Christchurch Mayor Lianne Dalziel was born and raised in the city she now represents. But she finds it difficult to describe how everything has changed since the earthquake.
“I don’t know if it’s a post-disaster thing,” says Dalziel. “But for me, it is sometimes difficult to remember what was there before.”
Many residents of Christchurch say the same. His home has undergone a huge transformation in the past 10 years after a 6.3 magnitude earthquake killed 185 people, disrupted tens of thousands of lives and reduced 80% of the city center to rubble.
Today, the streets of Christchurch are bustling after a period of sustained construction: first, the commercial development of glass-fronted office blocks and high-end retail space – and then civic and cultural buildings, which have been restored or replaced.
Christchurch Basilica, Barbadoes Street
Although reconstruction is underway, traces of destruction – broken fenced buildings and stretches the size of sports fields scheduled for development – are more likely to be noticed by tourists than by residents, who know how far the city has traveled .
“Every now and then, I see the city through the eyes of people who visit it for the first time in a long time and I hear their excitement about … what it is becoming,” says Dalziel.
Latimer Square, Christchurch
After 10 years, Christchurch is no longer, after all, a city damaged by the earthquake – but progress to this point has been slow and hard-won. In 2013, the cost of recovery was estimated at $ 40 billion; it was probably more.
Asked about the missed opportunities in the reconstruction, Dalziel laughs. “How much time do you have?”
Emphasizing the advantage of the retrospective, Dalizel – who was elected in October 2013, almost three years after the earthquake – says that the agencies could have been better aligned.
For example, individual telecommunications and energy companies have taken different approaches from the council to repair damaged infrastructure, meaning that the same roads have been excavated many times.
Lincoln Road, Addington, Christchurch
These lessons from the Stronger Christchurch Infrastructure Rebuild Team (SCIRT) were made publicly available for the benefit of other cities facing post-disaster reconstruction, says Dalziel.
But the defining problem of reconstruction was the relationship between local and national government.
On May 1, 2011, the national government established the Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Authority (Cera), a public service bureaucracy with broad powers to lead its response to recovery – including local authorities.
The approach taken by Cera led to widespread discontent, with the council and residents feeling marginalized.
Dalziel suggests that the central government and the council could have established an independent entity to operate together, appointing directors who are accountable to both.
Gloucester Street
Gloucester Street
In April 2012, a Cera unit assumed responsibility for the reconstruction of the central city, making its own version of the municipality’s recovery plan project – what became known as “the project”.
It was based on dedicated venues, such as for innovation, health and performing arts; and “anchor projects” that, it was hoped, would stimulate organic investment. (Um, for a “sustainable village”, it was finally abandoned last week.)
But local knowledge of the council’s public consultation has been lost, says Dalziel. The project “was not from the city; he was a government creature ”. Cera itself was dissolved in 2016.
Meanwhile, the council approached the task of a new central library, Tūranga, with granular attention to community involvement: a resident’s suggestion of a “Harry Potter ladder” was reflected in the finished building, which opened in October 2018 .
Central Library
It is widely regarded as one of the triumphs of reconstruction, frequented by a wide cross section of Christchurch’s population – often indicative of a genuine attention to diversity and inclusion in the design process.
This type of citizenship seemed to be absent in the first buildings that emerged after the earthquake, stimulated by private investment. For a time, Christchurch’s city center was dominated by low-rise commercial buildings made of glass and steel, such as the Deloitte and PWC buildings.
Hundreds of historic buildings were lost – either due to the earthquake or due to the demolition movement to move on.
The Edwardian city hall and Isaac Theater Royal were restored and reopened; but demolition the Basilica of the Church of Christ, which opened its doors for the first time in 1905, started only in December. (The construction of its replacement was delayed by rare seagulls making their nests in the Armagh St. website)
Armagh St
PricewaterhouseCoopers Center, Armagh St
The cultural renewal of the city was led by grassroots groups such as Greening the Rubble, Gap Filler and Agropolis, which established small “light infrastructure” projects, often temporary, to revitalize the city at the street and human level.
A coin-operated community dance floor, wasteland gardens and other displays of “ingenuity of its resilient residents” were highlighted by the New York Times in naming Christchurch as its second best place to travel in 2014. It was chosen again in the past year .
Gap Filler is now a partner in a major residential project, led by Fletcher Living, covering six city blocks.
Manchester St
Manchester St
The One Central development is central to the project’s proposal to increase the residential population of downtown Christchurch – but sales started slowly, raising concerns that construction may be exceeding demand.
He talks about the evolving challenge of reconstruction. The center of Christchurch is unrecognizable from the disaster zone in which it was post-earthquake and has changed significantly since it was five years ago. And the city that is yet to become is still emerging.
Cathedral
Cathedral
Regardless of what has been built so far, Dalziel says: “We are absolutely the best city for the future … From every disaster, any crisis, there are always opportunities – Christchurch has every opportunity before us, and people can now see. “
For her, the new Christchurch is most evident along the banks of the River Avon: home to the new internal market Riverside, an independent theater and a new fashion hospitality venture.
“If I stop by on a summer night, it is full of people: in bars and restaurants, family groups, hiking and cycling – it feels happy … You will never want to go back to how you were. “