Hagley Oval Integral to Christchurch’s Regeneration

Cricket’s World Cup and the return of top-level sport to Christchurch’s Hagley Park has been integral to the city’s regeneration since the devastating earthquake of 2011, says the Guardian’s Mike Selvey.

“To a visiting eye, life is returning. A quarter of a mile from the hotel is the Re:Start Mall where small retail outlets, food stalls and cafes occupy brightly coloured shipping containers instead of shops. It’s just one of several initiatives in the city but it exudes not just enterprise and inspiration but also optimism.

“The 400 or so acres of Hagley Park in which the [Botanical] gardens are located are alive with its Sunday cricket matches as it always has been, but at its heart now is Hagley Oval. It’s area where provincial cricket has been played for many years but now stands a beautifully designed new ground – not a stadium – for international cricket, surrounded by trees and parkland, intrinsically of New Zealand. It has been expanded for this World Cup, with temporary stands that, once the last game has been played, will be taken down to leave the grass spectator banks.”

Original article by Mike Selvey, The Guardian, February 22, 2015.

Photo by Martin Hunter.