Christchurch Central City

Christchurch Central City
Cathedral Square – the heart of the central city. The Cathedral suffered heavy damage in the 2011 earthquake, with its tower and part of the main building collapsing. It is not yet certain whether it will be reconstructed.
Basic information
Local authority	Christchurch City Council
Electoral ward	Hagley-Ferrymead
Date established	1850
Population	7653 (30 June 2006)
Facilities
Hospitals(s)	Christchurch Hospital
Surrounds
North	St Albans
Northeast	Richmond South
East	Linwood
Southeast	Phillipstown
South	Sydenham
Southwest	Addington
West	Riccarton
Northwest	Fendalton

Christchurch Central City is the geographical centre and the heart of Christchurch, New Zealand. It is defined as the area within the four avenues (Bealey Avenue, Fitzgerald Avenue, Moorhouse Avenue and Deans Avenue) and thus includes the densely built up central city, some less dense surrounding areas of residential, educational and industrial usage, and green space including Hagley Park, the Christchurch Botanic Gardens and the Barbadoes Street Cemetery.

It suffered heavy damage in the 2010 Canterbury earthquake and was devastated in the 2011 Christchurch earthquake. Following this second earthquake, the Central City Red Zone was set up and, with a gradually shrinking area, remained inaccessible except to authorised contractors until June 2013. However, proposals to relocate the city centre elsewhere, to avoid future damage, were considered both uneconomical (as much of the infrastructure was still mainly intact) and unnecessary, as the rebuilt city centre would be to modern building standards so as to be able to withstand similar quakes and liquefaction in the future.

At the centre of the city is Cathedral Square, surrounding the Anglican cathedral, Christ Church. The area around this square and within the four avenues of Christchurch is considered the central business district of the city.

The city centre is laid out in a grid pattern, interrupted only by the curvilinear alignment of the Avon River, and the two diagonals High Street and Victoria Street. Christchurch has four pairs of one-way streets. The grid pattern within the outermost one-way streets is very regular, as this is the area that was laid out in the original survey. The surrounding area, i.e. the belt between the outer one-way streets and the avenues, was developed later in a progressive fashion and does not have the regularity of the core area.

Like most of the city, the centre is relatively flat.