A photograph of two people on a cherry picker, installing strings of tarpaulin flags above the tram lines on Worcester Street bridge. The installation was titled Eye of the Storm and was created by students from the School of Design at the University of Technology Sydney for Canterbury Tales - a carnivalesque procession which was the main event of FESTA 2013.
A photograph of four people on a cherry picker, installing strings of tarpaulin flags above the tram lines on Worcester Street bridge. The installation was titled Eye of the Storm and was created by students from the School of Design at the University of Technology Sydney for Canterbury Tales - a carnivalesque procession which was the main event of FESTA 2013.
A photograph of an installation of blue tarpaulin flags on the Worcester Street bridge. The installation, titled Eye of the Storm/em>, was created for Canterbury Tales by students from the School of Design at the University of Technology Sydney. Canterbury Tales was a carnivalesque procession and the main event of FESTA 2013.
A photograph of a woman reading one of the blue tarpaulin flags that have been strung across the Worcester Street bridge. The installation, titled Eye of the Storm, was created for Canterbury Tales by students from the School of Design at the University of Technology Sydney. Canterbury Tales was a carnivalesque procession and the main event of FESTA 2013.
A close-up photograph of an installation of blue tarpaulin flags on the Worcester Street bridge. The installation, titled Eye of the Storm, was created for Canterbury Tales by students from the School of Design at the University of Technology Sydney. Canterbury Tales was a carnivalesque procession and the main event of FESTA 2013.
A photograph of an installation of blue tarpaulin flags on the Worcester Street bridge. The installation, titled Eye of the Storm/em>, was created for Canterbury Tales by students from the School of Design at the University of Technology Sydney. Canterbury Tales was a carnivalesque procession and the main event of FESTA 2013.
A photograph of an installation of blue tarpaulin flags on the Worcester Street bridge. The installation, titled Eye of the Storm/em>, was created for Canterbury Tales by students from the School of Design at the University of Technology Sydney. Canterbury Tales was a carnivalesque procession and the main event of FESTA 2013.
A photograph of an installation of blue tarpaulin flags on the Worcester Street bridge. The installation, titled Eye of the Storm/em>, was created for Canterbury Tales by students from the School of Design at the University of Technology Sydney. Canterbury Tales was a carnivalesque procession and the main event of FESTA 2013.
A photograph of an installation of blue tarpaulin flags on the Worcester Street bridge. The installation, titled Eye of the Storm/em>, was created for Canterbury Tales by students from the School of Design at the University of Technology Sydney. Canterbury Tales was a carnivalesque procession and the main event of FESTA 2013.
A PDF copy of a billboard design from All Right?'s 'Take a Breather' campaign. The design features a plethora of everyday images, including roadworks, construction, work and leisure activities. Images from phase 2 of the All Right? campaign and Christmas-themed images are also included. In the centre are the words, "Take a breather... Canterbury's a busy place. What could you do to recharge?".
A PDF copy of a bus back design from 'Take a Breather'. The design features a plethora of everyday images, including roadworks, construction, work and leisure activities. Images from phase 2 of the All Right? campaign and Christmas-themed images are also included. In the top-left corner are the words, "Take a breather... Canterbury's a busy place. What could you do to recharge?".
A PDF copy of a design for CERA from All Right?'s 'Take a Breather' campaign. The design features a plethora of everyday images, including traffic, roadworks, work and leisure activities, and an image from phase 2 of the All Right? campaign. In the centre are the words, "Take a breather... Canterbury's a busy place. What could you do to recharge?".
A photograph of an installation of blue tarpaulin flags on the Worcester Street bridge. The installation, titled Eye of the Storm/em>, was created for Canterbury Tales by students from the School of Design at the University of Technology Sydney. Canterbury Tales was a carnivalesque procession and the main event of FESTA 2013.
A photograph of people looking at an installation of tarpaulin flags strung across the Worcester Street bridge. The installation, titled Eye of the Storm/em>, was created for Canterbury Tales by students from the School of Design at the University of Technology Sydney. Canterbury Tales was a carnivalesque procession and the main event of FESTA 2013.
One white cotton t-shirt with black seismograph-like patterns in the shape of ChristChurch Cathedral. Produced to commemorate the 7.1 magnitude earthquake that struck Canterbury at 4.35am on 4 September 2010. This t-shirt was designed and manufactured by Auckland based t-shirt company Mr Vintage in October 2010 to commemorate the 7.1 magnitude ...
