Staff at work in temporary office space in the Central Library after the earthquake.
Staff at work in temporary office space in the Central Library after the earthquake.
Students studying and socialising in the undercroft, a new student space under the library.
Staff at work in temporary office space in the Central Library after the earthquake.
Students studying and socialising in the undercroft, a new student space under the library.
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
Dovedale Village, recently completed but yet to be occupied as temporary office and lecture spaces.
Workers helping to remediate the space under the library for shops, banks, and eating areas.
Workers helping to remediate the space under the library for shops, banks, and eating areas.
Dovedale Village, recently completed but yet to be occupied as temporary office and lecture spaces.
Dovedale Village, recently completed but yet to be occupied as temporary office and lecture spaces.
Dovedale Village, recently completed but yet to be occupied as temporary office and lecture spaces.
Dovedale Village, recently completed but yet to be occupied as temporary office and lecture spaces.
Workers helping to remediate the space under the library for shops, banks, and eating areas.
Workers helping to remediate the space under the library for shops, banks, and eating areas.
A lack of affordable space after Christchurch's earthquake threatens to fracture the city's arts community.
Dovedale Village, recently completed but yet to be occupied as temporary office and lecture spaces.
Dovedale Village, recently completed but yet to be occupied as temporary office and lecture spaces.
An empty and overgrown space left after the demolition of a building on Victoria Street.
Damaged buildings and empty spaces seen from the corner of Gloucester Street and Latimer Square.
Dovedale Village, recently completed but yet to be occupied as temporary office and lecture spaces.
A staff member at work in temporary office space in the Central Library after the earthquake.
A map showing the location of Christchurch Hospital parking spaces lost following the 22 February 2011 earthquake.
Street art has played a major role in bringing life back to Christchurch post-Earthquakes. A major player has been Watch This Space. They are a charitable trust established almost 10 years ago that organises and maintains public art projects in Christchurch, updates their interactive map helping people explore the city, and runs tours. Dr Reuben Woods is the creative director of Watch this Space.
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.
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.
Workers helping to remediate the space under the Library, creating room for shops, banks and public eating areas.
Workers helping to remediate the space under the Library, creating room for shops, banks and public eating areas.
Workers helping to remediate the space under the Library, creating room for shops, banks and public eating areas.
Workers helping to remediate the space under the Library, creating room for shops, banks and public eating areas.