My old apartment was situated above Shades Arcade off Hereford Street in pre-quake Christchurch. I lived there while attending broadcasting school in 1991, sharing the space with a photographer, a student, a musician and a guy who washed dishes for a living.
The place was called the 'Private Detective Agency' and we even had a listing in the phone book (yes, we got some curious enquiries!).
We could easily climb onto the roof-tops of the neighbouring buildings, and had claimed a wall on the east-side of our penthouse apartment. There we'd hung an old bicycle, paintings and other objects to create a bizarre indoor-outdoor lounge setting several stories up. As you can imagine, it was party-central.
I tried to revisit it earlier this year but couldn't get past the post-earthquake fencing. Peering through the wire it looked like the building had been demolished.
I wandered around looking at the new cityscape. Due to the demolitions many parts of the Christchurch CBD were now more spacious and there was noticeably more sunlight. The vacant lots revealed big blank walls which were once hugged by neighbouring buildings.
A big blank wall is a big blank canvas just waiting to be filled with movement, colour and light. Click Suite has explored ideas on how to use digital technology in spaces like this, including our concept for a giant fish tank, a secret garden and a ghost that follows you. It's a low-impact way to revitalise an otherwise lack-lustre space.
In Christchurch some of these empty spaces are being brought to life while the rebuild is still being contemplated. Gap Filler, a Charitable Trust, is one organisation which has stepped in to fill the void.
Their purpose is to temporarily activate vacant sites within Christchurch with creative projects for community benefit, to create a more interesting, dynamic and vibrant city. They've already created some wonderful initiatives. What they're doing is fantastic - and it shouldn't take an earthquake - every city could benefit from enlivened spaces like these!
While exploring the problems and opportunities of transforming empty spaces I came across a number of stories about the city of Detroit. It hasn't suffered an earthquake, but a disaster of another kind... economic ruin.
Detroit's population, once USA’s fourth-largest city, has shrunk on a massive scale - over 25% of its residents have left in the past decade - left behind are abandoned and quite stunning buildings constructed during the industrial age. City leaders are even talking about eliminating half of the city's streetlights because, due to plunging rates income, the city can’t afford to fix them.
Like Gap Filler, locals in disrupted cities are working to enliven the empty spaces.
It's a combination of initiatives, including finding artists, cultural projects and community groups to use and maintain these buildings until they become commercially viable or are redeveloped. Other uses include the use of digital to enliven spaces at night.
Here are some other urban renewal projects I've come across on the web: