Case Study: Christchurch, New Zealand
In February 2011, New Zealand’s second largest city, Christ-church, was hit by a major earthquake. 185 people were killed, many buildings were destroyed, and the damage is estimated now to have cost NZ$40 billion. Economists predict that it will take between 50 and 100 years for New Zealand to completely recover.
The central commercial district was particularly hit hard by the February 22 catastrophe. City Mall, the main pedestrian mall in Christchurch, was virtually destroyed and cordoned off, with 80 percent of the district having been demolished.
On October 29, a mere eight months after disaster struck, City Mall re-opened, albeit with a very different look and identity. The new iteration of City Mall was built from shipping containers. The shipping containers were retrofitted to accommodate an initial roster of 27 shops. This was not meant to be a long-term solution. Rather, the strategy was to bootstrap the mall’s recovery through this temporary measure, giving birth to “Re:START,” a pop-up mall whose aim was to accelerate the revitalization of commerce in central Christchurch.
Re:START was the brainchild of Christchurch’s Property and Building Owners group, who recognized that the revival of downtown commerce was vital not only for its economic well-being, but also for its psychological well-being. Re-building the city with permanent, earthquake-resistant structures ...