Observations of out-of-plane (OOP) instability in the 2010 Chile earthquake and in the 2011 Christchurch earthquake resulted in concerns about the current design provisions of structural walls. This mode of failure was previously observed in the experimental response of some wall specimens subjected to in-plane loading. Therefore, the postulations proposed for prediction of the limit states corresponding to OOP instability of rectangular walls are generally based on stability analysis under in-plane loading only. These approaches address stability of a cracked wall section when subjected to compression, thereby considering the level of residual strain developed in the reinforcement as the parameter that prevents timely crack closure of the wall section and induces stability failure. The New Zealand code requirements addressing the OOP instability of structural walls are based on the assumptions used in the literature and the analytical methods proposed for mathematical determination of the critical strain values. In this study, a parametric study is conducted using a numerical model capable of simulating OOP instability of rectangular walls to evaluate sensitivity of the OOP response of rectangular walls to variation of different parameters identified to be governing this failure mechanism. The effects of wall slenderness (unsupported height-to-thickness) ratio, longitudinal reinforcement ratio of the boundary regions and length on the OOP response of walls are evaluated. A clear trend was observed regarding the influence of these parameters on the initiation of OOP displacement, based on which simple equations are proposed for prediction of OOP instability in rectangular walls.
The performance of buildings in recent New Zealand earthquakes (Canterbury, Seddon and Kaikōura), delivered stark lessons on seismic resilience. Most of our buildings, with a few notable exceptions, performed as our Codes intended them to, that is, to safeguard people from injury. Many buildings only suffered minor structural damage but were unable to be reused and occupied for significant periods of time due to the damage and failure of non-structural elements. This resulted in substantial economic losses and major disruptions to our businesses and communities. Research has attributed the damage to poor overall design coordination, inadequate or lack of seismic restraints for non structural elements and insufficient clearances between building components to cater for the interaction of non structural elements under seismic actions. Investigations have found a clear connection between the poor performance of non-structural elements and the issues causing pain in the industry (procurement methods, risk aversion, the lack of clear understanding of design and inspection responsibility and the need for better alignment of the design codes to enable a consistent integrated design approach). The challenge to improve the seismic performance of non structural elements in New Zealand is a complex one that cuts across a diverse construction industry. Adopting the key steps as recommended in this paper is expected to have significant co-benefits to the New Zealand construction industry, with improvements in productivity alongside reductions in costs and waste, as the rework which plagues the industry decreases.
In recent work on commons and commoning, scholars have argued that we might delink the practice of commoning from property ownership, while paying attention to modes of governance that enable long-term commons to emerge and be sustained. Yet commoning can also occur as a temporary practice, in between and around other forms of use. In this article we reflect on the transitional commoning practices and projects enabled by the Christchurch post-earthquake organisation Life in Vacant Spaces, which emerged to connect and mediate between landowners of vacant inner city demolition sites and temporary creative or entrepreneurial users. While these commons are often framed as transitional or temporary, we argue they have ongoing reverberations changing how people and local government in Christchurch approach common use. Using the cases of the physical space of the Victoria Street site “The Commons” and the virtual space of the Life in Vacant Spaces website, we show how temporary commoning projects can create and sustain the conditions of possibility required for nurturing commoner subjectivities. Thus despite their impermanence, temporary commoning projects provide a useful counter to more dominant forms of urban development and planning premised on property ownership and “permanent” timeframes, in that just as the physical space of the city being opened to commoning possibilities, so too are the expectations and dispositions of the city’s inhabitants, planners, and developers.
