A photograph of members of the Wellington Emergency Management Office Emergency Response Team outside a building in the Christchurch city centre. One of the men is holding bolt cutters.
A copy of the award application which SCIRT, the Christchurch City Council, Environment Canterbury and Beca submitted for the New Zealand Planning Institute Best Practice Award in February 2013.
A photograph of a map of Christchurch. The city has been divided into sections. Green, red, and yellow dots have been used to indicate the status of inspected buildings.
Within four weeks of the September 4 2010 Canterbury Earthquake a new, loosely-knit community group appeared in Christchurch under the banner of “Greening the Rubble.” The general aim of those who attended the first few meetings was to do something to help plug the holes that had already appeared or were likely to appear over the coming weeks in the city fabric with some temporary landscaping and planting projects. This article charts the first eighteen months of Greening the Rubble and places the initiative in a broader context to argue that although seismic events in Christchurch acted as a “call to palms,” so to speak, the city was already in need of some remedial greening. It concludes with a reflection on lessons learned to date by GTR and commentary on the likely issues ahead for this new mini-social-environmental movement in the context of a quake-affected and still quake-prone major New Zealand city. One of the key lessons for GTR and all of those involved in Christchurch recovery activities to date is that the city is still very much in the middle of the event and is to some extent a laboratory for seismic and agency management studies alike.
Photograph captioned by BeckerFraserPhotos, "Cathedral Square - front of the Christchurch Cathedral".
A poster created by Empowered Christchurch to advertise their submission to the CERA Draft Transition Recovery Plan on social media.The poster reads, "Submission, CERA Draft Transition Recovery Plan. Prime Minister Assurance. Let us remember the much-quoted assurance from the Prime Minister in 2011: 'On behalf of the Government, let me be clear that no one will be left to walk this journey alone. New Zealand will walk this journey with you. We will be there every step of the way. Christchurch; this is not your test; this is New Zealand's test. I promise we will meet this test.' We call on the authorities to live up to this promise. We need a city that is driven by the people that live in it, and enabled by a bureaucracy that accepts and mitigates risks, rather than transferring them to the most vulnerable of its residents".
A PDF copy of minutes from a meeting between Anglican Advocacy (formerly the Anglican Life Social Justice Unit), the City Mission, Te Whare Roimata, Presbyterian Support, and landowners from Christchurch East. The meeting took place on 7 August 2012.
Introduction In 2011 Christchurch city centre was partially destroyed by an earthquake. Government-led anchor projects were tasked with bringing Christchurch back from rubble. After a period of 7 years out of 16 proposed projects, 10 are already over time for their initial completion dates and the ones completed, are under scrutiny for failing to deliver their expected outcome.
An entry from Jennifer Middendorf's blog for 23 December 2012 entitled, "Pallets and pop-up tearooms".
Photograph captioned by BeckerFraserPhotos, "Gloucester Street - salvaged from demolition of the Christchurch Star building".
A copy of a letter from Hugo Kristinsson which was sent to Prince William, the Duke of Cambridge, on 2 March 2014 . The letter was sent on behalf of Empowered Christchurch, as a response to the letter read by the Prince at the official Civic Memorial Service on the 22 February 2014. Kristinsson thanks the Prince for his letter and updates him on the progress of the rebuild. He expresses his respect for King George VI and Queen Elizabeth for their compassion in the early 1940s to the victims of bombing raids during the war and acknowledge's Prince William and Prince Harry's philanthropy through The Royal Foundation of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and Prince Harry and The Princes' Charities Forum. Lastly he implores the Prince and the Duchess of Cambridge to visit residents from the 'low-lying seaside side of the city' who 'feel that their plight has been trivialised by the authorities in favour of prestigious big-budget projects'.
A poster created by Empowered Christchurch to advertise their submission to the CERA Draft Transition Recovery Plan on social media.The poster reads, "Submission, CERA Draft Transition Recovery Plan. Risk Acceptance. It is the role of insurance companies, the EQC included, to accept the risks covered under their terms of reference/policies and compensate policyholders when such risks eventuate. However, many policyholders in Christchurch have not been compensated for the damage to their homes and their lives. These responsibilities need to be faced by the entities responsible. An equitable solution needs to be found for properties with hazards such as flooding that are a direct result of the earthquakes. In tandem with this, every effort must be made to protect residents from the risks posed by climate change. We need a city that is driven by the people that live in it, and enabled by a bureaucracy that accepts and mitigates risks, rather than transferring them to the most vulnerable residents".
