Search

After the 2010–12 earthquakes in Christchurch, New Zealand, and the subsequent demolition of multiple buildings within the central business district, a host of creative projects emerged intermittently as vacant spaces appeared in the betweenness of demolition and rebuild. This widespread do-it-yourself (DIY) urbanism brought back life and energy to the city. These expressions demonstrated how citizens can be involved in the (re-)making of a city through projects that experiment with ideas about what it means to be urban and what is possible in urban space. These projects inhabit an alter-temporality that treats the future as open-ended and time as an active force in the becoming of things. Understanding the temporality of such urban engagement in Christchurch holds significance for understanding the value of open experimentation in cities in general and the importance of process to urban learning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Canterbury Earthquake Sequence of 2010–2012 was devastating for Christchurch, New Zealand, a city built on a floodplain. The sequence resulted in widespread damage across the central business district (CBD) and residential areas. Alongside, and in contrast to, orthodox planning responses by the New Zealand Government, playful, creative, and temporary projects emerged in vacant spaces. These were designed to bring back life and energy to the city centre, and such types of activity are referred to by scholars as do‐it‐yourself (DIY) urbanism. A primary critique of DIY urbanism in the literature relates to how it has the potential to contribute to gentrification, despite its amateurish appearance and mildly subversive politics. In Christchurch, a venue built from pallets—known as the Pallet Pavilion—was constructed by an organisation known as "Gap Filler" with the help of volunteers. Gap Filler emerged after the first earthquake, inserting creative projects to bring back life and energy to the damaged CBD. By examining the Pallet Pavilion, we show that, despite its potentially gentrifying effects, DIY urbanism interventions may open up a more inclusive politics of the city. Also, and paradoxically, in the case of the Pallet Pavilion, the exercise of privilege made this inclusive politics possible. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]