A view of the Cathedral and the plinth where the statue of John Robert Godley once stood. Taken on a day when a walkway was opened up between Re:Start Mall and Cathedral Square to allow temporary public access.
Damage to the Cathedral, and its lawn growing wild. A public walkway through to a small viewing area in the Square was opened up for a few weekends to allow the public to see inside the Red Zone.
Open for business. Photos taken in Diamond Harbour Library on May 24, 2011 following the February 22 earthquake. File reference: CCL-2011-05-24-Diamond Harbour-After-The-Earthquake-IMG_15 From the collection of Christchurch City Libraries
Photograph captioned by BeckerFraserPhotos, "The Richmond Club building with protective coverings on the corner of Stanmore Road and London Street. The Club is still open in another building further along the street".
Damage to a house in Richmond. Part of a concrete patio has slumped, leaving large cracks, and a gap has opened up between the house and the patio. The photographer comments, "The concrete patio is broken into big slabs".
Fallen potplants and jumbled paving bricks outside Stewart Dawsons in Cashel Mall. A public walkway down Colombo Street to a small viewing area in the Square was opened up for a few weekends to allow the public to see inside the Red Zone.
Weeds growing through the paving outside the old Post Office building in Cathedral Square. A public walkway through to a small viewing area in the Square was opened up for a few weekends to allow the public to see inside the Red Zone.
An abandoned residential property at 31 Seabreeze Close in Bexley. The number 31 has been spray-painted onto the entrance of the house. The door appears to be open. Weeds are growing through the cracks in the driveway.
Photograph captioned by BeckerFraserPhotos, "The plan for this building in Lichfield Street (as relayed to Ross by the contractors) is to remove the roof and open as a bar within 3 weeks".
Photograph captioned by BeckerFraserPhotos, "The plan for this building in Lichfield Street (as relayed to Ross by the contractors) is to remove the roof and open as a bar within 3 weeks".
Proclamations from the "Prophet of Canterbury" hanging on the cordon fence near the Cathedral call for the cordons to be torn down. A walkway from Gloucester Street to the Square was opened up for a few days to allow the public a closer look at the Cathedral.
Looking east down Hereford Street from Colombo Street. A public walkway down Colombo Street to a small viewing area in the Square was opened up for a few weekends to allow the public to see inside the Red Zone. The partially demolished Grand Chancellor is visible in the background.
Looking down High Street from Colombo Street. A public walkway down Colombo Street to a small viewing area in the Square was opened up for a few weekends to allow the public to see inside the Red Zone. The partially demolished Grand Chancellor is visible in the background.
Warped bike stands and liquefaction silt on the corner of High, Colombo and Hereford streets. A public walkway down Colombo Street to a small viewing area in the Square was opened up for a few weekends to allow the public to see inside the Red Zone.
A photograph of a safety notice at the entrance to the walkway opened between Cashel Mall and Cathedral Square in order for the public to view Cathedral Square. The photograph is captioned by BeckerFraserPhotos, "The Cashel Mall to Cathedral Square walkway".
An abandoned residential property at 28 Waygreen Avenue in New Brighton. The front of the section is covered with weeds and silt from liquefaction. Three broken chairs lie outside the front of the house. The front door is open. 'HM' has been spray-painted in green onto the front wall.
A photograph of the Cathedral Square walkway running from Gloucester Street to Cathedral Square. The walkway was opened up for a few days to allow the public a closer look at the cathedral. An excavator can be seen in the background.
