From Crisis to Opportunity: Recovering Community on Uninhabitable Land

Abstract

Since the 2010 and 2011 earthquakes, large portions of Christchurch suffered a significant loss and large numbers of houses were deemed uninhabitable and the land under them classified as “Residential Red Zone”. In 2013, demolition of houses in the Red Zone began with the land redeveloped into open green space leaving many Christchurch residents without homes. Areas of land adjacent to the Residential Red Zone, classified as Technical Category 3 (TC3), are also badly damaged but remain habitable despite inherent construction difficulties. This land is significantly susceptible to future movement, liquefaction and other problems such as flooding. Local residents, especially those in the TC3 zone have suffered the loss of their community, infrastructure and overall quality of life. Through designing collections of co-housing dwellings built to withstand future natural disasters, this thesis aims to find opportunity in the crisis. Also, through the investigation of context and demographics of Christchurch, this thesis demonstrates site specific solutions for an on-going problem. Therefore, this thesis not only aims to repurpose high risk land for the development of community housing integrated with the landscape, it strategically engages with the urban form, revitalizes broken spirits and ultimately redefines the urban fabric of Christchurch’s high risk zones. This thesis proposes an alternative housing solution that claims back both the damaged land and the sense community through designing collections of co-housing dwellings built to withstand future natural disasters such as flooding and which utilise the adjacent red zone damaged land for both recreation and gardens that can provide for the community. This thesis also attempts to rethink possible ways of recovering Christchurch’s urban form that will build community resilience, improve the quality of life for residents and foster resident’s feeling of identity and attachment with the environment in which they live permanently and which shape the visual character of Christchurch.