A photograph of Robin Duff's house at 386 Oxford Terrace. Plastic sheeting has been placed over sections of the house to keep it water tight.
A photograph of the house at 432 Oxford Terrace. Much of the garden has overgrown. A yellow sticker on the front door indicates that access is restricted.
A photograph of the house at 432 Oxford Terrace. Much of the garden has overgrown. A yellow sticker on the front door indicates that access is restricted.
A photograph of an excavator demolishing Siobhan Murphy's house at 436 Oxford Terrace. Wire fencing has been placed around the house as a cordon.
A photograph of the front porch of Donna Allfrey's house at 406 Oxford Terrace. A sign on the porch reads, "Avon Loop Harvest Market".
A photograph of an excavator demolishing Doug Sexton's garage at 378 Oxford Street. Wire fencing has been placed around the house as a cordon.
A photograph of the former site of Siobhan Murphy's house at 436 Oxford Terrace. Murphy's house was demolished after her land was zoned Red. Grass has grown over the site.
A photograph of the former site of Donna Allfrey's house at 406 Oxford Terrace. Allfrey's house was demolished after her land was zoned Red.
A photograph of the kitchen in Donna Allfrey's house at 406 Oxford Terrace. Graffiti has been scrawled on the walls to the left and right.
A photograph of the house at 9 Rees Street. The end of a Weet-Bix cereal box has been placed over the mail slot in the front door.
A photograph of the overgrown garden of Siobhan Murphy's house at 436 Oxford Terrace. The photographer comments, "That empty clothesline reflects the emptiness of the house and surrounding properties".
This research investigates creativity in a post-disaster setting. The data explore creativity at the intersection of the affected community of Christchurch, New Zealand and the social processes that followed the earthquakes of 2010 - 2012. Personal and contextual influences on creative ideas implemented for community or commercial benefit are also examined. Viewed as creative, unique approaches to post-disaster problem solving were celebrated locally, nationally and internationally (Bergman, 2014; Wesener, 2015; Cloke & Conradson, 2018). Much has been written about creativity, particularly creativity in organisations and in business. However, little is known with regards to who creates after a disaster, why individuals choose to do so and what impact the post-disaster context has on their creative activity. This exploratory study draws on the literature from the fields of creativity, disasters, psychology, sociology and entrepreneurship to interpret first-hand accounts of people who acted on creative ideas in a physically and socially altered environment. A mixed method - albeit predominantly qualitative - approach to data gathering was adopted that included interviews (n=45) with participants who had been the primary drivers of creative ideas implemented in Christchurch after September 2010 – the first major (7.1 magnitude) earthquake in a prolonged sequence of thousands of aftershocks. Key findings include that a specific type of creativity results from the ‘collision’ between individuals and social processes activated by a disaster situation. This type of creativity could be best categorised as ‘little c’ or socially adaptive and emerges through a prosocial filter. There is wide consensus amongst creativity researchers - principally social psychologists - that for output to be considered creative it must be both novel and useful (Runco & Jaegar, 2012). There is greater tolerance for the novelty component after a disaster as novelty itself has greater utility, either as a distraction or because alternatives are few. Existing creativity models show context as input – an additional component of the creative process – but after a disaster the event itself becomes the catalyst for social processes that result in the creativity seen. Most participants demonstrated characteristics commonly associated with creativity and could be categorised as either a ‘free thinker’ and/or an ‘opportunist’. Some appear preadapted to create and thrive in unstable circumstances. Findings from participants’ completion of a Ten Item Personality Inventory (TIPI) showed an apparent reduced need for extraversion in relation to implementing creative ventures in society. This factor, along with higher levels of agreeableness may indicate a potentially detrimental effect on the success of creative ideas established after a disaster, despite earnest intentions. Three new models are presented to illustrate the key findings of this study. The models imply that disasters enhance both the perceived value of creativity and the desire to act creatively for prosocial ends. The models also indicate that these disaster influenced changes are likely to be temporary.
A photograph of an exhibition sign next to two time capsules on display in the Canterbury Quakes exhibition at the Canterbury Museum. The time capsules were discovered in the plinth of the statue of John Robert Godley in Cathedral Square after the 22 February 2011 earthquake.
Photograph captioned by Fairfax, "The 800-strong student army helps residents of Rebecca Avenue, Burwood clean up several feet of liquefaction after Tuesday's massive earthquake. Pictures to accompany story by reporter Blair Ensor. Christchurch Earthquake aftermath - day four."
Photograph captioned by Fairfax, "The 800-strong student army helps residents of Rebecca Avenue, Burwood clean up several feet of liquefaction after Tuesday's massive earthquake. Pictures to accompany story by reporter Blair Ensor. Christchurch Earthquake aftermath - day four."
A photograph of the former site of the house at 466 Oxford Terrace. The house was demolished after the land was zoned Red. Wire fencing has been placed in front of the site.
A photograph of rhubarb growing in the garden of the Locke family's property at 392 Oxford Terrace. The photographer comments, "The rhubarb was planted by Elsie Locke and was famous in the Avon Loop. It survived despite being untended and I took some and planted it in my own garden".
A photograph of the site of a demolished building on Tuam Street which is being used as a car park. The Inland Revenue Department Building, the Grand Chancellor and the Holiday Inn can all be seen in the distance.
