Back on Track: Transit-Oriented Territories for Lyttelton’s Waterfront

Abstract

Ensuring the resilient development of a city and its community following a seismic upheaval is a difficult process however this also presents a rare opportunity to reassess the frameworks within which the built environment is redeveloped.

In the sequence of devastating 2011 Canterbury earthquakes, Christchurch’s port settlement of Lyttelton sustained significant urban and infrastructural damage. In subsequent efforts to repair and develop Lyttelton’s damage, the Lyttelton Port Company (LPC) and Christchurch City Council (CCC), along with the Lyttelton community, have produced strategic recovery plans that aim to deliver enhanced Port infrastructure, operational capacities and urban amenities for the community. As one of the largest infrastructural rebuilds in New Zealand’s history, the redevelopment of Lyttelton’s damaged harbour and township presents a most opportune circumstance in which to investigate and test infrastructure as an area of design inquiry.

In critiquing Lyttelton’s recovery plans, this thesis identifies the need to investigate the ability of existing transport infrastructure to act as a mechanism to support, regenerate, and ultimately influence the fractured urban territory. The primary aim of this design-led research is to address infrastructural interventions that seek to organise and resolve the Harbour’s contentious multi-modal, public and private operational contexts. Subsequently, the thesis proposes an inter-modal transport terminal and associated infrastructure for Lyttelton’s waterfront.

The design capitalises on Lyttelton’s opportunity to host cruise ships and Christchurch’s resounding public desire for commuter rail through integrating within a single structure; a purpose-built cruise berth, terminal, community amenities and facilities for existing ferry services, with a commuter rail system connecting Lyttelton to Christchurch’s CBD.

The design proposal delivers a transport infrastructure that is effective in organising territories and provides a case for the introduction of intermodal public transport systems as a means to regenerate and urbanise communities.

While this thesis tests a specific context, the design-led research contributes to the active debate surrounding Christchurch’s future transportation decisions: intermodal transport systems hold significant social, environment and economic merit and are a infrastructural strategy that actively offsets the conditions of urban sprawl, public transport disinvestment, and the consequential degradation of the environment, concerning New Zealand cities.