Christchurch Urban Revitalization Strategy Released

The report, created by urban design guru Jan Gehl and commissioned by Christchurch City Council, that strategizes revitalization efforts for the city centre, has just been released for organizational and public debate.

The report identifies the city's strengths (such as flat wide streets and large number of heritage buildings) and weaknesses (such as traffic dominated city and a city centre only heavily active during work hours), and puts forward 110 recommendations that emphasize pedestrian activity and encourage more cycling in the city centre. Recommendations to support these goals include continuous cycle lanes, a traffic reduced city centre, a reduction in the number of buses in Cathedral Square and on Colombo Street, and only allowing bus lanes on the periphery of the city centre.

Councillors are set to decide next week which recommendations will be given further investigation. Click here to read more in The Press's article about the release of the Jan Gehl report.

Danish Urban Designer Advises Council on Revitalisation

Urban Designer Jan Gehl has prepared a report for Christchurch City Council that lays out 35 year blueprint for injecting new life into the central city. The report, to be released next month, is presumed to promote open inner-city public spaces and shift transportation away from cars to more sustainable forms of transit such as walking, cycling, and trams.

Gehl Architects produced a similar report for the City of Melbourne in 2004, which provided Melbourne City Council figures and strategy for achieving a well-rounded revitalization of Melbourne's CBD. Jan Gehl, is considered to be "the global guru" for creating livable and sustainable cities throughout Europe, the United States, and Australia.

While the initial cost of the report to council may seem high at $314,000, it should be noted that the strategy put forward, and initiatives once brought to fruition, are thought to be a means of attracting and retaining young skilled people and quality institutions to Christchurch, an thereby a sound investment for the future of the city.

Image source: Sydney Morning Herald, September 2007