A PDF copy of pages 22-23 of the book Christchurch: The Transitional City Pt IV. The pages document the transitional project 'TEDxEQChCh'. Photos: Neil Macbeth
Christchurch City Council website on the infrastructure rebuild of Christchurch following the 2010 and 2011 earthquakes. Includes news; information on SMART building; projects related to rebuilding of facilities, transport, suburban centres and the central city.
An aerial photograph looking south over the Christchurch CBD centred on Colombo Street. The Town Hall and beginnings of Gap Filler's Pallet Pavilion can be seen to the bottom left.
An aerial photograph looking south west over the CBD. Latimer Square can be seen in the centre right of the photograph. To the left, the Transitional Cathedral is being constructed.
An aerial photograph of Hereford Street in the Christchurch CBD with the remains of Te Waiponamu in the centre and the Holiday Inn below.
An aerial photograph of Cambridge Terrace near Manchester Street. In the centre of the photograph is the site of the PGC Building, now a patch of grass.
An aerial photograph looking north-east over the Christchurch CBD. The brightly coloured roofs of the Re:Start mall can be seen in the bottom centre of the photograph.
A video about businesses in the Christchurch central city Red Zone. The Red Zone has now been renamed the Rebuild Zone. The video shows businesses which have remained untouched since the 22 February 2011 earthquake, including the Camelot Hotel and the i-SITE visitor centre in Cathedral Square, Subway on High Street, Jeans West on High Street, Time Zone on Colombo Street, Comics Compulsion on Manchester Street, Mortgage Solutions mortgage brokers on the corner of Hereford and Manchester Streets, Pocha Bar and Restaurant off Lichfield Street, and a fabric store on Lichfield Street.
The demolition site of the Holiday Inn City Centre on Cashel Street. Reinforcement cabling protrudes from the top of the concrete posts. Rubble from the demolition surrounds the site.
An aerial photograph looking north over the Christchurch CBD from Lichfield Street along Colombo Street. The brightly coloured roofs of the Re:Start mall can be seen in the bottom centre of the photograph.
Nearly two years' after Christchurch's February earthquake and almost 6 months after the blueprint for the city centre was revealed, many questions remain about how much it will cost and who will pay for it.
A video of an interview with Julia Morison, a Christchurch-based artist, about her sculptures in a vacant site on the Christchurch central city. The artwork, titled 'Tree Houses for Swamp Dwellers', took over a year to make and will act as a centrepiece for the Scape Public Art festival, which begins on 27 September 2013. The sculpture was designed to provide a playground for children and a shady spot for workers on their lunch breaks. Morison also talks about how the sculpture was designed to be relocated and reconfigured so that it can be moved to a new location when construction begins on the vacant site.
A PDF copy of pages 352-353 of the book Christchurch: The Transitional City Pt IV. The pages document the transitional project 'Breaking Wonderful'. Photos by Jesse Roscoe
The Canterbury region of New Zealand experienced four earthquakes greater than MW 6.0 between September 2010 and December 2011. This study employs system dynamics as well as hazard, recovery and organisational literature and brings together data collected via surveys, case studies and interviews with organisations affected by the earthquakes. This is to show how systemic interactions and interdependencies within and between industry and geographic sectors affect their recovery post-disaster. The industry sectors in the study are: construction for its role in the rebuild, information and communication technology which is a regional high-growth industry, trucking for logistics, critical infrastructure, fast moving consumer goods (e.g. supermarkets) and hospitality to track recovery through non-discretionary and discretionary spend respectively. Also in the study are three urban centres including the region’s largest Central Business District, which has been inaccessible since the earthquake of 22 February 2011 to the time of writing in February 2013. This work also highlights how earthquake effects propagated between sectors and how sectors collaborated to mitigate difficulties such as product demand instability. Other interacting factors are identified that influence the recovery trajectories of the different industry sectors. These are resource availability, insurance payments, aid from central government, and timely and quality recovery information. This work demonstrates that in recovering from disaster it is crucial for organisations to identify what interacting factors could affect their operations. Also of importance are efforts to reduce the organisation’s vulnerability and increase their resilience to future crises and in day-to-day operations. Lastly, the multi-disciplinary approach to understanding the recovery and resilience of organisations and industry sectors after disaster, leads to a better understanding of effects as well as more effective recovery policy.
A large number of businesses that used to be in the centre of Christchurch relocated after the earthquakes. Are they satisfied with their new locations and do they intend to return to the central city? We questioned 209 relocated businesses about their relocation history, present circumstances and future intentions. Many businesses were content with their new premises, despite having encountered a range of problems; those businesses that were questioned later in our survey period were more content. The average business in our sample rated the chances of moving back to the central city as around 50 %, but this varies with the type of business. Building height did not emerge as a major issue, but rents may be. The mix of types of business is likely to be different in the new city centre.
