If there is one thing Christchurch has plenty of it's gaps where once there were buildings. Is there anything more likely to kill the spirits than this kind of living evidence of disaster? When we were there before the second big quake, we noticed that a demolition site on Victoria Street had been turned into a small park. It had been done cheaply with sleepers and gravel and some planting but the result was beautiful. We now discover that this initiative was the brainchild of a group called Greening the Rubble and it even had a name: Victoria Green.
Also tackling the challenge of vacant is Gap Filler, an organisation that was set up to “play a part in assisting the work and survival of Christchurch's artists and communities by providing sites and outlets for a range of creative activity and public interaction.” While that might be a bit of a mouthful, the cunning of the idea is to put wasteland and creative minds together with a little funding to stimulate some action. So now a few of the Christchurch gaps are being filled with green space and gardens as well as temporary art installations, movies and music. You can follow Greening the Rubble and Gap Filler’s very nicely designed sites and offer up ideas and support if you can.
