There’s talk of gondolas, laneways, and hidden streams. Can anyone deliver on our dreams for this much-loved public space?

Is James Lunday, a self-described poacher turned gamekeeper, the man to deliver our dreams for this much-loved public space? Lunday has a 20-year connection with the Square, having lived and worked in the Regent Theatre’s dome which collapsed in the February 2011 earthquake.

Now, as General Manager of Regeneration Planning for Regenerate Christchurch, Lunday has been tasked with “enlivening” Cathedral Square, “getting it back to better than it was before”. With a nod to its historical roots, James Lunday wants to attract inner-city dwellers, and develop the Square into a bustling, vibrant, public space for the late 21st and 22nd century.