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While NZ twitter was arguing over whether Auckland or Wellington is better a couple of weeks ago, I discovered a new candidate for best wee NZ city: Christchurch! (THREAD) (1/15)
The first thing that struck me was the lack of cars in the city centre. It was just wonderful to walk around the city centre, totally relaxed, quiet, and the air felt so clean (probably helped that there was a chilly breeze too) (2/15)
And at almost every block, there's a laneway of some sort. Throughout the rebuild, they've gone mad for laneways, and I LOVE it. There's all sorts of little nuggets hidden down them and they break the big blocks up nicely (3/15)
And what used to be multi-lane roads along the riverside are now slower, calmer shared spaces or lower-capacity roads (4/15)
And yes, there are still derelict buildings, but the city has done an amazing job of activating spaces whenever there's an empty lot. It felt like there was something interesting filling every space and making the city feel alive! (5/15)
In terms of denser urbanism, there's a fair few apartments and terraced houses going in, especially on the fringes of the city centre. Some of them had great car-free alleyways for their front doors (6/15)
And did I mention, they have actual CYCLEWAYS. And lots of them. As always, they're not perfect, but cycling through Christchurch was a breeze. (7/15)
They have painted cycleways, protected cycleways, wide shared paths through beautiful parks, you name it! (8/15)
They also have these neat semi-modal filters, which have signalised (or unsignalised) crossings for bikes but only allow cars to go left-in and left-out, making for much lower car volumes along the greenways; lovely (9/15)
And the bike parking made me feel like I'm in the Netherlands. Seriously, check out these sweet endless bike racks at the uni, these double-height racks at the bus station, and these covered parks in a central parking building! (10/15)
Another wee detail is the sensors in the ground, which picks up people cycling a wee bit before a signal, which then turns green just as you arrive (didn’t manage to get any good photos of them though) (11/15)
I think Christchurch is also a candidate for best city for kids. Aside from the increased freedom from being able to bike around, there’s the most incredible playground I’ve ever seen, and a wonderful kids space at the library (12/15)
Also sidenote, this old lamppost was salvaged from a wee park that got covered in the quakes, and was popped alongside a new shared path heading out towards Sumner along the coast, which I thought was super cute (13/15)
So watch out Auckland and Wellington, and take some notes ;) because Christchurch has got some great things going that make it a great shout for the loveliest, most liveable city in NZ! (If you don't mind the cold, of course) (14/15)
Thanks Adam for showing around your beautiful city, and thanks Andy for coming along for the ride :) Here’s some final pics of the view from Adam’s Sumner family home. (15/15)