At the conclusion of the 2010 and 2011 Canterbury earthquakes more than 5100 homes had been deemed unsafe for habitation. The land and buildings of these were labelled “red zoned” and are too badly damaged for remediation. These homes have been demolished or are destined for demolition. To assist the red zone population to relocate, central government have offered to ‘buy out’ home owners at the Governmental Value (GV) that was last reviewed in 2007. While generous in the economic context at the time, the area affected was the lowest value land and housing in Christchurch and so there is a capital shortfall between the 2007 property value and the cost of relocating to more expensive properties. This shortfall is made worse by increasing present day values since the earthquakes. Red zone residents have had to relocate to the far North and Western extremities of Christchurch, and some chose to move even further to neighbouring towns or cities. The eastern areas and commercial centres close to the red zone are affected as well. They have lost critical mass which has negatively impacted businesses in the catchments of the Red Zone. This thesis aims to repopulate the suburbs most affected by the abandonment of the red zone houses. Because of the relative scarcity of sound building sites in the East and to introduce affordability to these houses, an alternative method of development is required than the existing low density suburban model. Smart medium density design will be tested as an affordable and appropriate means of living. Existing knowledge in this field will be reviewed, an analysis of what East Christchurch’s key characteristics are will occur, and an examination of built works and site investigations will also be conducted. The research finds that at housing densities of 40 units per hectare, the spatial, vehicle, aesthetic needs of East Christchurch can be accommodated. Centralising development is also found to offer better lifestyle choices than the isolated suburbs at the edges of Christchurch, to be more efficient using existing infrastructure, and to place less reliance on cars. Stronger communities are formed from the outset and for a full range of demographics. Eastern affordable housing options are realised and Christchurch’s ever expanding suburban tendencies are addressed. East Christchurch presently displays a gaping scar of devastated houses that ‘The New Eastside’ provides a bandage and a cure for. Displaced and dispossessed Christchurch residents can be re-housed within a new heart for East Christchurch.
Photograph captioned by BeckerFraserPhotos, "Oxford Terrace".
A paper which details earthquake expectation data, supplied to SCIRT by GNS Science.
An All Right? infographic designed for use on Facebook. The infographic illustrates research carried out by All Right?.
An All Right? infographic designed for use on Facebook. The infographic illustrates research carried out by All Right?.
An All Right? infographic designed for use on Facebook. The infographic illustrates research carried out by All Right?.
An All Right? infographic designed for use on Facebook. The infographic illustrates research carried out by All Right?.
An All Right? infographic designed for use on Facebook. The infographic illustrates research carried out by All Right?.
Imagined landscapes find their form in utopian dreaming. As ideal places, utopias are set up according to the ideals of their designers. Inevitably, utopias become compromised when they move from the imaginary into the actual. Opportunities to create utopias rely largely on a blank slate, a landscape unimpeded by the inconveniences of existing occupation – or even topography. Christchurch has seen two utopian moments. The first was at the time of European settlement in the mid-nineteenth century, when imported ideals provided a model for a new city. The earthquakes of 2010 and 2011 provided a second point at which utopian dreaming spurred visions for the city. Christchurch’s earthquakes have provided a unique opportunity for a city to re-imagine itself. Yet, as is the fate for all imaginary places, reality got in the way.
Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to identify through the application of Actor Network Theory (ANT) the issues and impediments to the implementation of mandatory seismic retrofitting policies proposed by the New Zealand Government. In particular the tension between the heritage protection objectives contained in the Resource Management Act 1991 and the earthquake mitigation measures contained in the Building Act 2004 are examined. Design/methodology/approach - The paper uses a case study approach based on the Harcourts Building in Wellington New Zealand and the case law relating to attempts to demolish this particular building. Use is made of ANT as a 'lens' to identify and study the controversies around mandatory seismic retrofitting of heritage buildings. The concept of translation is used to draw network diagrams.
Group case study report prepared for lecturers Ton Buhrs and Roy Montgomery by students of ERST 635 at Lincoln University, 2013.The New Zealand Government’s decision to establish a unitary authority in the Auckland Region has provided much of the context and impetus for this review of current governance arrangements in the Canterbury region, to determine whether or not they are optimal for taking the communities of greater Christchurch into the future. A number of local governance academics, as well as several respected political pundits, have prophesised that the Auckland ‘Super City’ reforms of 2009 will have serious implications and ramifications for local governance arrangements in other major cities, particularly Wellington and Christchurch. Wellington councils have already responded to the possibility of change by undertaking a series of reports on local governance arrangements, as well as a major review led by Sir Geoffrey Palmer, to investigate options for governance reform. Alongside these developments, the Christchurch earthquakes beginning in September 2010 have raised a myriad of new and complex governance issues, which may or may not be able to be addressed under the status quo, while the replacement of Regional Councillors’ with centrally-appointed Commissioners is suggestive of government dissatisfaction with current arrangements. With these things in mind, the research group has considered local government in Canterbury and the greater Christchurch area in the wider governance context. It does not limit discussion to only the structure of local government in Canterbury but rather, as the brief (Appendix 1) indicates, considers more broadly the relationship between central, regional, and local tiers of government, as well as the relationship between local government and local communities.
Photograph captioned by BeckerFraserPhotos, "115 Worcester Street".