By the time I landed in Christchurch, I had lived on three continents, 16 different places (towns, cities and villages ) and 27 different flats or houses. I moved a lot. I've never had a hometown to speak of, but I have lived here longer than I have lived anywhere else. And while there's no way I can claim it as 'my own', I figure it makes sense to begin my adventures of looking at how cities work, right here, in a place I know well.

What do you think it is that makes one city different from another? Is it the architecture? The transport system? The food? The business that gets done there? The fortunes that can be made there? The fun that can be had there? Well... maybe there's a little bit of all of that going into a city's mix. But do you know what I think really gives a city its personality? The clue is right there. It's the people; what they do and how they do it.