She is also keen for the city's visual artists - particularly from the Otago Polytechnic School of Art - to get special spaces at the city's new Forsyth Barr Stadium where they can display their art and sculpture.
Cr Stevenson (46), who was an early supporter and former co-ordinator of the iD Dunedin Fashion show, said the city should carefully analyse its strengths and prepare an action plan to become more attractive and vibrant.
"The magic of our city is in our creative people."
This included visual artists, fashion designers and musicians.
"We need to be creative with our creators."
The city's musicians also deserved a higher profile and she suggested a live music cafe could be established at the university music department's recording studios in Albany St.
Dunedin had many interesting alleyways, both in the central city and South Dunedin, but they were poorly used, usually offering little more than car parks and rubbish bins.
There was scope to develop novel and quirky small shops and cafes in alleyways, at the back of commercial premises, as had happened in Christchurch.
South Dunedin would also benefit from having a "cool little cafe" or two in such places, she said.
Dunedin should avoid the mistake of simply "copycatting" ideas from other places or catering only to those who "screamed the loudest".
Cr Stevenson joked that she had become something of a professional tertiary student, having started her tertiary studies 17 years ago, about 1992.
"The students used to give me a hard time about it: they used to call me `old lady'."
Almost all of her tertiary studies had been undertaken part-time while she continued her work as a city councillor.
She began with studies for a certificate of business at Otago Polytechnic about 1992, later switched to study marketing at Otago University, and then tackled distance-taught sociology through Massey University.
More recently, she turned back to Otago University, taking geography papers and pursuing regional planning.
Her studies had helped in her work with various community groups through the years, and her marketing studies had been helpful in her involvement with the Dunedin fashion show, including its switch to the Dunedin Railway Station, she said.
City council chief executive Jim Harland and Dunedin Mayor Peter Chin had been supportive about her university studies.
Cr Stevenson, who is not a member of the council's consent hearings committee, said she planned to continue her work as a city councillor and would like to become more involved in city planning matters, particularly at a strategic planning level.
"I hope that the council utilises my skills. They should use everybody's skills."
