A group of Wanganui movers and shakers took the floor on Tuesday during the A Place To Live conference.
The speakers included Wanganui district councillor Martin Visser, Shelley Harkness from Restorative Practices Whanganui, iwi leader Ken Mair and digital expert Shane Middlemiss.
Mr Visser played a video explaining the concept of the Social Progress Index, which counts 32 social, environment and life quality indicators.
Applied to 19 towns and cities throughout New Zealand, Wanganui came out on top, he said, even though it ranked 17th in household income.
"It seems that smaller centres have a lot more to offer than just money," Mr Visser said.
Ms Harkness talked about Wanganui's efforts in working towards becoming a restorative community. "Restorative practice is about respectful relationships," she said.
Mr Mair used the Whanganui River as a metaphor for community and talked about some of the relationships Whanganui iwi had formed.
The themes brought up by the four speakers were responded to by three panellists - Horizons Regional Council chief executive Michael McCartney, Felicity Anderson from the Department of Conservation, and Sam Johnson from the Canterbury Student Army.