Hi Thomas,
I appreciate your feedback – thanks 🙂 I will be narrowing the focus once I get the ball rolling and have scoped the literature a bit more. How to incorporate the previously built/now unbuildable land into the remaining cityscape is certainly something I’d like to look at.
The thing is, I am am only writing a Master’s dissertation and while I would love to come up with a complete design strategy for Christchurch, the scale of that project would be a bit too big (I have already asked my supervisors about this..). What I hope to provide is a useful resource for landscape architects and local authorities in the form of a collection of best practice examples of how to consider the landscape in fast tracked planning and redevelopment of this scale. I certainly don’t suggest replicating case studies from around the world and overlaying them on Christchurch, but I merely hope to seek and learn from projects in the past to create an even better outcome for Christchurch.
The thing is, in NZ, good urban design is not a given. Our landscape planning legislation does not require good urban design practices, and because many of the development budgets are so small, cuts to the budget are unfortunately made on the landscape architect and the creative aspects of the design. Basically, I hope to provide enough proof from case studies around the world, that landscape architects are essential in this post-disaster situation for creating innovative outcomes that benefit the city in the long term.
I have many dreams for the new design of Christchurch. However, I need to be able to back myself if I want to be heard. I plan to take the profession in new directions as soon as I get into practice 🙂
