Kia ora, Talofa lava, Kia orana, Malo e lelei, Fakaalofa lahiatu, Bula vinaka, Talofa ni, Halo ola keta , Mauri, Namaste, Nǐ hǎo, Ahn nyeong ha se yo, Konnichi wa, Salaam Alekum, Ciào, Hola, Rohzj bahsh, Assaalmu Alaykum...
Healthy Christchurch is leading this innovative collaboration creating six gardens of beauty and peace to fill in some of the grey demolition sites across Christchurch.
These gardens are for peace and tranquillity as well as family and community use with spaces designed for both.
The first gardens now completed and open!
The Pacifica (Maori and Pacific Peoples) and Greater South East Asia Places of Tranquillity officially opened on Monday 27th October 2014 after three and half years of design, consultation and completion of the sites. CERA provided the use of the ‘Orange Tree’ site on the corner of Manchester Street and Cambridge Terrace.
View the concept design for the Pacifica Garden by Gerrard Thomson [PDF].
View the concept design for the South East Asia Garden by Carolyn Ramsbottom [PDF].
Thanks to our partners Greening the Rubble who provided the contract hours for three months to build these gardens.
Find out more about Greening the Rubble.
Progress and how to get involved with the remaining Places of Tranquillity
Creator Michelle Whitaker says that “the long-term aim is to find more vacant sites and funding for the remaining four garden designs: Greater North West Asia, Africa, Euro-Slavic and Latin America. Then when the city is ready to have the sites back, they can hopefully go into the residential red zones to provide beauty and tranquility along the river”.
There are still 4 more gardens to be created, and they can’t be created without you! The gardens are about community and all those that make up our city.
Organisations and individuals are invited to get involved in the creation of these beautiful gardens.
You can volunteer to help and support the creation of these sites. Contact Greening the Rubble if you want to volunteer (coordinator[at]greeningtherubble.org). They can then let you know specific details closer to the time.
Greening the Rubble is on the look out for appropriate sites. Please get in touch if you are a landlord or are aware of a suitable site (coordinator[at]greeningtherubble.org).
Bringing the Places of Tranquillity designs to life
This is a Healthy Christchurch collaboration in partnership with the city's ethnic communities to include their traditions, cultures and spiritual beliefs. This ensures that these communities' voices and presence is more visible in the rebuild of our city.
There are three key partners in this collaborative project. Greening the Rubble are providing expertise in temporary site development and project managing the creation. Lincoln University School of Landscape Architecture provided the student competition and are supporting the winning students and their designs into fruition. Community and Public Health (CDHB) provide the overall project management, networks and promotion.
Download or read the Places of Tranquility Evaluation Report [1MB PDF] This highlights good practice in working within partnerships.
Community engagement with Maori, Pacific and culturally diverse communities is supported by:
- Hagley Community College English Language School
- The Christchurch Migrants Centre
- The Multi-Cultural Council
- Christchurch Resettlement Services.
- Community and Public Health
- Whakaraupo Carving Centre
Read an article on the Places of Tranquillity in Happyzine (May 2012).
The Places of Tranquility garden designs
In 2012 Lincoln University School of Landscape Architecture students created 40 beautiful designs for the Places of Tranquillity. Six winning designs were chosen from the 995 votes made online or at the displays at Community and Public Health and the Migrant Centre.
The six winners were announced at the Healthy Christchurch Hui on the 31st May 2012. Each winning student received a Certificate and a $50 Scorpio Book Voucher. The awards were presented by Michelle Mitchell, General Manager of the CERA Wellbeing Team.
Seed funding was obtained from these Healthy Christchurch Champions:
- CPIT
- Partnership Health
- Canterbury District Health Board, and
- Christchurch City Council.
Healthy Christchurch is leading this project in collaboration with Lincoln University School of Landscape Architecture, and Greening the Rubble. Other supporters of the project include:
- Hagley Community College English Language Centre
- Christchurch Migrants Centre
- All Right? Wellbeing Campaign
- Christchurch Resettlement Services
- Christchurch Multicultural Council
- Christchurch Garden City Trust
- Avon-Otakaro Network.