Christchurch: Caring for a wounded city

Abstract

For anthropologists Jane Schneider and Ida Susser (2003) urban wounds reflect a range of processes of destruction, from terrorism to the impacts of financial collapse. They are particularly interested in healing wounds, urban resilience, and in the processes of reconstruction. By contrast, cultural geographer Karen Till is interested in how urban wounds should be kept open, as a way of not allowing closure and the inevitable complacency that results. For Till it is state-perpetrated violence rather than an ‘outside event’ such as an earthquake which inflicts wounds, and the wound becomes a critical component in resisting the forgetting of such violence. In caring for a wounded city, we need the insights of Schneider and Susser, as well as Till, as we navigate routes to healing and recovery, at the same time as taking care not to forget the causes of the darkness. The most obvious wounds are the physical effects on the Christchurch landscape – the damage from earthquakes, flooding and fire. Less obvious are the emotional scars from terrorist attack, as well as the fall out from gruelling battles with insurance, fear and anxiety. Emotional scars too from the loss of sense of place.