Inside

City

C is for Ōtautahi - Christchurch

The Bats (the band, not the critters), Sir Richard Hadlee (‘w@^ker’ I hear Bay 13 scream in my child’s mind) and Eileen Fairbairn (climber, geeographer and teacher - queen!) all hail from Christchurch but, I’m yet to put my finger on it exactly. I’d love to visit, especially for the wonderful work they are doing in green spaces and biodiversity.

The Urban Forest Plan

Like City National Parks (thanks London 🌳) and plans around the world (including Melbourne’s), Christchurch is embracing the idea of urban forests which means more than just planting and maintaining trees. Forests are more than trees but often city administrators can’t see the wood for the, well.. trees. The resource is not wood of course, it’s preserving and growing what we have - before we lose it. And more.

When Europeans arrived there was little forest left (according to one source) with 30 hectares of Papanui Bush and 22 hectares of Riccarton Bush / Putaringamotu.

Here’s a rather striking scene with a heavy dose of colonialism:

“At certain time of the year the bush abounded with wood pigeon/keruru and kaka, and settlers would pass the time by shooting teal, paradise ducks and grey ducks from their verandahs. This was at a time when the area was covered by a large stand of forest, dominated by tōtara, mātai, kahikatea and kānuka trees.”

Putaringamotu forest

Conversely the first peoples of the area walked more lightly on the land. “Traditionally, Māori believe there is a deep connection between humans, the land and the natural world. This connection is expressed through ‘kaitiakitanga’, a way of managing the environment based on the Māori world view that humans are an integral and equal part of nature.”

Locals together seem to have a good handle on it today:

“Trees define our parks, neighbourhoods, and streets and are an essential part of Ōtautahi Christchurch’s character and identity. Many of us appreciated the value of trees in our lives during the Covid-19 pandemic, when getting outdoors and into green public spaces was important for our wellbeing. And, many people will recall how green and open spaces provided refuge and gathering places for residents and emergency services following the Christchurch earthquakes.”

Here are their targets for their 50-year plan. For me their targets for tree cover for streets, residential and commercial land use could be much higher, but, they are making a start.

The plan

Biodiversity

The local strategy to protect the amazing nature to be found in and close to the city stands a chance, perhaps more than the teal and ducks near the verandahs of the 1800s.

“We are a part of New Zealand’s incredible variety of living things. We live in a unique place, with native species which do not occur anywhere else in the world. Biodiversity touches and benefits all aspects of our lives. The variety of our biodiversity is fragile, but we can all help to protect it. Even small steps can make a big difference and there are many things we can do.”

Here’s hoping all get behind it.

This video did make me smile, almost as much as my friend Jo’s ducklings over the back fence in NZ (though not Christchurch it must be said). Thanks Jon!

Bow down to the wild things.

Concept

Citadels

Citadels can be found across Iberia, from the mesmerising Walden 7 (below) to the Castelo de São Jorge in Lisbon. They are found across the world too, of course, and mean ‘a walled enclosure’, often high up. Historically they were a defensive outpost or stronghold in a city, but over time gardens appeared, maybe a pool and some geraniums invariably go in.

Citadels can blur the lines with a Paradise, or ‘walled pleasure garden’, like The Alhambra in Granada (also below) which pre-dates the Christian idea of heavenly paradise. The term goes all the way back to Old Persian 𐎱𐎼𐎭𐎹𐎭𐎠𐎶 p-r-d-y-d-a-m /paridaidam/, and Avestan 𐬞𐬀𐬌𐬭𐬌⸱𐬛𐬀𐬉𐬰𐬀 pairi-daêza-

A tiled labyrinth

Much as military personnel, citizens and stock, crops were protected - the gardens too became a source of pride and relief in an unkind world. Something to treasure.

Walden 7, built by the dazzling Ricardo Bofill, will be fifty years old this year and captures everything I admire about the concept of citadels: they are bold, have clear intent and provide a strange togetherness for the inhabitants. ‘We are here against the others’ (who are just like us anyway).

I am really in love with them as an idea, even their small gardens and historic shared space for being together in nature, but their obvious drawbacks mean they are not attractive for a truly integrated city or urban environment. Perhaps the idea of a citadel is even more noxious as a legal land title or community based idea in cities, than an actual fortification. Exclusive postcodes, gated communities and apartment buildings with heavy security carry the idea forward.

If only they were just a bit of 70s kitsch and tile.

قصر الحمراء (or ‘Alhambra’) in Granada, Southern Spain. It is a ‘pearl set in emeralds’, as moorish poets decribed it, with the castle flanked by lush gardens.

The Alhambra, Granada.

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Plan

Girona Shores, a new seafront

Girona is a short drive north of Barcelona in Catalunya. It sits in some of the most beautiful country you can imagine, some of which has been shaped to form Girona Shores. While other cities embrace their ports and coastline, Girona decided to embrace the forests, fields and parks licking at their fringe as their own green ‘shoreline’. It allowed them to re-think what a city is and embrace a healthier balance between the built environment and the nature within view.

I saw Martí Franch, founder of EMF landscape architects in Girona, speak at Future Cities in Melbourne about the project and the caught up with him after for a call about his work.

It’s hard to do the work justice but I’ll attempt to summarise the ‘Naturban’ aesthetic briefly:

1. A light touch is all that nature needs
   Often our parks and gardens are a complete transformation of what was there before with the intent to create a better or more contemporary treatment of the land. Girona Shores works with what exists and either protects it, or simply works with it, and light shaping, additions or directing of energy.
2. Humans like order, but don’t need much
   In this project, shaped over six years, the decision was made to slash or mow to create the idea of order or an edge, to beat a soft path or create a view not there before - to feel humans are present and welcome.
3. Design is a joy, not a heavy instrument
   A stone step carved into the rock or a timber platform at the top of a hill create ‘confetti’ as a gesture to suprise and delight people who take the walk.

You can see how little convincing the locals must have needed as quarries, neglected riverbanks and interlinking zones with no purpose swelled to a sea of green - the envy of cities like Barcelona.

Visit.

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Idea

Cereal into soil 🔃

I recently found out that while cereal production is one of the biggest industries in Spain 13% of the by-product is thrown away. I’m working on finding a way to abosrb some of this into a fast nature concept where it replaces potting mix or manufactured soil equivalents. Know anything about soil? Sing out please!

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Photo

A fountain in Mexico

Most of us (myself included) have only a vague idea of how advanced The Olmec and The Mayans were before their unfornate tet-a-tet with the Spanish. This beautiful fountain in Mexico City, constructed by Diego Rivera, is of the ancient rain god Tláloc. It makes me wonder how religion in the west became so disconnected from nature. Clearly there is no higher consciousness than awareness of, and reverence for what falls around us, and the elements foundational to life.

Fuente de Tláloc

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