A photograph of a member of the Wellington Emergency Management Office Emergency Response Team using a sledgehammer to break open the window of a building in the Christchurch central city.
An aerial photograph the Christchurch Central City. The photograph has been captioned by BeckerFraserPhotos, "The Hotel Grand Chancellor closely surrounded by the Westpac Building and the Holiday Inn".
A photograph of the earthquake damage to a house in the Christchurch central city. The bricks walls of the building have collapsed and the bricks have spilt into the garden.
View of the central library from Gloucester Street. USAR codes can be seen in the bottom right corner.
The entrance to the central Library on Gloucester Street has been boarded up and USAR codes have been spray-painted on the concrete pillar. A 'Library open' sign remains outside.
Photograph captioned by BeckerFraserPhotos, "The Edmonds Telephone Booth on Oxford Terrace, near Madras Street".
A photograph of a side table and stool outside a temporary café in the Christchurch central city. The café was set up in a house after the 22 February 2011 earthquake.
A photograph of a side table and stool outside a temporary café in the Christchurch central city. The café was set up in a house after the 22 February 2011 earthquake.
Signs posted the fence cordoning off High Street. They read "Welcome to Limboland, just waiting!", "Christchurch Economic Recovery Abandoned", and "We're raising $50,000 for our City C96 FM".
Photograph captioned by BeckerFraserPhotos, "175-179 Tuam Street".
A photograph of the Salvation Army building on Durham Street.
A photograph captioned by BeckerFraserPhotos, "Detail of the roof of ChristChurch Cathedral. Taken from up high in the BNZ Building".
A poster created by Empowered Christchurch to advertise their submission to the CERA Draft Transition Recovery Plan on social media.The poster reads, "Submission. CERA Draft Transition Recovery Plan. 5. In your opinion, is there a better way to report on these recovery issues? Looking at the recovery from the perspective of the eastern suburbs, it is impossible to avoid thinking of phenomenon referred to as 'Disaster Capitalism' and considering the aspects that have already become evident in the recovery process. Loss of equity and quality of life, risk transfer and other substantial shifts are taking place. We suggest that a regular mini-census should be conducted through the remainder of the recovery at intervals of 6-12 months to monitor deprivation, insurance cover (or lack of it), mortgage, home equity, and rental status. If unexpected changes identified, investigation and correction measures should be implemented. We need a city that is driven by the people that live in it, and enabled by a bureaucracy that accepts and mitigates risks, rather than transferring them to the most vulnerable residents ."
A poster created by Empowered Christchurch to advertise their submission to the CERA Draft Transition Recovery Plan on social media.The poster reads, "Submission, CERA Draft Transition Recovery Plan. Seismic Risk. One thing we can learn from the past is that seismic risk in Canterbury has been underestimated before the earthquakes struck. This is confirmed in a report for EQC in 1991 (paper 2005). It is also the conclusion of the Royal Commission in the CTV report. A number of recommendations have been made but not followed. For example, neither the AS/NZS 1170.5 standard nor the New Zealand Geotechnical Society guidelines have been updated. Yet another recovery instrument is the Earthquake Prone Building Act, which is still to be passed by Parliament. As the emergency response part of the recovery is now behind us, we need to ensure sustainability for what lies ahead. We need a city that is driven by the people that live in it, and enabled by a bureaucracy that accepts and mitigates risks, rather than transferring them to the most vulnerable residents."
Photograph captioned by BeckerFraserPhotos, "South aspect of ChristChurch Cathedral, Cathedral Square".
A photograph of a public talk about temporary street furniture. The furniture was designed and fabricated by F3 Design for the Christchurch City Council. The event was part of FESTA 2012.
A photograph of a public talk about temporary street furniture. The furniture was designed and fabricated by F3 Design for the Christchurch City Council. The event was part of FESTA 2012.
A photograph of a public talk about temporary street furniture. The furniture was designed and fabricated by F3 Design for the Christchurch City Council. The event was part of FESTA 2012.