Illustrations of types of inner-city housing.
Graphs comparing residential property prices across Christchurch and New Zealand.
Graphs comparing residential property prices across Christchurch and New Zealand.
An infographic showing the status of state housing.
An infographic giving details of proposed temporary housing.
An aerial photograph captioned by BeckerFraserPhotos, "Temporary housing village, Rawhiti Domain".
A page banner promoting an article about prefab housing.
A map showing the status of housing in Kaiapoi.
There's a warning that a return to pre-earthquake numbers of houses in Christchurch may not be enough to ease the city's housing crisis.
Diverse Density proposes an alternative housing strategy to the idealistic top-down process of housing development. The term ‘Top – down’ refers to a situation in which decisions are made by a few people in authority rather than by the people who are affected by the decisions (Cambridge). Problems/Position/Question: New Zealand’s urban housing is in a period of flux. Pressures of densification have permitted the intervention of medium density housing development schemes but these are not always successful. These typically top-down processes often result in internally focused design schemes that do not adhere to their specific context. The subsequent design outcomes can cause detrimental impacts to the local, urban and architectural conditions. With vast quantities of council regulations, building restrictions and design guidelines clouding over the housing sector, commonly referred to as ‘red tape’, occupant participation in the housing development sector is dwindling. A boundless separation between top-down and traditional housing processes has occurred and our existing neighbourhoods and historic architectural character are taking on the brunt of the problem. The thought-provoking, alternative housings strategies of key research theorists Alejandro Aravena and John Habraken frame positions that challenge contemporary densification methods with an alternative strategy. This position is addressed by endeavoring to answer; How can demands for denser housing achieve dynamic design responses that adhere to changes in occupancy, function and local site conditions? Aim: The aim of this thesis is to challenge New Zealand’s current housing densification methods by proposing an alternative densification strategy. Explicit devotion will be attributed to opposing top-down building developments. Secondly, this thesis aims to test a speculative site-specific housing model. The implementation of a Christchurch housing scenario will situate an investigative study to test the strategy and its ability to stimulate greater diversity, site responsiveness, functional adaptability and occupancy permutation. The post-earthquake housing conditions of Christchurch provide an appropriate scenario to test and implement design-led investigations. Objectives: The primary objectives of this design-led research investigation it to challenge the idealistic top-down method of developing density with a new method to: - Develop contextual architectural cohesion - Encourage residential diversity - Reinvigorate architectural autonomy - Respond to, and recognise, existing site conditions - Develop a housing model that: - Adapts to occupant functionality preferences - Caters to occupancy diversity - Achieves contextual responsiveness The proposition is addressed through a speculative design-led scenario study. A well-established Christchurch urban environment is adopted to implement and critique the envisioned alternative strategy. Development of the designs responsiveness, adaptability, and functionality produce a prototype housing model that actively adheres to its particular context. Implication: The implications of this research would be an alternative densification strategy to perceive the advancement of punctual assessment of building compliance. With accelerated building processes, the research may have implications for addressing New Zealand’s housing crisis whilst simultaneously providing diverse, personable and responsive architectural solutions. A more dynamic, up-to-date and responsive housing development sector would be informed.
The Christchurch City Council says it has reached a compromise with the Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Minister, Gerry Brownlee, and voted unanimously to support a plan to intensify housing in the city.
A proposal to put houses back into Christchurch red zones is being shot down by some worried locals who say it's unfair and potentially unsafe. On Friday the crown-led agency, Regenerate Christchurch, released ten options for one area by the Avon river that 9 thousand people used to call home. Almost every house in the 602 hectare zone was demolished after the earthquakes.
