UC QuakeBox photograph by Sally Roome (17)

Images, UC QuakeStudies

Chelsea Smith standing outside the UC QuakeBox container in the car park of Westfield Riccarton.

UC QuakeBox photograph by Sally Roome (13)

Images, UC QuakeStudies

Geoff Clements and Sally Roome outside the UC QuakeBox at the Canterbury A&P Show.

UC QuakeBox photograph by Sally Roome (6)

Images, UC QuakeStudies

Liv Kivi recording a story inside the UC QuakeBox container in Brooklands. The container was parked in the car park of the Brooklands Community Centre on Anfield Street.

UC QuakeBox photograph by Sally Roome (7)

Images, UC QuakeStudies

A sign on a lamppost in Brooklands, reading, "The government is stealing our land".

UC QuakeBox photograph by Sally Roome (4)

Images, UC QuakeStudies

The Brooklands Community Hall with the UC QuakeBox parked in the car park. A sign with the opening time has been placed on the other side of the road.

UC QuakeBox photograph by Sally Roome (5)

Images, UC QuakeStudies

Liz Kivi stting beside the UC QuakeBox container in Brooklands. The container was parked in the car park of the Brooklands Community Centre on Anfield Street.

UC QuakeBox photograph by Sally Roome (3)

Images, UC QuakeStudies

Derek Bent and Geoff Clements standing outside the UC QuakeBox container in Brooklands. The container was parked in the car park of the Brooklands Community Centre on Anfield Street.

UC QuakeBox photograph by Sally Roome (9)

Images, UC QuakeStudies

Liz Kivi, Geoff Clements and Derek Bent setting up the television outside the UC QuakeBox container at the Canterbury A&P Show. The television played videos of previous stories recorded in the UC QuakeBox.

UC QuakeBox photograph by Sally Roome (10)

Images, UC QuakeStudies

Liv Kivi sitting outside the UC QuakeBox container at the Canterbury A&P Show.

UC QuakeBox photograph by Sally Roome (12)

Images, UC QuakeStudies

Liv Kivi and Geoff Clements in the UC QuakeBox container at the Canterbury A&P Show.

UC QuakeBox photograph by Sally Roome (1)

Images, UC QuakeStudies

Liv Kivi sitting outside the UC QuakeBox container in New Brighton. The container was parked south of the New Brighton Library.

UC QuakeBox photograph by Sally Roome (8)

Images, UC QuakeStudies

A sign in a shop on the corner of Anfield Street and Lower Styx Road in Brooklands. The sign reads, "Save Brooklands. We want to stay!".

UC QuakeBox photograph by Sally Roome (2)

Images, UC QuakeStudies

Derek Bent and Geoff Clements standing outside the UC QuakeBox container in Brooklands. The container was parked in the car park of the Brooklands Community Centre on Anfield Street.

UC QuakeBox photograph by Sally Roome (11)

Images, UC QuakeStudies

Liz Kivi standing outside the UC QuakeBox at the Canterbury A&P Show.

UC QuakeBox photograph by Sally Roome (15)

Images, UC QuakeStudies

Chelsea Smith standing outside the UC QuakeBox container in the car park of Westfield Riccarton.

UC QuakeBox photograph by Sally Roome (14)

Images, UC QuakeStudies

Derek Bent, Troy Gillan and Lucy-Jane Walsh outside the UC QuakeBox at the Canterbury A&P Show.

UC QuakeBox photograph by Sally Roome (16)

Images, UC QuakeStudies

Chelsea Smith standing outside the UC QuakeBox container in the car park of Westfield Riccarton.

Greening the rubble in Christchurch: Civic ecological reclamation efforts …

Research Papers, Lincoln University

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.