2/8/2012

A 100 Day Blueprint – A Summary

The blueprint for the rebuilding of Christchurch was revealed yesterday by the Christchurch Central Development Unit (CCDU). The plan is to significantly shrink the size of the Central Business District, with “properties needing to be bought up in order to clear space for the city’s new “frame”. The city will be low and compact. Buildings in the city will have a maximum height restriction of 28 metres.

There will be open spaces and these, along with the Avon river, which will be widened in stretches, will be developed into a riverside park. Major sports and arts projects will be developed such as a state-of-the-art metro sports facility in St.Asaph Street and a new stadium will replace the earthquake-damaged AMI stadium, on the edge of the CBD’s eastern frame, seating 35,000 people. A new music centre and performing arts auditorium will be included in the plan.

Cathedral Square will be retained as the civic centre of the city, but will be given a new look, with more grassed areas and trees added and a new public library built on the edge of the square. In Victoria Square the Te Puna Aruhea Maori cultural centre will be built by Ngai Tahu as a focal point for cultural celebration and diversity. It will provide an inspiring and interactive facility to showcase and celebrate Ngai Tahu and Maori culture.

Justice and emergency centres will be based between Lichfield, Tuam, Durham and Colombo Streets, with City Mall remaining as the retail hub of the CBD. In many parts of the CBD, roads will be slowed or closed to through traffic but there will be a new network of walkways and cycleways. An earthquake memorial will also feature in the CBD. The location of that is yet to be decided. This is just a summary of the new plan. If you want to read more about it, click on the article written by Lois Cairns in Stuff.co.nz

The Central City Plan History

Under the Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Act 2011, Christchurch city council was given the responsibility of developing the Central City Plan, which will guide the development of the central city, over the next ten to twenty years, following February 2011’s earthquake. The plan was developed from the ideas shared by the community during the Share An Idea campaign, in consultation with key stakeholders and various partners. The council set up the Share An Idea website as a way for the whole community of Christchurch to share their vision about how the central city should be redeveloped. One hundred and six thousand ideas were submitted and shared on this website.

The Central City Draft Plan was released in August 2011. It was presented to the Minister of Canterbury Earthquake Recovery in December and the public were invited to make written comments to the Minister by 3rd February 2012. The Minister then asked Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Authority (CERA) to work on a plan and in April 2012 the CCDU, a unit within CERA was established, to provide a clearer leadership for the rebuild of the central city. Their first task was to produce a blueprint within 100 days and a final draft of the Christchurch Central Recovery Plan. The blueprint is what was released yesterday.

Reactions

It does look like a lot of the ideas submitted in the Share An Idea project are accounted for in the plan. I would love to talk to the people of Christchurch though, to find out what their reactions are about this blueprint. There are 155 comments at the bottom of the Stuff.co.nz article so far and I see that a lot of them are negative. A lot of comments refer to the fact that it seems the housing problem hasn’t been solved, certain people’s pockets will be filled with some of these projects and references to white elephants regarding some of the buildings being planned. There are also some good and positive remarks. I left one, I must admit, on the positive side. But I can understand from reading different reports in the Christchurch newspapers over the last year and talking to people in the city in January this year, why people are bitter and disappointed with organisations like the insurance companies and the EQC.

Interested In Your Reply

If anyone from Christchurch is interested in replying to this, please tell me what you really think of this new plan? Do you think the planners have done a good job so far, with this blueprint and were the people’s ideas from the Share An Idea project really taken into account? I will be keeping a close eye on the situation and hopefully updating people on the progress.

Other links:

CCDU-The Plan For A New Central City

Rebuild Christchurch