The increase in urban population has required cities to rethink their strategies for minimising greenhouse gas impacts and adapting to climate change. While urban design and planning policy have been guided by principles such as walkability (to reduce the dependence on cars) and green infrastructure (to enhance the quality of open spaces to support conservation and human values), there have been conflicting views on what spatial strategies will best prepare cities for a challenging future. Researchers supporting compact cities based upon public Transit Oriented Development have claimed that walkability, higher density and mixed-uses make cities more sustainable (Owen, 2009) and that, while green spaces in cities are necessary, they are dull in comparison with shopfronts and street vendors (Speck, 2012, p 250). Other researchers claim that green infrastructure is fundamental to improving urban sustainability and attracting public space users with improved urban comfort, consequently encouraging walkability (Pitman and Ely, 2013). Landscape architects tend to assume that ‘the greener the better’; however, the efficiency of urban greenery in relation to urban comfort and urbanity depends on its density, distribution and the services provided. Green infrastructure can take many forms (from urban forests to street trees) and provide varied services (amended microclimate, aesthetics, ecology and so forth). In this paper, we evaluate the relevance of current policy in Christchurch regarding both best practice in green infrastructure and urban comfort (Tavares, 2015). We focus on the Christchurch Blueprint for rebuilding the central city, and critically examine the post-earthquake paths the city is following regarding its green and grey infrastructures and the resulting urban environment. We discuss the performance and appropriateness of the current Blueprint in post-earthquake Christchurch, particularly as it relates to the challenges that climate change is creating for cities worldwide.
Photograph captioned by BeckerFraserPhotos, "The Heathcote Valley entrance to the Bridal Track to Lyttelton was closed for a year because of the danger of falling rocks. It opened on the morning of December 23. The earthquake at lunchtime then closed it again when more rocks fell".
The Williams Street Bridge in Kaiapoi. This part of the footpath was damaged when the concrete abutment rose during the earthquake, forcing its way through the pavement and into the open. Fencing has been placed around this section of the bridge until work can be done to make it safe to walk on.
A photograph submitted by Raymond Morris to the QuakeStories website. The description reads, "Cathedral of the Blessed Sacrament, Barbadoes Street. The Cathedral was opened in 1905, the architect was Frank Petrie, and was designed in the Italian renaissance style as a basilica. It is not certain yet whether it will be reconstructed after the 2011 earthquakes.".
Photograph captioned by BeckerFraserPhotos, "The Heathcote Valley entrance to the Bridle Track to Lyttelton was closed for a year because of the danger of falling rocks. It opened on the morning of December 23. The earthquake at lunchtime then closed it again when more rocks fell".
A photograph of children standing on the plinth where the statue of John Robert Godley, Canterbury's founder, once stood. Members of the public are viewing the damaged cathedral from a walkway that was opened up between Re:Start Mall and Cathedral Square to allow temporary public access.
A photograph of a demolished building on Peterborough Street and Victoria Street. On the inner wall, a painting shows a woman with blonde hair sitting down. She has a scroll open in front of her, but she is looking away from it.
Damage to the north side of ChristChurch Cathedral. The damaged windows have been boarded up and weeds can be seen growing in the lawn. A walkway from Gloucester Street to the Square was opened up for a few days to allow the public a closer look at the cathedral.
Photograph captioned by BeckerFraserPhotos, "The New York Sandwich Bar in New Regent Street with the door open. The shops in New Regent Street have fared relatively well in the earthquakes. Here, you can see there is still a lot of clean up work to do".
In front of the Williams Street Bridge in Kaiapoi. This part of the footpath was damaged when the concrete abutment rose during the earthquake, forcing its way through the pavement and into the open. Fencing has been placed around this section of the bridge until work can be done to make it safe to walk on.
The remains of lunches are still visible in the window seats of this sushi shop on Colombo Street. A public walkway down Colombo Street to a small viewing area in the Square was opened up for a few weekends to allow the public to see inside the Red Zone. People in the walkway are reflected in the window.
A photograph captioned by BeckerFraserPhotos, "Central Library Peterborough was opened to provide a place for library services in the central city. It is stocked with the books that were on circulation when the earthquake happened, as the majority of the Central Library book stock is still inaccessible in the Gloucester Street building".
A photograph captioned by BeckerFraserPhotos, "A view from Cambridge Terrace across the Avon River to Victoria Square. The demolition of the Plunket House and the Oxford on Avon on Oxford Terrace has opened up this view so that Victoria Square can be seen".