Workers helping to remediate the space under the Library, creating room for shops, banks and public eating areas.
Workers helping to remediate the space under the Library, creating room for shops, banks and public eating areas.
Workers helping to remediate the space under the Library, creating room for shops, banks and public eating areas.
Workers helping to remediate the space under the Library, creating room for shops, banks and public eating areas.
Workers helping to remediate the space under the Library, creating room for shops, banks and public eating areas.
Workers helping to remediate the space under the Library, creating room for shops, banks and public eating areas.
Workers helping to remediate the space under the Library, creating room for shops, banks and public eating areas.
Workers helping to remediate the space under the Library, creating room for shops, banks and public eating areas.
Workers helping to remediate the space under the Library, creating room for shops, banks and public eating areas.
Damage to two blocks of flats. The chimneys have been removed, and the space filled with plywood sheeting.
Workers helping to remediate the space under the Library, creating room for shops, banks and public eating areas.
Workers helping to remediate the space under the Library, creating room for shops, banks and public eating areas.
Damage to two blocks of flats. The chimneys have been removed, and the space filled with plywood sheeting.
Workers helping to remediate the space under the Library, creating room for shops, banks and public eating areas.
Workers helping to remediate the space under the Library, creating room for shops, banks and public eating areas.
Workers helping to remediate the space under the Library, creating room for shops, banks and public eating areas.
A photograph of Mike Hewson's installation, 'Old Public Toilets 2014'. The artwork depicts a distorted image of the surrounding buildings. The installation is part of a series titled 'Homage to the Lost Spaces'.
A photograph of Mike Hewson's installation, 'Old Public Toilets 2014'. The artwork depicts a distorted image of the surrounding buildings. The installation is part of a series titled 'Homage to the Lost Spaces'.
Some of the pallets making up the Gap Filler Pallet Pavilion have been angled to make spaces for planters.
Looking towards the corner of Armagh and Montreal Street at the vacant space where the Cranmer Centre once was.
Carole Rickman handing out sweets to staff working in temporary office space in the Central Library after the earthquake.
Carole Rickman handing out sweets to staff working in temporary office space in the Central Library after the earthquake.
Carole Rickman handing out sweets to staff working in temporary office space in the Central Library after the earthquake.
Street art has played a major role in bringing life back to Christchurch post-Earthquakes. A major player has been Watch This Space. They are a charitable trust established almost 10 years ago that organises and maintains public art projects in Christchurch, updates their interactive map helping people explore the city, and runs tours. Dr Reuben Woods is the creative director of Watch this Space.
A photograph of the public launch event for The Wet Issue by Freerange Press. Attendees are watching a water-inspired visual and sonic artwork by Olivia Webb and Noel Meek. The event was held at Space Academy as part of FESTA 2014.
A photograph of the public launch event for The Wet Issue by Freerange Press. Attendees are watching a water-inspired visual and sonic artwork by Olivia Webb and Noel Meek. The event was held at Space Academy as part of FESTA 2014.
In recent work on commons and commoning, scholars have argued that we might delink the practice of commoning from property ownership, while paying attention to modes of governance that enable long-term commons to emerge and be sustained. Yet commoning can also occur as a temporary practice, in between and around other forms of use. In this article we reflect on the transitional commoning practices and projects enabled by the Christchurch post-earthquake organisation Life in Vacant Spaces, which emerged to connect and mediate between landowners of vacant inner city demolition sites and temporary creative or entrepreneurial users. While these commons are often framed as transitional or temporary, we argue they have ongoing reverberations changing how people and local government in Christchurch approach common use. Using the cases of the physical space of the Victoria Street site “The Commons” and the virtual space of the Life in Vacant Spaces website, we show how temporary commoning projects can create and sustain the conditions of possibility required for nurturing commoner subjectivities. Thus despite their impermanence, temporary commoning projects provide a useful counter to more dominant forms of urban development and planning premised on property ownership and “permanent” timeframes, in that just as the physical space of the city being opened to commoning possibilities, so too are the expectations and dispositions of the city’s inhabitants, planners, and developers.
In recent work on commons and commoning, scholars have argued that we might delink the practice of commoning from property ownership, while paying attention to modes of governance that enable long-term commons to emerge and be sustained. Yet commoning can also occur as a temporary practice, in between and around other forms of use. In this article we reflect on the transitional commoning practices and projects enabled by the Christchurch post-earthquake organisation Life in Vacant Spaces, which emerged to connect and mediate between landowners of vacant inner city demolition sites and temporary creative or entrepreneurial users. While these commons are often framed as transitional or temporary, we argue they have ongoing reverberations changing how people and local government in Christchurch approach common use. Using the cases of the physical space of the Victoria Street site “The Commons” and the virtual space of the Life in Vacant Spaces website, we show how temporary commoning projects can create and sustain the conditions of possibility required for nurturing commoner subjectivities. Thus despite their impermanence, temporary commoning projects provide a useful counter to more dominant forms of urban development and planning premised on property ownership and “permanent” timeframes, in that just as the physical space of the city being opened to commoning possibilities, so too are the expectations and dispositions of the city’s inhabitants, planners, and developers.
A photograph of a performer using a large hoola hoop during a performance in the 'Sound Cone' space at LUXCITY.
A photograph of a performer using a large hoola hoop during a performance in the 'Sound Cone' space at LUXCITY.