
A photograph of architecture students standing on the outer shell of their large-scale sculpture titled Murmur, which is part of LUXCITY.
A photograph of students setting up the Pavilions & Lighting Devices market for LUXCITY, on the corner of Manchester Street and Gloucester Street.
A photograph of a vacant site on the corner of Gloucester Street and Manchester Street. The site is to be the location of Pavilions & Lighting Devices, an installation which is part of LUXCITY.
A photograph of a vacant site on the corner of Gloucester Street and Manchester Street. The site is to be the location of Pavilions & Lighting Devices, an installation which is part of LUXCITY.
A photograph of students setting up the Pavilions & Lighting Devices market for LUXCITY, on the corner of Manchester Street and Gloucester Street.
A photograph of students setting up the Pavilions & Lighting Devices market for LUXCITY, on the corner of Manchester Street and Gloucester Street.
A photograph of a vacant site on Gloucester Street. The site is to be the location of Illusions, a large-scale installation which is part of LUXCITY.
A photograph of handwritten cardboard signs attached to a fence with cable ties. The signs are at the site of Illusions, part of LUXCITY.
A photograph of part of a sculpture being constructed for the Pavilions & Lighting Devices night market, which is part of LUXCITY.
A photograph of a child inflating one of the paper origami balloons of Halo. Halo is a temporary installation that is part of LUXCITY.
A photograph of a vacant site on the corner of Gloucester Street and Manchester Street. The site is to be the location of Pavilions & Lighting Devices, an installation which is part of LUXCITY.
A photograph of a band set beneath a temporary installation. The installation is part of Pavilions & Lighting Devices at LUXCITY.
A photograph of organisers of LUXCITY on the corner of Manchester Street and Gloucester Street. A site hazards board is leaning against a white van, in front of students in high-visibility vests who are setting up the Pavilions & Lighting Devices market.
A photograph of visitors at Illusions. The installation is located on a vacant site on Gloucester Street as part of LUXCITY.
A photograph of a man inflating one of the paper origami balloons of Halo. Halo is a temporary installation that is part of LUXCITY.
A photograph of the construction of Illusions taking place on an empty site on Gloucester street. The installation is part of LUXCITY.
A photograph of part of the display structure for the Info Gap temporary outdoor display space. The structure is sitting behind the Gap Filler headquarters in Sydenham.
A video montage of Canterbury Tales, a carnivalesque procession through the central city, led by Free Theatre Christchurch. The film depicts the construction and set up, through to the main public events. It also includes interviews with Peter Faulkenberg (Canterbury Tales and Free Theatre Christchurch Artistic Director) and George Parker (Canterbury Tales and Free Theatre Christchurch Producer).
A photograph of a woman using a laptop to register books on the bookcrossing.com website before adding them to the book exchange.
A photograph of musicians at Illusions. The installation is located on a vacant site on Gloucester Street as part of LUXCITY.
A photograph of a vacant site on the corner of Manchester Street and Worcester Street. This is to be the location of the Archrobatics project, which is part of LUXCITY.
A photograph of the installation titled Murmur being set up on the edge of Cathedral Square. The installation is part of LUXCITY.
A photograph of a man inflating one of the paper origami balloons of Halo. Halo is a temporary installation that is part of LUXCITY.
A photograph of a paste-up on a wall on Peterborough Street. The paste-up depicts an excavator picking up demolition material, with a speech bubble reading, "Nom nom".
A photograph of a paste-up on a wall on Peterborough Street. The paste-up depicts an excavator picking up demolition material, with a speech bubble reading, "Nom nom".
A photograph of the construction of Illusions taking place on an empty site on Gloucester street. The installation is part of LUXCITY.
A photograph of a decorated fence. A sign on the fence advertises Gap Filler's first project. Behind the fence, an excavator is demolishing a building on Colombo Street.
A photograph of a vacant site on Gloucester Street. This is to be the location of Illusions, a large-scale installation which is part of LUXCITY.
A photograph of the installation titled Murmur being set up on the edge of Cathedral Square. The installation is part of LUXCITY.
Orientation: Large-scale events such as disasters, wars and pandemics disrupt the economy by diverging resource allocation, which could alter employment growth within the economy during recovery. Research purpose: The literature on the disaster–economic nexus predominantly considers the aggregate performance of the economy, including the stimulus injection. This research assesses the employment transition following a disaster by removing this stimulus injection and evaluating the economy’s performance during recovery. Motivation for the study: The underlying economy’s performance without the stimulus’ benefit remains primarily unanswered. A single disaster event is used to assess the employment transition to guide future stimulus response for disasters. Research approach/design and method: Canterbury, New Zealand, was affected by a series of earthquakes in 2010–2011 and is used as a single case study. Applying the historical construction–economic relationship, a counterfactual level of economic activity is quantified and compared with official results. Using an input–output model to remove the economy-wide impact from the elevated activity reveals the performance of the underlying economy and employment transition during recovery. Main findings: The results indicate a return to a demand-driven level of building activity 10 years after the disaster. Employment transition is characterised by two distinct periods. The first 5 years are stimulus-driven, while the 5 years that follow are demand-driven from the underlying economy. After the initial period of elevated building activity, construction repositioned to its long-term level near 5% of value add. Practical/managerial implications: The level of building activity could be used to confidently assess the performance of regional economies following a destructive disaster. The study results argue for an incentive to redevelop the affected area as quickly as possible to mitigate the negative effect of the destruction and provide a stimulus for the economy. Contribution/value-add: This study contributes to a growing stream of regional disaster economics research that assesses the economic effect using a single case study.