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Images, UC QuakeStudies

An aerial photograph of a residential area in Avonside. The photograph has been captioned by BeckerFraserPhotos, "The dominant road in this picture is Avondale Road which crosses the River Avon. To the left of this photograph is all zoned red apart from a small piece on the other side of the river. On the right-hand side of Avondale Road, some streets are zoned green although the streets closest to the river are red-zoned".

Images, UC QuakeStudies

An aerial photograph captioned by BeckerFraserPhotos, "The Avon River windings its way through densely pupulated housing. The Gayhurst Road bridge can be seen. The piece of land circumscribed by the loop of the river is all zoned red, as is the land to the left of the photo. On the right, most of the land is zoned green or orange".

Images, UC QuakeStudies

The damaged Christ's College Rowing Club building at Kerrs Reach. The building has visibly slumped to one side. The photographer comments, "This is the sad state of the building after 3 earthquakes has caused the rowing club to sink like a leaky boat".

Images, UC QuakeStudies

An earthquake-damaged bridge, the approach to which has slumped. The photographer comments, "Due to lateral spread and the land slumping the road leading to this bridge has moved down greatly. Just imagine making the street lamps upright and how much that section of road would rise up at the end. When you go over bridges in the east side of Christchurch it is quite a climb up and a big drop down on the other side. The bridges in most cases coped very well, but not so the land leading to them".

Images, UC QuakeStudies

A truck used to drain the septic tanks installed in front of Avonside properties to allow residents to use their toilets after the 4 September 2010 earthquake. The truck's operator has parked it beside the Avon River on Avonside Drive while he takes a break from working.

Images, UC QuakeStudies

A truck used to drain the septic tanks installed in front of Avonside properties to allow residents to use their toilets after the 4 September 2010 earthquake. The truck's operator has parked it beside the Avon River on Avonside Drive while he takes a break from working.

Audio, Radio New Zealand

Urban forager and food writer, Liv Sisson finds all sorts of tasty treats in the Otautahi city centre.With some of the housing and buildings destroyed in the earthquakes, a rewilding has taken place providing a range of edible plants. Liv Sisson gathers produce thriving on berms and near the Avon River.

Images, UC QuakeStudies

A photograph captioned by BeckerFraserPhotos, "A section of Avonside Drive shows how the infrastructure is no longer maintained to the same level, with regard to roading, sewage and water services. Even the grass on the banks of the River Avon is no longer mown as regularly".

Research papers, University of Canterbury Library

Following the Canterbury earthquake sequence of 2010-11, a large and contiguous tract of vacated ‘red zoned’ land lies alongside the lower Ōtākaro / Avon River and is known as the Avon-Ōtākaro Red Zone (AORZ). This is the second report in the Ecological Regeneration Options (ERO) project that addresses future land uses in the AORZ. The purpose of this report is to present results from an assessment of restoration opportunities conducted in April 2017. The objectives of the assessment were to identify potential benefits of ecological restoration activities across both land and water systems in the AORZ and characterise the key options for their implementation. The focus of this report is not to provide specific advice on the methods for achieving specific restoration endpoints per se. This will vary at different sites and scales with a large number of combinations possible. Rather, the emphasis is on providing an overview of the many restoration and regeneration options in their totality across the AORZ. An additional objective is to support their adequate assessment in the identification of optimum land uses and adaptive management practices for the AORZ. Participatory processes may play a useful role in assessment and stakeholder engagement by providing opportunities for social learning and the co-creation of new knowledge. We used a facilitated local knowledge based approach that generated a large quantity of reliable and site specific data in a short period of time. By inviting participation from a wide knowledge-holder network inclusivity is improved in comparison to small-group expert panel approaches. Similar approaches could be applied to other information gathering and assessment needs in the regeneration planning process. Findings from this study represent the most comprehensive set of concepts available to date to address the potential benefits of ecological regeneration in the AORZ. This is a core topic for planning to avoid missed opportunities and opportunity costs. The results identify a wide range of activities that may be applied to generate benefits for Christchurch and beyond, all involving aspects of a potential new ecology in the AORZ. These may be combined at a range of scales to create scenarios, quantify benefits, and explore the potential for synergies between different land use options. A particular challenge is acquiring the information needed within relatively short time frames. Early attention to gathering baseline data, addressing technical knowledge gaps, and developing conceptual frameworks to account for the many spatio-temporal aspects are all key activities that will assist in delivering the best outcomes. Methodologies by which these many facets can be pulled together in quantitative and comparative assessments are the focus of the final report in the ERO series.

Images, UC QuakeStudies

An aerial photograph of the Christchurch central city. The photograph is captioned by BeckerFraserPhotos, "Brannigans building is in the centre of the photograph with Gloucester Street running through the middle of the photograph. The photograph shows the rear of the building".

Images, eqnz.chch.2010

With the land dropping about 1metre to 1.4metres after the earthquakes, a few roads besides the Avon and Heathcote Rivers are flooded with very high tides. Extra stop banks (on right) erected after the quakes have helped, but the road is now well below high water level. New Brighton Road, just short of New Brighton. The Pages Road bridge may b...

Images, UC QuakeStudies

Workers inspect a broken sewerage line in New Brighton. The photographer comments, "After the Christchurch earthquake on 23 December 2011 the sewer pipe got badly damaged at New Brighton and was leaking into the Avon River. I think the guy was worried about the fast flow causing him to fill his boots rather than the depth".

Audio, Radio New Zealand

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.

Images, eqnz.chch.2010

20140927_2219_1D3-24 Planting natives at Harold Henry Park A planting of native bushes and trees in the old children's playground area in Bexley, Organised by the Facebook group Avon River Park and assisted by ex Bexley residents. This is right in the middle of the Bexley red zone with most houses removed or demolished now.

