I came back from Akaroa in time for sunset in Christchurch, and wanted to have a second look, in beautiful weather instead of yesterday’s rain.

Alas, it’s just as depressing. I’m still speechless.

Christchurch is inventive though. If your shopping mall is a ruin, create a temporary one. This one became so good, it might be an idea for other cities.

They created a whole shopping mall out of container cubes, colorful, built on top of each other, with glass windows… inviting you back in to shop. Food trucks? That was yesterday. Barista containers are the latest thing!

I discovered another great place, initiated by a citizen’s group called Gap filler. This initiative tries to fill the enormous voids in the heart of the city with various projects.

Art, meeting spaces, most of them temporary, destined to disappear at one point as the voids get filled again.

One of their best projects is the Pallet Pavilion. Constructed out of hundreds of blue pallets, the same ones you know from supermarkets or construction sites or big deliveries, and embellished with donated plants.

Built on the now empty gravel field of what was once the Crown Plaza Hotel, the Pallet Pavilion created a new urban space, a bar, social gathering place and open air movie theatre.

These are its last days, as it will be deconstructed at the start of April, after a long time in the city (and much longer than initially planned).

Next to it, more art: the wooden Arcades, in a line from Victoria Park out to the new Casino, they created a beautiful walkway. They, too, are only temporary.

Around both projects a number of food trucks (with yummy Mexican burritos, among others) and a couple of temporary wooden shacks, the offices of the associations that organize all this. You can even play a round of mini golf there.

All these are beautiful examples of civil society engagement, in times of crisis. When the city is devastated and what were once your watering holes, bars, shops and spaces to linger are now just ruins, empty field or holes, get active and fill them!

I can only congratulate Christchurch for its citizens, that don’t give up, but create something vibrant and new…

PS: Months later I found this interesting video about Christchurch and how people deal with the quake… Interesting watch.

The value of a city from THE WIRELESS NZ on Vimeo.