Ōtautahi Christchurch

Becoming the vibrant heart of Waitaha

Christchurch has long been known as the Garden City. Yet as our city has evolved, this narrative does not fully cover the vibrant, diverse place we have become.

The historical definition of a Garden City is

a place that captures the primary benefits of the countryside and the city while avoiding the disadvantages presented by both. It testifies to a continued interest in securing a harmonious existence between humans and their natural environment.

Capturing that idea of harmony between people and nature is the concept of 'balance'. This idea, combined with hearing from locals and visitors, has evolved into talking about Ōtautahi Christchurch’s story as a city in pursuit of balance, where people are at our heart.

A city identity to drive our growth

A city story, or identity, offers a direction and way of talking about a place. It is not simply a logo, colour or tagline, but an evidence-based description used to promote and paint a picture of the city.

A clear city identity is a recognised driver of economic development, making it easier to explain why Ōtautahi Christchurch is a great place to live, to work, to visit, to study, to invest and to play. When residents buy into a city identity, it helps foster social cohesion, community pride and a sense of belonging.

On the back of work from Greater Christchurch 2050 and Destination Management Planning work that was happening across the country, ChristchurchNZ engaged both local and global experts to help shape the Ōtautahi Christchurch story.

Seven key themes emerged from the feedback

1. We love Christchurch

58% of visitors and 44% of residents listed beautiful as one of their top perceptions of the city.

Christchurch is seen as the underdog, but I really love this city and I’m so glad I moved here. It makes me feel a bit normal – it’s my place. And it’s so close to the things that I love to do like climbing and snowboarding.

2. We are the best place to be a Kiwi

67% of residents would recommend Christchurch as a place to live and 80% agreed it’s a good or excellent place to raise a family. We’re also mad about our parks, outdoor activities, and city dining.

I think one of the wonderful things about Christchurch is that it’s an amazing lifestyle that you can’t compare with anywhere else in the world.

3. We punch above our weight

We are New Zealand’s true second city – based on performance benchmarking of key metrics. But we don’t always celebrate that.

The heart of our problem is we don’t champion our city. If you go to Wellington, people talk about their city.

4. Business is in our DNA

We rank highly against international cities for our ability to attract business events, and our industries are resilient.

I describe it as the prototype city, a city of new ideas and incubation where you are able to scale to a global market.

5. We are not an entertainment hub

We’ve been rebuilt and we have been lacking in city entertainment. Only 21% of our community describe our region as 'fun' and 19% as 'cultural' or 'vibrant'. However, visitors come for other reasons – only 42% say nightlife is important in their visitation – and their top five words for Christchurch were:

• Beautiful
• Historical
• Welcoming
• Resilient
• Clean

6. We have the opportunity to become a destination

When we consider what visitors look for in a destination, Christchurch has a great match with their top ten requirements. It's time to stop saying we are a gateway to somewhere and ask them to visit us. Because everything they want is right here.

I would recommend Christchurch as a destination to every New Zealander. They should come to see the story that’s happened here post-quake.

7. We are a new city – not a post-earthquake city

This is a great time for our city.

What we’ve gained since the quakes is hopefully a vision of a new city, a new future, and it’s a fairly exciting one.