Christchurch, New Zealand
A Communities way to financially
recover
Visited
in August 2014
When a group of devastating earthquakes occur as the ones that
did in Christchurch in 2010-2011, where 80% of the city is destroyed, what does
one do? What do the business, people, and government do to try a keep the city
alive, especially when the recovery plan will take 25 years? When the quakes
happened, large connex cargo containers were brought in for business owners to
store their valuables to avoid theft, or being further damaged by aftershocks.
When their buildings were condemned, a lot of the business moved on. But some
decided to stay, and they turned the cargo containers into their new vision,
their Re:Start.
From the Re-Start home page:
Welcome to Re:Start, Christchurch most innovative and
diverse shopping experience in the heart of the city. We've got a wonderful
selection of boutique retailers, banks, food carts, and great coffee all inside
our beautiful bright shipping containers.
Main review:
Christchurch was a beautiful city before the quakes. My
father visited the city a few years ago about two years prior to the quakes,
and when I told him the stories over the phone, and posted pictures on
Facebook, he and my Stepmother were saddened. Especially when I told them of
the destruction to the Catholic Church, an iconic symbol to the old downtown
area, along with the bridges as well, including the War Memorial Bridge and
Arch. The old college and Government buildings, with architecture that was
similar to Paris, were also among the tragedies.
Then in the center of the old town, south of the Catholic
Church, and West of the river bridges and college, there was a grouping of
cargo containers, stacked three high running several hundred yards long. At
first you think it is materials for the construction teams, until you sneak a
peek around the containers to see what is on the other side.
On the other side is a large inner courtyard, to the far
side, being another wall of cargo containers, and to the other side, newer
built or surviving buildings, a mall to be exact, but not like a large American
mall. Just a building with stores inside. Between the building and the
containers in this courtyard, were mostly single layers and a few double layer
cargo containers, but only one, versus the wall on the outside where they were
connected. There are over forty, some with a half cut container sitting on top
of a twenty or forty foot container, with steps leading to the second level.
All of these containers were either shops, café’s, wood fire pizza restaurants
like BASE, hot dog shops like
Fritz Bavarian Style Wieners, book shops, antiques, or small grocery stores.
There was even a small grocery store that catered to the Americans like me that
stop through Christchurch on our way south to work in Antarctica, at McMurdo station.
Amongst the shops was also a memorial museum dedicated to
those that died, and the beginning of the cargo business initiative, and it was
very informal, a little bit over the top as far as price, but they needed the
money. For Several mornings in a row, while I waited to fly south, delayed
because of bad weather, I would stop into a small pastry shop to grab a morning
treat, or a café called the Crafted Coffee Company for coffee, and watch as these people,
who refused to leave after the tragedy, came together and stood defiant to Re:Start,
and rebuild a new vision, a new Christchurch.
Re-Start address:
Cashel Street, Christchurch Central,
Christchurch 8011, New Zealand
Central City
Cross streets:
Colombo Street & High Street
GPS Coordinates:
Latitude: -43.5331
Longitude: 172.650281
TTFN
