Satff visit the Dovedale Village to see the new temporary classrooms.
Satff visit the Dovedale Village to see the new temporary classrooms.
Satff visit the Dovedale Village to see the new temporary classrooms.
Workers fixing doors to the temporary classrooms on the Ilam Oval.
Workers helping to construct the temporary classrooms on the Ilam Oval.
Temporary repairs to the damaged gable ends of a brick building.
Workers helping to construct the temporary classrooms on the Ilam Oval.
Workers adding the floor to a temporary classroom on the Oval.
A worker helps construct a temporary classroom at the College of Education.
A worker helps construct a temporary classroom at the College of Education.
Workers photographed on the Ilam Oval, helping to build the temporary classrooms.
Workers constructing a deck between the temporary classrooms on the Ilam Oval.
A worker helps construct a temporary classroom at the College of Education.
Workers constructing a deck between the temporary classrooms on the Ilam Oval.
A worker helps construct a temporary classroom at the College of Education.
A worker helps construct a temporary classroom at the College of Education.
A photograph of seating at the temporary bus exchange on Lichfield Street.
A photograph of a shipping container being used as a temporary dairy.
International Student Support in their new temporary office upstairs in the UCSA.
International Student Support in their new temporary office upstairs in the UCSA.
A photograph of a shipping container being used as a temporary dairy.
A photograph of a shipping container being used as a temporary dairy.
Workers constructing a deck between the temporary classrooms on the Ilam Oval.
The study contributes to a better understanding of utilisation and interaction patterns in post-disaster temporary urban open spaces. A series of devastating earthquakes caused large scale damage to Christchurch’s central city and many suburbs in 2010 and 2011. Various temporary uses have emerged on vacant post-earthquake sites including community gardens, urban agriculture, art installations, event venues, eateries and cafés, and pocket parks. Drawing on empirical data obtained from a spatial qualities survey and a Public Life Study, the report analyses how people used and interacted with three exemplary transitional community-initiated open spaces (CIOS) in relation to particular physical spatial qualities in central Christchurch over a period of three weeks. The report provides evidence that users of post-disaster transitional community-initiated open spaces show similar utilisation and interaction patterns in relation to specific spatial qualities as observed in other urban environments. The temporary status of CIOS did apparently not influence ‘typical’ utilisation and interaction patterns.
A photograph of the entrance to Gap Filler's temporary outdoor cinema on the corner of Madras and St Asaph Streets. The entranceway is made of lights on a steel frame, and leads to a painted "red carpet".
Creative temporary or transitional use of vacant urban open spaces is seldom foreseen in traditional urban planning and has historically been linked to economic or political disturbances. Christchurch, like most cities, has had a relatively small stock of vacant spaces throughout much of its history. This changed dramatically after an earthquake and several damaging aftershocks hit the city in 2010 and 2011; temporary uses emerged on post-earthquake sites that ran parallel to the “official” rebuild discourse and programmes of action. The paper examines a post-earthquake transitional community-initiated open space (CIOS) in central Christchurch. CIOS have been established by local community groups as bottom-up initiatives relying on financial sponsorship, agreements with local landowners who leave their land for temporary projects until they are ready to redevelop, and volunteers who build and maintain the spaces. The paper discusses bottom-up governance approaches in depth in a single temporary post-earthquake community garden project using the concepts of community resilience and social capital. The study analyses and highlights the evolution and actions of the facilitating community organisation (Greening the Rubble) and the impact of this on the project. It discusses key actors’ motivations and values, perceived benefits and challenges, and their current involvement with the garden. The paper concludes with observations and recommendations about the initiation of such projects and the challenges for those wishing to study ephemeral social recovery phenomena.
A map showing the location of temporary Buskers Festival venues in Hagley Park.
A map showing the temporary Event Hub to be built in Hagley Park.
Tools used during the contruction of temporary classrooms at the College of Education.
A worker constructing the wall of a temporary classroom on the Ilam Oval.