Awarded to:
for ...
Supporting community-led planning and place-making
Following the 2010/11 Christchurch earthquakes, the Council has applied a collaborative approach that reflects the community’s desire for increased local action and decision-making.
An online ‘Shape your Place’ toolkit was launched to help Christchurch residents identify, plan and deliver their own neighbourhood projects.
Public and private areas have been transformed into meaningful community spaces – resulting in new fitness trails, pop-up theatres, playground rebuilds, street parties, and communal gardens. Amenity and community activity has also improved at various earthquake-damaged locations.
The innovative approach to urban development claimed the title of Best Practice in Non-Statutory Planning and NZPI’s supreme accolade, the Nancy Northcroft Award.
NZPI chair Karyn Sinclair says the award reflects the organisation’s strong place-making leadership, which moves away from traditional council-led master plans.
Place-making is a grassroots, collaborative approach to urban design that encourages public participation.
“Christchurch City Council is acutely aware that ownership of place lies at the neighbourhood level, and communities hold a significant amount of knowledge, initiative and attachment that can inform project scope, design, delivery and upkeep,” says Karyn.
“It is a great example of deep engagement with a community that has experienced a lot of recent social disruption.”