It was like walking through a post-apocalyptic city. Lots were fenced in, windows were boarded up. Construction cranes took over the empty skyline. The sidewalks were broken, filled in with cheap asphalt between the cracks. The cathedral, a grey stone Gothic Revival church designed by Gilbert Scott, crumbled during the quake and is still surrounded by fencing.
And yet… there was a vibrancy to the city. A humming underneath the surface of something big to come, and I don’t mean another earthquake. A rebirth. A renaissance.
christchurch
Christchurch has this incredible opportunity not afforded a lot of cities: the chance to become something new, something different.
Almost 20,000* people left the city in the wake of the 2010 and 2011 earthquakes. Some of those people returned, determined to rebuild Christchurch. Many others stayed away. They rebuilt their lives in cities like Dunedin, Queenstown, Invercargill. Whole companies left. Families relocated. Schools remained shut.
*numbers vary; I saw multiple numbers from various sources, so I averaged*
I know that the Christchurch I saw earlier this year bears no resemblance to the Christchurch that existed before 2011. This will continue to be a true statement. The cathedral may once again be open to the public, or it may forever be a relic of the destruction. The Cardboard Cathedral, the Transitional Cathedral, that sprung up in the wake of the quake will forever stay where it is, a modern, tubular church with a brightly coloured stained glass facade. The re:start mall, created in the months following the disaster, along Cashel Street, will probably be there forever. The stacked containers are unique. The mall is modern. The layout flows from street to shops seamlessly. Art punctuates every street corner, every construction fence, every ruined building, every empty lot.
I found myself looking up a lot. At the tops of the buildings that once housed big corporations. Instead of company names, there is graffiti.
art
Much of this art is sponsored. Condoned. Funded. Promoted.
Sure, the underground graffiti artists must love it, being able to share their works across a derelict city. But so much of the art comes from local artists, local students. And much of the art is interactive. Play twister on the re:start logo, a heart made of square blocks. Step into a mirror maze. Touch the vertical gardens at the cathedral and sit on a metal, primary coloured sheep in the middle of the plaza.
What broke this city was Mother Nature, what will bring this city back to life is human nature. I find myself yearning to go back to Christchurch, to witness its rebirth, to let the art soak into my soul.
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Ahh my hometown.. every time I go home there is something different happening. New buildings being built, old buildings still coming down. The number of road cones seems to be slowly diminishing but it will take a long time for the city to be rebuilt. It’s never going to be the Christchurch I grew up in but at the same time, it’s exciting to see what comes out of the rebuild
I agree! I loved the few days I spent there. It’s definitely exciting – I can’t wait to see what it looks like in a few years when I make it back!