A PDF copy of pages 30-31 of the book Christchurch: The Transitional City Pt IV. The pages document the transitional project 'Homage to the Lost Spaces'. Photo: Andrew Hewson
A PDF copy of pages 64-65 of the book Christchurch: The Transitional City Pt IV. The pages document the transitional project 'Life in Vacant Spaces HQ'. Photos: Tim Bishop and LiVS
A PDF copy of pages 102-103 of the book Christchurch: The Transitional City Pt IV. The pages document the transitional project 'Dog Park Art Project Space'. Photo: Stacey Weaver Photography
A PDF copy of pages 180-181 of the book Christchurch: The Transitional City Pt IV. The pages document the transitional project 'Gap Golf'. Photos: Gap Filler
A PDF copy of pages 204-205 of the book Christchurch: The Transitional City Pt IV. The pages document the transitional project 'Four Corners Youth Space'. Page 204 photos: Irene Boles. Page 205 photos: Peter Walker, Three Chairs Photography. With permission from Student Volunteer Army Foundation.
A PDF copy of pages 152-153 of the book Christchurch: The Transitional City Pt IV. The pages document the transitional project 'The Arcades Project'. Drawings and Photos: Andrew Just, F3 Design, LIVS
The study contributes to a better understanding of utilisation and interaction patterns in post-disaster temporary urban open spaces. A series of devastating earthquakes caused large scale damage to Christchurch’s central city and many suburbs in 2010 and 2011. Various temporary uses have emerged on vacant post-earthquake sites including community gardens, urban agriculture, art installations, event venues, eateries and cafés, and pocket parks. Drawing on empirical data obtained from a spatial qualities survey and a Public Life Study, the report analyses how people used and interacted with three exemplary transitional community-initiated open spaces (CIOS) in relation to particular physical spatial qualities in central Christchurch over a period of three weeks. The report provides evidence that users of post-disaster transitional community-initiated open spaces show similar utilisation and interaction patterns in relation to specific spatial qualities as observed in other urban environments. The temporary status of CIOS did apparently not influence ‘typical’ utilisation and interaction patterns.
A photograph of Erin Simpson interviewing volunteers who have been constructing the Four Corners youth space.
A Transitional Imaginary: Space, Network and Memory in Christchurch is the outcome and the record of a particular event: the coming together of eight artists and writers in Ōtautahi Christchurch in November 2015, with the ambitious aim to write a book collaboratively over five days. The collaborative process followed the generative ‘book sprint’ method founded by our facilitator for the event, Adam Hyde, who has long been immersed in digital practices in Aotearoa. A book sprint prioritises the collective voice of the participants and reflects the ideas and understandings that are produced at the time in which the book was written, in a plurality of perspectives. Over one hundred books have been completed using the sprint methodology, covering subjects from software documentation to reflections on collaboration and fiction. We chose to approach writing about Ōtautahi Christchurch through this collaborative process in order to reflect the complexity of the post-quake city and the multiple paths to understanding it. The city has itself been a space of intensive collaboration in the post-disaster period. A Transitional Imaginary is a raw and immediate record, as much felt expression as argued thesis. In many ways the process of writing had the character of endurance performance art. The process worked by honouring the different backgrounds of the participants, allowing that dialogue and intensity could be generative of different forms of text, creating a knowledge that eschews a position of authority, working instead to activate whatever anecdotes, opinions, resources and experiences are brought into discussion. This method enables a dynamic of voices that merge here, separate there and interrupt elsewhere again. As in the contested process of rebuilding and reimagining Christchurch itself, the dissonance and counterpoint of writing reflects the form of conversation itself. This book incorporates conflict, agreement and the activation of new ideas through cross-fertilisation to produce a new reading of the city and its transition. The transitional has been given a specific meaning in Christchurch. It is a product of local theorising that encompasses the need for new modes of action in a city that has been substantially demolished (Bennett & Parker, 2012). Transitional projects, such as those created by Gap Filler, take advantage of the physical and social spaces created by the earthquake through activating these as propositions for new ways of being in the city. The transitional is in motion, looking towards the future. A Transitional Imaginary explores the transitional as a way of thinking and how we understand the city through art practices, including the digital and in writing.
A PDF copy of pages 50-51 of the book Christchurch: The Transitional City Pt IV. The pages document the transitional project 'LUXCITY'. Photographs: Bridget Anderson and Douglas Horrell
A photograph of an installation titled 'Halo', which is part of the LUXCITY event.
A photograph of a planning meeting for the Info Gap temporary outdoor display space.
An artist's impression of the installation 'Altitude', created as part of the LUXCITY event. Tutors: David Turner, Lester Mismash
An artist's impression of the installation 'Altitude', created as part of the LUXCITY event. Tutors: David Turner, Lester Mismash
A photograph of an installation titled 'Murmur'. The installation is part of the LUXCITY event. Tutor: Craig Moller
An artist's impression of the installation 'Archrobatics', created as part of the LUXCITY event. Tutors: David Turner, Lester Mismash
An artist's impression of the installation 'Archrobatics', created as part of the LUXCITY event. Tutors: David Turner, Lester Mismash
In the aftermath of the 2010 and 2011 earthquakes, Christchurch, New Zealand is framed as a ‘transi- tional’ city, moving from its demolished past to a speculative future. The ADA Mesh Cities project asks what role media art and networks may play in the transitional city, and the practices of remembering, and reimagining space.
A photograph of an installation titled 'In Your Face'. The installation is part of the LUXCITY event. Tutor: Fraser Horton
An artist's impression of the installation 'eLITE', created as part of the LUXCITY event. Tutors: Cameron Rowe, Kate Rogan
An artist's impression of the LUXCITY event. The image depicts installations on Gloucester and Colombo Streets. Student: Erica Austin
A photograph of crowds at the LUXCITY event.
An artist's impression of the installation 'In Your Face', created as part of the LUXCITY event. Tutor: Fraser Horton
An artist's impression of the installation 'Atmosphere', created as part of the LUXCITY event. Tutor: Sue Hillery
An artist's impression of the installation 'Tonic', created as part of the LUXCITY event. Tutors: Annabel Pretty, Cesar Wagner, Peter McPherson
An artist's impression of the installation 'In Your Face', created as part of the LUXCITY event. Tutor: Fraser Horton
An artist's impression of the installation 'Etch-a-Sketch', created as part of the LUXCITY event. Tutors: Anna Tong, Chris Holmes
A montage of photographs of the installation 'Tonic', created as part of the LUXCITY event. Tutors: Annabel Pretty, Cesar Wagner, Peter McPherson
A photograph of an installation on the corner of Manchester Street and Worcester Street. The installation is titled "Archrobatics", and is part of the LUXCITY event.
An artist's impression of the installation 'Etch-a-Sketch', created as part of the LUXCITY event. Tutors: Anna Tong, Chris Holmes