An aerial photograph looking south west over the Christchurch CBD with the Avon River visible to the left and Hagley Park in the distance.
An aerial photograph looking over Porritt Park.
A photograph of the playground in Walnut Tree Park on Bangor Street.
A photograph of Walnut Tree Park on Bangor Street. On the right is the playground.
A photograph of the swings in a playground in Walnut Tree Park on Bangor Street.
An aerial photograph of Kerrs Reach in Avondale.
Lincoln University was commissioned by the Avon-Otakaro Network (AvON) to estimate the value of the benefits of a ‘recreation reserve’ or ‘river park’ in the Avon River Residential Red Zone (ARRRZ). This research has demonstrated significant public desire and support for the development of a recreation reserve in the Avon River Residential Red Zone. Support is strongest for a unique natural environment with native fauna and flora, healthy wetlands and rivers, and recreational opportunities that align with this vision, such as walking, cycling and water-based sporting and leisure activities. The research also showed support for a reserve that promotes and enables community interaction and wellbeing, and is evident in respondents’ desires for community gardens, regular festivals and markets, and the physical linking of the CBD with eastern suburbs through a green corridor. There is less support for children’s playgrounds, sports fields or open grassed areas, all of which could be considered as more typical of an urban park development. Benefits (willing to pay) to Christchurch residents (excluding tourists) of a recreation reserve could be as high as $35 million each year. Savings to public health costs could be as high as $50.3 million each year. The incorporation or restoration of various ecosystems services, including water quality improvements, flood mitigation and storm water management could yield a further $8.8 million ($19, 600) per hectare/year at 450 ha). Combined annual benefits of a recreational reserve in the ARRRZ are approximately $94.1 million per annum but this figure does not include potentially significant benefits from, for example, tourism, property equity gains in areas adjacent to the reserve, or the effects of economic rejuvenation in the East. Although we were not able to provide costing estimates for park attributes, this study does make available the value of benefits, which can be used as a guide to the scope of expenditure on development of each park attribute.
A couple of Christchurch men are collecting letterboxes from the city's red-zoned suburbs, to create sculptures to tell the stories of the homes which have been demolished since the February 2011 earthquake. One of the men is Evan Smith - who co-chairs a group called the Avon-Otakaro Network. It's working toward creating a riverside park along the Avon, where the houses once stood.
A PDF copy of pages 42-43 of the book Christchurch: The Transitional City Pt IV. The pages document the transitional project 'Oxford Terrace Temporary Streetscape and Interpretation'. Photo: Tim Church. With permission: Christchurch City Council.
An aerial photograph looking south west over Armagh Street, with the Forsyth Barr Building and Victoria Apartments to the left, and Victoria Park to the right.
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.
All this is "red zone" after the earthquakes and has to be demolished. The roof of my "old" house (now owned by the government) can be seen between the third and fourth river-side houses.
A photograph of graffiti on one of the walls of the kitchen in Donna Allfrey's house at 406 Oxford Terrace. Parts of the graffiti read, "Quakes, a national disaster", "Recovery, a national disgrace", "Ring fn EQC, ring fn insurance", "Useless fn council", "Don't let the bastards get you down", "Avon Loop - park or developers fodder?", and "Never trust a Carter". There are also shopping and to-do lists scrawled amongst these messages.
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...
A photograph of graffiti on one of the walls of the kitchen in Donna Allfrey's house at 406 Oxford Terrace. Parts of the graffiti read, "Quakes, a national disaster", "Recovery, a national disgrace", "'It's been a lot of fun' - John Key, yeah right!", "Brownlee sucks, "Ring fn EQC, ring fn insurance", "Useless fn council", "Sideshow Bob is an idiot", "Don't let the bastards get you down", "Avon Loop - park or developers fodder?", and "Never trust a Carter". There are also shopping and to-do lists scrawled amongst these messages.
A photograph of graffiti on one of the walls of the kitchen in Donna Allfrey's house at 406 Oxford Terrace. Parts of the graffiti read, "Quakes, a national disaster", "Recovery, a national disgrace", "'It's been a lot of fun' - John Key, yeah right!", "Brownlee sucks, "Ring fn EQC, ring fn insurance", "Useless fn council", "Sideshow Bob is an idiot", "Don't let the bastards get you down", "Avon Loop - park or developers fodder?", and "Never trust a Carter". There are also shopping and to-do lists scrawled amongst these messages.
A photograph of graffiti on one of the walls of the kitchen in Donna Allfrey's house at 406 Oxford Terrace. Parts of the graffiti read, "Quakes, a national disaster", "Recovery, a national disgrace", "'It's been a lot of fun' - John Key, yeah right!", "Brownlee sucks, "Ring fn EQC, ring fn insurance", "Useless fn council", "Sideshow Bob is an idiot", "Don't let the bastards get you down", "Avon Loop - park or developers fodder?", and "Never trust a Carter". There are also shopping and to-do lists scrawled amongst these messages.