The topic of ‘resilience’ thinking seems of late to have superseded that of ‘sustainability’ thinking. Sustainability means simply that which sustains and lasts but has taken on many different subtle nuances over the last 20 years since it came into common parlance with the Bruntland Report of 1987, which sought to clarify the definition. However, resilience ‘speak’ has become hot property now, especially highlighted since Christchurch experienced a natural disaster in the form of several large earthquakes from Sep 2010 until most recently in December 2011. Many people comment on how resilient people have been, how resilient the city has been, so it seems timely to investigate what resilience actually means and importantly, resilient to what and of what? (Lorenz, 2010). This essay will look at the concept of systems and resilience, definitions and theories will be explored generally and then these concepts will be more closely defined within the context of a particular system, that of Somerfield School located in the western suburbs of Christchurch.
A video of a presentation by André Lovatt, Chair of Regenerate Christchurch, during a panel at the 2016 Seismics in the City Conference. The panel has three themes:A City on the Move: Collaboration and Regeneration: "'Christchurch is now moving rapidly from the recovery phase into a regeneration stage with Central and Local Government working with the wider community, including the business community to ensure we get optimal outcomes for greater Christchurch' (CECC)."Looking Back: Remembering and Learning: "What are the milestones? What are the millstones? What have we learnt? What have we applied?"Looking Forward: Visioning and Building: "What do we aspire to? What are the roadblocks? What is the way forward?"
A video of a presentation by Hugh Cowan, General Manager of Reinsurance, Research and Education at EQC, during a panel at the 2016 Seismics in the City Conference. The panel has three themes:A City on the Move: Collaboration and Regeneration: "'Christchurch is now moving rapidly from the recovery phase into a regeneration stage with Central and Local Government working with the wider community, including the business community to ensure we get optimal outcomes for greater Christchurch' (CECC)."Looking Back: Remembering and Learning: "What are the milestones? What are the millstones? What have we learnt? What have we applied?"Looking Forward: Visioning and Building: "What do we aspire to? What are the roadblocks? What is the way forward?"
A video of a presentation by Peter Townsend, CEO of the Canterbury Employers' Chamber of Commerce, during a panel at the 2016 Seismics in the City Conference. The panel has three themes:A City on the Move: Collaboration and Regeneration: "'Christchurch is now moving rapidly from the recovery phase into a regeneration stage with Central and Local Government working with the wider community, including the business community to ensure we get optimal outcomes for greater Christchurch' (CECC)."Looking Back: Remembering and Learning: "What are the milestones? What are the millstones? What have we learnt? What have we applied?"Looking Forward: Visioning and Building: "What do we aspire to? What are the roadblocks? What is the way forward?"
A video of a presentation by Hon. Lianne Dalziel, Mayor of Christchurch, during a panel at the 2016 Seismics in the City Conference. The panel has three themes:A City on the Move: Collaboration and Regeneration: "'Christchurch is now moving rapidly from the recovery phase into a regeneration stage with Central and Local Government working with the wider community, including the business community to ensure we get optimal outcomes for greater Christchurch' (CECC)."Looking Back: Remembering and Learning: "What are the milestones? What are the millstones? What have we learnt? What have we applied?"Looking Forward: Visioning and Building: "What do we aspire to? What are the roadblocks? What is the way forward?"
A video of a presentation by Hon. Nicky Wagner, Associate Minister for Canterbury Earthquake Recovery, during a panel at the 2016 Seismics in the City Conference. The panel has three themes:A City on the Move: Collaboration and Regeneration: "'Christchurch is now moving rapidly from the recovery phase into a regeneration stage with Central and Local Government working with the wider community, including the business community to ensure we get optimal outcomes for greater Christchurch' (CECC)."Looking Back: Remembering and Learning: "What are the milestones? What are the millstones? What have we learnt? What have we applied?"Looking Forward: Visioning and Building: "What do we aspire to? What are the roadblocks? What is the way forward?"
Photograph captioned by Fairfax, "Tom McBrearty (second from left) along with the dean of the Christ Church Cathedral Reverend Peter Beck (left), and residents Leanne Curtis and Evan Smith right) have formed a grass roots community group for earthquake-hit suburbs".
Photograph captioned by Fairfax, "Children in Diamond Harbour and Purau who decided to try and cheer up all the sick and elderly in the community after the quake by taking them bunches of daffodils. Liam Schmidlin-Wilson who came up with the idea".
Photograph captioned by Fairfax, "Tom McBrearty (second from left) along with the dean of the Christ Church Cathedral Reverend Peter Beck (left), and residents Leanne Curtis and Evan Smith right) have formed a grass roots community group for earthquake-hit suburbs".
Photograph captioned by Fairfax, "Tom McBrearty (second from left) along with the dean of the Christ Church Cathedral Reverend Peter Beck (left), and residents Leanne Curtis and Evan Smith right) have formed a grass roots community group for earthquake-hit suburbs".
Photograph captioned by Fairfax, "Tom McBrearty (second from left) along with the dean of the Christ Church Cathedral Reverend Peter Beck (left), and residents Leanne Curtis and Evan Smith right) have formed a grass roots community group for earthquake-hit suburbs".
Falling gable of the Anglican Community of the Sacred Name building left a gaping hole in the roof in the magnitude 7.1 earthquake that hit Christchurch on 4 September 2010. The chimney would have toppled as well had it not been braced.