Seismic retrofitting of unreinforced masonry buildings using posttensioning has been the topic of many recent experimental research projects. However, the performance of such retrofit designs in actual design level earthquakes has previously been poorly documented. In 1984 two stone masonry buildings within The Arts Centre of Christchurch received posttensioned seismic retrofits, which were subsequently subjected to design level seismic loads during the 2010/2011 Canterbury earthquake sequence. These 26 year old retrofits were part of a global scheme to strengthen and secure the historic building complex and were subject to considerable budgetary constraints. Given the limited resources available at the time of construction and the current degraded state of the steel posttension tendons, the posttensioned retrofits performed well in preventing major damage to the overall structure of the two buildings in the Canterbury earthquakes. When compared to other similar unretrofitted structures within The Arts Centre, it is demonstrated that the posttensioning significantly improved the in-plane and out-of-plane wall strength and the ability to limit residual wall displacements. The history of The Arts Centre buildings and the details of the Canterbury earthquakes is discussed, followed by examination of the performance of the posttension retrofits and the suitability of this technique for future retrofitting of other historic unreinforced masonry buildings. http://www.aees.org.au/downloads/conference-papers/2013-2/
A PDF copy of pages 228-229 of the book Christchurch: The Transitional City Pt IV. The pages document the transitional project 'Lions Transitional Facility'. Photos: Irene Boles
A photograph of the large-scale puppets titled The Scholar (left) The Wife of Bath (centre) and The Merchant (back, right) in Cathedral Square. The puppets were part of the Canterbury Tales procession. Canterbury Tales was created by Free Theatre Christchurch, and was the main event of FESTA 2013.
A photograph of large-scale puppets: one of The Friars (left, back), The Merchant (centre) and The Knight (front). The puppets are outside the Free Theatre warehouse space on Lismore Street. The puppets were part of the Canterbury Tales procession, which was the main event of FESTA 2013.
A photograph of people in Cathedral Square during the Meet the Puppets event, as part of FESTA 2013. The puppets (including Wife of Bath, centre, and The Knight, right) were created by Free Theatre Christchurch, for Canterbury Tales, which was the main event of FESTA 2013.
An intermittent collaboration between the Centre of Contemporary Art and a series of local artists looking to present new work which explores the realities of the post-earthquake cultural landscape in Christchurch. The artworks by Ed Lust, Sam Eng, and Robyn Wester each utilise the empty window space of the window and carport of the damaged COCA building which is awaiting repair.
A photograph of people gathered in Cathedral Square during the Meet the Puppets event, as part of FESTA 2013. The puppets (including The Scholar, left, 'Wife of Bath, centre, and The Knight, right) were created by Free Theatre Christchurch, for Canterbury Tales, which was the main event of FESTA 2013.
A photograph of people gathered in Cathedral Square during the Meet the Puppets event, as part of FESTA 2013. The puppets (including The Scholar, left, 'Wife of Bath, centre, and The Knight, right) were created by Free Theatre Christchurch, for Canterbury Tales, which was the main event of FESTA 2013.
An aerial photograph of Cambridge Terrace with the cleared PGC site in the upper centre. The photograph was captioned by BeckerFraserPhotos, "The area inside the cordon that is north of the river which encompasses the PGC site and Kilmore Street. The expectation is that this area will soon be outside the cordon".
Exactly 75 years ago today, Superman made his debut in "Action Comics" No. 1. Campaigners for the restoration of the Christchurch Cathedral are "thrilled" that rebuilding the earthquake-damaged church remains on the table. The Press reports Christchurch's hotel shortage is so critical that at times visitor centre staff have had to put tourists up in their own homes.
A transcript of Karin de Kaijzer and Julia Burnett's interview for the Church in the Quakes Project. The interview was conducted by Melissa Parsons on 17 October 2012. Burnett works alongside De Kaijzer, who is the Women's Pastor at the South City C3 Church.
According to the sign it can take about 30 minutes to walk from the entry point (near the small statue) to the centre and out again. What you can do with a few thousand old bricks and gravel. See next photo for more detail.
According to the sign it can take about 30 minutes to walk from the entry point (here) to the centre and out again. That is without stepping across the gaps between bricks. What you can do with a few thousand old bricks and gravel!
This is the Summit Road below Mt Cavendish and shows a few remaining high buildings in the central city beyond (in setting sun). Just above centre is the doomed AMI Stadium (1) aka Lancaster Park, home to Canterbury cricket and rugby till the erathquakes.
The temporary (10 years?) and cheap ($4-6 million) Anglican Cathedral being built a few hundred meters away from the old stone structure that was the centre of Christchurch. Both buildings (the original and this) have caused a lot of controversy, many wanting the old stone one to be repaired (the church want to demolish it), and this as a waste ...