Christchurch is the largest city in the South Island and the second-largest city by urban area population in New Zealand. Christchurch has an urban population of 415,100, and a metropolitan population of over half a million. It is located in the Canterbury Region, near the centre of the east coast of the South Island, east of the Canterbury Plains. It is located near the southern end of Pegasus Bay, and is bounded to the east by the Pacific Ocean and to the south by the ancient volcanic complex of the Banks Peninsula. The Avon River (Ōtākaro) winds through the centre of the city, with a large urban park along its banks. With the exception of the Port Hills, it is a relatively flat city, on an average around 20 m (66 ft) above sea level. Christchurch has a reputation for being an English city, with its architectural identity and nickname the 'Garden City' due to similarities with garden cities in England, but also has a historic Māori heritage. Christchurch has a temperate oceanic climate with regular moderate rainfall.
The 1974 British Commonwealth Games were held in Christchurch, New Zealand, from 24 January to 2 February 1974. The bid vote was held in Edinburgh at the 1970 British Commonwealth Games. The event was officially named "the friendly games". There were 1,276 competitors and 372 officials, according to the official history, and public attendance was excellent. The main venue was the QEII Park, purpose-built for this event. The Athletics Stadium and fully covered Olympic standard pool, diving tank, and practice pools were all on the one site. The theme song was "Join Together", sung by Steve Allen. The event was held after the 1974 Commonwealth Paraplegic Games in Dunedin for wheelchair athletes.
The 1982 Commonwealth Games were held in Brisbane, Australia, from 30 September to 9 October 1982. The Opening Ceremony was held at the QEII Stadium, in the Brisbane suburb of Nathan. The QEII Stadium was also the athletics and archery events venue. Other events were held at the purpose-built Sleeman Sports Complex in Chandler.
Lancaster Park, also known as Jade Stadium and AMI Stadium for sponsorship reasons, was a sports stadium in Waltham, a suburb of Christchurch in New Zealand. The stadium closed permanently due to damage sustained in the February 2011 earthquake and demolished in 2019. It has since been transformed into a public recreational park with facilities for community sport, and was re-opened in June 2022.
TheArts Centre Te Matatiki Toi Ora is a hub for arts, culture, education, creativity and entrepreneurship in Christchurch, New Zealand. It is located in the Gothic Revival former Canterbury College, Christchurch Boys' High School and Christchurch Girls' High School buildings, many of which were designed by Benjamin Mountfort. The centre is a national landmark and taonga as it is home to New Zealand's largest collection of category one heritage buildings with 21 of the 23 buildings covered by Heritage New Zealand listings.
Burnside High School is a state co-educational secondary school located in the suburb of Burnside in Christchurch, New Zealand. With a roll of 2550 students, it is the largest school in New Zealand outside Auckland, and is among the country's four largest schools.
Sport is a significant aspect of the Brisbane lifestyle. Activities range from the occasional international event, annual competitions, competitive leagues and individual recreational pursuits.
Shirley Boys' High School, also known as SBHS, is a single sex state (public) secondary school in Christchurch, New Zealand. It was originally situated on a 6 hectare site in the suburb of Shirley, but in April 2019 moved, along with Avonside Girls' High School, further east to the former QEII Park, 8.6 kilometres from the city centre.
Avonside Girls' High School, is a large urban high school in Christchurch, New Zealand, with more than 1,000 girls from Year 9 to Year 13. It was formerly in the suburb of Avonside but moved in 2019, along with Shirley Boys' High School, to the former QEII Park site in the east of Christchurch.
The Avon River / Ōtākaro, sometimes rendered as the River Avon, flows through the centre of the city of Christchurch, New Zealand, and into the Pacific Ocean via the Avon Heathcote Estuary / Ihutai, which it shares with the Ōpāwaho / Heathcote River.
Village Green was a cricket venue in Christchurch, part of the sporting complex at Queen Elizabeth II Park. Between 1999 and 2011 it staged 31 first-class and 20 List A matches, as well as 28 matches in the women's inter-provincial one-day competition. It was often used for Canterbury's matches when Lancaster Park was unavailable. The ground was so severely damaged in the 22 February 2011 Christchurch earthquake that it could no longer be used.
Rugby League Park is a sports stadium in Christchurch, New Zealand. It is currently known for sponsorship reasons as Apollo Projects Stadium, and non-commercially as Christchurch Stadium.
Holy Trinity Avonside was a heritage-listed Anglican church located in Linwood, Christchurch, New Zealand. It was registered as a "Historic Place – Category I" by the New Zealand Historic Places Trust. The church building was "damaged beyond the point of repair" in the February 2011 Christchurch earthquake and was demolished the following September.
Peter Jamieson Beaven was a New Zealand architect based in Christchurch, who lived for his last few months in Blenheim. He was a co-founder of New Zealand's first heritage lobby group, the Civic Trust.
The 1981 Pacific Conference Games was the fourth edition of the international athletics competition between five Pacific coast nations: Australia, Canada, Japan, New Zealand and the United States. This was the first occasion that athletes from beyond the Pacific grouping were allowed to compete at the tournament. A total of 21 men's and 16 women's athletics events were contested. Combined track and field events were included for the first time, in the form of the men's decathlon and the women's pentathlon. The women's 3000 metres was also a new addition to the programme.
The 2016 Christchurch mayoral election was part of the New Zealand local elections held on 8 October. The incumbent mayor, former Labour MP and government Minister Lianne Dalziel, who was first elected in the 2013 mayoral election was reelected, winning a commanding 83.9% of formal votes cast in the poll. However New Zealand's local government elections in 2016 were characterized by a nationwide low participation rate which saw only 41.8% of enrolled voters cast a ballot in the election. Christchurch's turnout rate was particularly low with only 38.3% of enrolled voters actually voting, down from 52.2% in 2010.
Olga May Jekyll was a New Zealand fencer, who represented her country at the 1950 British Empire Games.
The Christchurch Central Recovery Plan, often referred to as the Blueprint, is the plan developed by the Fifth National Government of New Zealand for the recovery of the Christchurch Central City from a series of earthquakes, in particular the February 2011 Christchurch earthquake. The Canterbury Earthquake Response and Recovery Act 2010 required the Christchurch City Council to develop a recovery plan for the central city. The plan, known as Share an Idea, was presented to the Minister for Canterbury Earthquake Recovery, Gerry Brownlee, in December 2011. Brownlee rejected the city council's plan, established the Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Authority (CERA), and tasked that organisation with developing a plan based on the city council's draft. The Christchurch Central Recovery Plan was published in July 2012 and defined 17 anchor projects. All projects where a timeline was specified were to have been finished by 2017; none of the 17 projects have been delivered on time and some have not even been started yet.
North New Brighton is a suburb on the northern side of Christchurch city. It was originally known as North Beach and was readily accessible from Christchurch city by tram. It was renamed North New Brighton in 1953. A large sports centre and swimming pool is on the same locale as the former Queen Elizabeth II Park. The centre was rebuilt and opened in 2018.
Sport in Christchurch has developed from the time of the initial settlement of Canterbury by British migrants, and remains an important part of community life. Cricket and rugby union have been popular team sports since the early years of settlement, with the first cricket club established in the city in 1851, and the first rugby club in 1863. Interest in organised sports has diversified and now includes a wide range of codes. In 2022, the top five sporting codes in Canterbury based on club membership were netball, touch rugby, rugby union, golf and cricket.
