New Christchurch city plan

[Serpo]

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2012-07-30/nz-rebuilding-christchurch/4164248

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New Christchurch city plan angers residents

By New Zealand correspondent Dominique Schwartz (http://www.abc.net.au/news/dominique-schwartz/166856)
Updated July 30, 2012 18:25:05
http://www.abc.net.au/news/image/4164422-3x2-700x467.jpg (http://www.abc.net.au/news/2012-07-30/an-artists-impression-of-a-rebuilt-christchurch/4164440) Photo: An artists impression of what a rebuilt Christchurch will look like. (Christchurch Central Development Unit) (http://www.abc.net.au/news/2012-07-30/an-artists-impression-of-a-rebuilt-christchurch/4164440)
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The New Zealand government has unveiled the official blueprint for the rebuilding of earthquake-damaged Christchurch.
A green zone will encompass a smaller and more compact CBD divided into precincts for health, education, sport, retail and arts and entertainment.
There will be a new stadium, a sports facility and convention centre.
The government says it aims to negotiate land purchases for key projects, but will exercise its right to forcibly acquire property if necessary.
It says more than $23 billion will be invested in the rebuild by the national and local governments and private insurers.
Christchurch residents, still waiting for their homes to be repaired nearly two years after the city's first earthquake, have protested against the recovery plan.
They say rebuilding damaged homes should be a priority, not constructing an entire new city.
Reverend Mike Coleman says only a handful of 28,000 households on the most damaged land have been able to negotiate the government and private insurance maze to get on with their lives.
His action group, WeCan, says the government must step in to help.
"They have to prioritise the worst homes and get them sorted out," he said.
Christchurch, New Zealand's second largest city, was badly damaged in a series of quakes beginning in September 2010.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/image/2756902-3x2-700x467.jpg (http://www.abc.net.au/news/2012-07-30/quake-damaged-home-hangs-from-a-cliff-in/4164354)

[Serpo]

Christchurch's new city centre will be compact and low rise, with all key facilities and precincts corralled between the Avon River and a new green 'frame'.
The 100-day blueprint (http://static.stuff.co.nz/files/christchurch-central-recovery-plan.pdf) released by the Christchurch Central Development Unit (CCDU) outlines a bold plan to significantly shrink the size of the CBD by designating two strips of land - one in the east of the city and one in the south - as open spaces.
These spaces, along with the Avon River, which will be widened in stretches and developed into a riverside park, will serve to frame the new CBD, ensuring that all development is concentrated within a tight geographic area.
Building heights in the city will be kept at a maximum of 28 metres, although exceptions may be made in some areas around the planned convention centre to accommodate hotel developments.
The convention centre will occupy a prime site next to Victoria Square and will be big enough to allow the city to host three events simultaneously. It will stretch the entire block between Gloucester and Armagh streets and incorporate two new hotels.
A Maori cultural centre will be built by Ngai Tahu in Victoria Square and will act as a welcoming point for visitors to the city.
The blueprint retains Cathedral Square as the civic heart of the city but its appearance will be changed, with more grassed areas and trees added.
A public library will be built on its edges and the road through the Square closed to through traffic.
The old brewery site in St Asaph St will have a state-of-the-art metro sports facility. It will include a competition-size swimming pool, leisure pools and eight indoor courts.
A replacement stadium for the earthquake-damaged AMI Stadium in Phillipstown will be built on the old Turners & Growers site, on the edge of the CBD's new eastern frame. It will be a covered stadium with natural turf and seating for 35,000 people.
A new music centre and auditoriums for the performing arts will ensure the city's cultural needs are catered for.
The City Mall will remain as the retail hub of the CBD, with buildings in this part of the city designed to incorporate shops on the ground floor and office space above.
The courts and Christchurch's emergency services will be grouped together in a new precinct between Lichfield, Tuam, Durham and Colombo streets. This campus-style precinct will be home to between 1300 and 1400 workers.
Other precincts bringing together businesses and services in the health and innovation industries are included in the blueprint.
A new bus exchange, in Lichfield St, will provide parking for 12 buses and will act as the hub for the city's public transport network.
In many parts of the new CBD, roads will be slowed or closed to through traffic, but there will be a new network of walkways and cycleways.


VIDEO..............

http://www.stuff.co.nz/the-press/news/christchurch-earthquake-2011/city-blueprint/7375080/Bold-plan-for-a-new-Christchurch

[Horn]

Sounds like enough of a project to smother another sovereign state to death with public funding.