Sports and event-led regeneration strategies in post-earthquake Christchurch

Abstract

Sports and event-led regeneration strategies have been a significant characteristic of major cities in the developed world since the 1970s and are an integral, though widely debated, component of urban redevelopment policy. This chapter examines the role of sports and events infrastructure and event hosting as part of post-natural disaster induced regeneration. It focuses on findings from research undertaken between April 2013 and November 2015 on the provision of new amenities for leisure and tourism in the Christchurch central business district (CBD) following the earthquakes of 2010 and 2011. Using the case of the 2010 and 2011 earthquake sequence in Christchurch in New Zealand, the chapter examines the role of sport and events in post-earthquake urban regeneration and the accompanying issues it raises with respect to governance, policy process and planning practice. Since the aftermath of the 22 February 2011 earthquake, the issue of a stadium has become one of the key rebuilding planning topics.