Photograph of Gap Filler project 22 (48)

Images, UC QuakeStudies

Pot plants laid in between two pallets.

Photograph of Gap Filler project 22 (91)

Images, UC QuakeStudies

Potted plants installed on shelves inside Gap Filler's Pallet Pavilion.

Photograph of Gap Filler project 22 (100)

Images, UC QuakeStudies

Volunteers adding shelves to the Pallet Pavilion walls for potted plants.

Photograph of Gap Filler project 22 (73)

Images, UC QuakeStudies

Volunteers in hard hats and high-visibility vests, potting plants for the Pallet Pavilion.

Photograph of Gap Filler project 22 (71)

Images, UC QuakeStudies

Volunteers in hard hats and high-visibility vests, potting plants for the Pallet Pavilion.

Photograph of Gap Filler project 22 (70)

Images, UC QuakeStudies

Volunteers in hard hats and high-visibility vests, potting plants for the Pallet Pavilion.

Helen Devereux Photograph 125

Images, UC QuakeStudies

Topiary plants presented by the Christchurch Garden City Trust liven up the Re:START Mall.

Helen Devereux Photograph 124

Images, UC QuakeStudies

Topiary plants presented by the Christchurch Garden City Trust liven up the Re:START Mall.

Helen Devereux Photograph 123

Images, UC QuakeStudies

Topiary plants presented by the Christchurch Garden City Trust liven up the Re:START Mall.

BeckerFraserPhotos February 2012 photograph 0967

Images, UC QuakeStudies

A photograph captioned by BeckerFraserPhotos, "Wildflowers planted on a vacant lot in Victoria Street".

Photograph of Gap Filler project 22 (72)

Images, UC QuakeStudies

A volunteer in a hard hat and high-visibility vest, potting plants for the Pallet Pavilion.

Photograph of Gap Filler project 22 (66)

Images, UC QuakeStudies

A plastic crate that will be used to hold plants, or as seating at the Pallet Pavilion.

Photograph of Gap Filler project 22 (67)

Images, UC QuakeStudies

A plastic crate that will be used to hold plants, or as seating at the Pallet Pavilion.

Elizabeth Ackermann Photograph 270

Images, UC QuakeStudies

A photograph of flowers planted in church bells on Cashel Street as part of the Christchurch Garden City Trust Festival of Flowers.

BeckerFraserPhotos May 2012 photograph 265

Images, UC QuakeStudies

Photograph captioned by BeckerFraserPhotos, "The site of the old Sumner council chamber and library grassed and planted by community funds".

Elizabeth Ackermann Photograph 272

Images, UC QuakeStudies

A photograph of lavender in a planter outside the Re:Start Mall on Cashel Street.

Elizabeth Ackermann Photograph 271

Images, UC QuakeStudies

A photograph of flowers planted in a church bell on Cashel Street as part of the Christchurch Garden City Trust Festival of Flowers.

BeckerFraserPhotos February 2012 photograph 0130

Images, UC QuakeStudies

A photograph captioned by BeckerFraserPhotos, "580 Ferry Road. Many demolition sites have been planted with wildflowers by local schools. This is one of the more exuberant".

BeckerFraserPhotos February 2012 photograph 0129

Images, UC QuakeStudies

A photograph captioned by BeckerFraserPhotos, "580 Ferry Road. Many demolition sites have been planted with wildflowers by local schools. This is one of the more exuberant".

BeckerFraserPhotos February 2012 photograph 0128

Images, UC QuakeStudies

A photograph captioned by BeckerFraserPhotos, "580 Ferry Road. Many demolition sites have been planted with wildflowers by local schools. This is one of the more exuberant".

Photo by Jennifer Middendorf 071

Images, UC QuakeStudies

Hand-written signs on the fence opposite the Gap Filler Pallet Pavillion advertise events at the pavillion. One advertises a plant sale on Saturday 22 December, the other high teas and cakes on Sunday 23 December.

BeckerFraserPhotos April 2012 photograph 132

Images, UC QuakeStudies

Plant beds made out of corrugated iron, greening the empty building sites along Colombo Street. These were placed here by Greening the Rubble, a community project in Christchurch to create temporary public parks and gardens on the sites of demolished buildings.

BeckerFraserPhotos April 2012 photograph 119

Images, UC QuakeStudies

The Gap Filler headquarters on a vacant lot on Colombo Street in Sydenham. Wheelbarrows full of new plants decorate the outside area. In the background is a mural with a poem reading, "The things which I have seen I now can see no more".

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.