Articles, UC QuakeStudies

A copy of a letter from Seamus O'Cromtha which was sent to the Chief Executive of the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE) on 3 September 2016. The letter was sent on behalf of Empowered Christchurch. In the letter, O'Cromtha calls on the Chief Executive to instruct the Christchurch City Council to stop issuing building consents in areas such as the Avon River floodplain until stop banks have been erected along the river. O'Cromtha comments, "Properties that should be protected by stop banks currently have no protection against flooding".

Videos, UC QuakeStudies

A video of the removal of the earthquake-damaged Medway Street bridge from the banks of the Avon River. The video shows members of the Stronger Christchurch Infrastructure Rebuild Team removing the bridge and preparing it for transport to the Ferrymead Heritage Park. It will remain at the park until a permanent home can be found for it as an earthquake memorial.

Images, eqnz.chch.2010

There are occasional sewerage spills into the Avon River while all the sewer and road repairs are carried out. This rock wall was level and well above high tide level prior to the eathquakes. All the houses that can been seen here (except for those on the distant Port Hills) are in the suburban "red zone" and are still to be demolished.

Images, eqnz.chch.2010

The area beside the lower Avon River in New Brighton of Evans Avenue and Admirals Way has been cleared of houses and boundary fences (there were between 15 and 20 houses on this block) , fully fenced with post and wire and "spray on" grass applied. These were all red zone properties acquired by the crown after the land was deemed too damaged t...

Images, eqnz.chch.2010

A month after the 1st anniversary of the deadly Christchurch earthquake (22/02/11) a road cone lies on New Brighton Road, alongside the Avon River. Part of the earthquake 1st anniversary remembrance was for people to place flowers in road cones (and there are hundreds of thousands in the city). Many had flowers in them, as this one did. Photo ...

Images, UC QuakeStudies

A wooden house in Wainoni has visibly bowed inwards towards its centre. The photographer comments, "During the numerous earthquakes in Christchurch the land which ran alongside the Avon river on Avonside Drive slumped towards the waterway. In a line parallel to the road the road, but around 20m away a ground movement occurred which caused some houses to rise up or sink down".

Images, eqnz.chch.2010

Prior to the earthquakes (mainly the February 22 2011 event) this park bench was at track level. Shortly after the February quake someone in the council did the sums and realised that the area near the Avon River had dropped between a metre and 1.4m (about 4 foot), so a rush job by contractors shifted in many tonnes of rock and gravel to raise a...

Images, eqnz.chch.2010

The permanent closure (to motor vehicles) of the Bexley red zone streets has started. This was once the main south-north route just west of the Avon River in the New Brighton area, till an expressway (ring road) was built about 80m to the west (right) about 12-13 years ago. Then it became just another suburban street, but now all the houses ...

Images, UC QuakeStudies

A photograph of a sign from the Christchurch City Council, ECan and the Canterbury District Health Board warning people over the contamination in the rivers after the September earthquake. The sign reads, "Warning, contaminated water. Due to sewage overflows this water is unsafe for human contact and activity and is a Public Health Risk. Please keep all people and pets out of contact with the water and do not consume any seafood or shellfish collected from this area". In the background, workers from Treetech clean up wood and leaves from felled trees.

Images, UC QuakeStudies

An aerial photograph captioned by BeckerFraserPhotos, "Victoria Square is at the centre of this picture with its green lawns and trees. The bare patch of earth in front s the demolition sites of the Allan McLean building, the Oxford on Avon, and Plunket House. The contract to demolish the Crowne Plaza Hotel has been let, while the fate of the Town Hall is still undecided. The Convention Centre is coming down. On the very bottom, slightly to the right is the Medlab building which is also to be demolished. In the bottom left corner is the PWC building which is also to be demolished".

Research papers, University of Canterbury Library

Researchers have begun to explore the opportunity presented by blue-green infrastructure(a subset of nature-based solutions that provide blue and green space in urban infrastructure)as a response to the pressures of climate change. The 2010/2011 Canterbury earthquake sequence created a unique landscape within which there is opportunity to experiment with and invest in new solutions to climate change adaptation in urban centres. Constructed wetlands are an example of blue-green infrastructure that can potentially support resilience in urban communities. This research explores interactions between communities and constructed wetlands to understand how this may influence perceptions of community resilience. The regeneration of the Ōtākaro Avon River Corridor (OARC) provides a space to investigate these relationships. Seven stakeholders from the community, industry, and academia, each with experience in blue-green infrastructure in the OARC, participated in a series of semi-structured interviews. Each participant was given the opportunity to reflect on their perspectives of community, community resilience, and constructed wetlands and their interconnections. Interview questions aligned with the overarching research objectives to (1) understand perceptions around the role of wetlands in urban communities, (2) develop a definition for community resilience in the context of the Ōtākaro Avon community, and (3) reflect on how wetlands can contribute to (or detract from) community resilience. This study found that constructed wetlands can facilitate learning about the challenges and solutions needed to adapt to climate change. From the perspective of the community representatives, community resilience is linked to social capital. Strong social networks and a relationship with nature were emphasised as core components of a community’s ability to adapt to disruption. Constructed wetlands are therefore recognised as potentially contributing to community resilience by providing spaces for people to engage with each other and nature. Investment in constructed wetlands can support a wider response to climate change impacts. This research was undertaken with the support of the Ōtākaro Living Laboratory Trust, who are invested in the future of the OARC. The outcomes of this study suggest that there is an opportunity to use wetland spaces to establish programmes that explore the perceptions of constructed wetlands from a broader community definition, at each stage of the wetland life cycle, and at wider scales(e.g., at a city scale or beyond).