"Prior to the devastating 2010-2011 Canterbury earthquakes, the city of Christchurch was already exhibiting signs of a housing affordability crisis. The causes and symptoms were similar to those being experienced in Auckland, but the substantial damage to the housing stock caused by the earthquakes added new dimensions and impetus to the problem. Large swathes of the most affordable housing stock in the east of the city were effectively destroyed by the earthquakes. In itself this would have pushed the mean house price upwards, but compounding problems exacerbated the situation. These include the price effects of reduced supply of both rented and owned housing and increased demand from both displaced residents and an influx of rebuild workers. The need for additional temporary housing while repairs were undertaken and the associated insurance pay-outs bidding up rents with improved rental returns leading to increased interest in property investment. Land supply constraints and consenting issues inhibiting the build of new housing and political infighting and uncertainty regarding the future of parts of the city leading to a flight of development activity to peripheral locations and adjoining local authorities. Concerns that the erosion of the city council rating base combined with inadequacy of insurance cover for infrastructure will lead to large rates increases, increased development costs and reduced amenities and services in future years. These and other issuers will be elaborated on in this paper with a view to exploring the way forward for affordable housing Christchurch City."
From a house truck labelled 'Dunrentin' the occupant claims that since the Feb 2012 earthquake this is the only accommodation that his family can afford. Since that earthquake, the reultant damage to housing had caused housing rentals to soar, beyond the reach of many of theose displaced. Quantity: 1 digital cartoon(s).
Government initiative providing temporary accommodation service to people displaced by the Christchurch earthquake. Contains information about the service, and registration forms for property owners and applicants.
A graphic showing measures to be taken to increase housing in Christchurch.
A graphic showing UK housing developments that could inform the Christchurch rebuild.
The 2010–2011 Canterbury earthquakes and their aftermath have been described by the Human Rights Commission as one of New Zealand's greatest contemporary human rights challenges. This article documents the shortcomings in the realisation of the right to housing in post-quake Canterbury for homeowners, tenants and the homeless. The article then considers what these shortcomings tell us about New Zealand's overall human rights framework, suggesting that the ongoing and seemingly intractable nature of these issues and the apparent inability to resolve them indicate an underlying fragility implicit in New Zealand's framework for dealing with the consequences of a large-scale natural disaster. The article concludes that there is a need for a comprehensive human rights-based approach to disaster preparedness, response and recovery in New Zealand.
The Christchurch City councillor in charge of council housing says he accepts trenchant criticism from the Earthquake Recovery Minister that the council has been woeful in fixing its quake-damaged housing stock.
A graph showing changes in house prices in Canterbury and Westland.
A map comparing changes in property values in Christchurch and surrounding areas.
A graphic comparing house prices in the east and south-west of Christchurch.
A graphic promoting a feature on house prices on the press.co.nz website.
A graph comparing changes property values across Christchurch suburbs.
A Government report into the depth of the housing shortage in Christchurch shows the number of rental properties has almost halved since the earthquakes.
Shows an enormous Earthquake Recovery Minister Gerry Brownlee portrayed as a house for rent being viewed by a couple. Context: Brownlee announced plans to alleviate Christchurch's housing shortage by increasing rental stocks (Stuff 24 April 2012) Quantity: 1 digital cartoon(s).
It is no secret that there is a problem with the suburb of Aranui. Developed in the 1950s, Aranui and neighbouring Wainoni are an example of the large-scale, state-funded subdivisions of the time, yet, unlike similar developments in the North Island, they have received little to no attention from researchers. In light of the recent Canterbury earthquakes, this dissertation aims to trace the evolution of these suburbs until the 1970s and act as the first stage of a more comprehensive review of state housing and the Aranui/Wainoni area. By critically reviewing existing literature on state housing and housing policy in New Zealand, as well as undertaking archival research, this dissertation addresses the international influences on state housing in New Zealand generally and the development of the Aranui and Wainoni area more specifically in order to provide a foundation for answering the question, "What went so wrong?"
A graph comparing rent increases in Christchurch and other regions.
An infographic showing changes in median rents from September 2011 to September 2012.
An infographic describing the Department of Building and Housing guidelines for foundations on TC3 land.