europe, aren't Europe, and never will be Europe.\xa0

Do we live in an age where the concept of the illusion, of what could be, is driven by the bandwagon of the day? Something the ideologues leap on board, with no real insight as to what might actually be required for it to come to pass?\xa0

It's driven by good intention but appalling planning, urged on by NGO's and the like who need a buzz phrase or agenda to keep pushing to maintain relevance and, often, funding. People who want to be on the perceived right side of the hot new trend, and it all comes at a huge cost.\xa0

These so-called downtown areas of tomorrow. Just when is tomorrow? When is Wellington going to be the pedestrian magnet, the cobbled hub?\xa0

When does Auckland wear itself out with all the new outlets opening in Queen Street?\xa0

When does Tauranga cut its umpteenth ribbon on the mecca that is the revitalised CBD, drawing fans from near and far?\xa0

Or was it simply a good picture on a whiteboard that will never in fact happen?\xa0

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