Christchurch Central City

Suburb in Christchurch, New Zealand

Christchurch Central City
Suburb
Cathedral Square – the heart of the central city. The Cathedral suffered heavy damage in the 2011 earthquake, with its tower and part of the main building collapsing. It was announced in September 2017 that the building would be reinstated.
Coordinates: 43°31′52″S 172°38′11″E / 43.531°S 172.6365°E / -43.531; 172.6365
Country	New Zealand
City	Christchurch
Local authority	Christchurch City Council
Electoral ward	Central[1]
Community board	Waipapa Papanui-Innes-Central
Established	1850
Area [2]
• Land	634 ha (1,567 acres)
Population  (June 2024)[3]
• Total	8,350
Hospitals	Christchurch Hospital

Fendalton	St Albans	Richmond South
Riccarton	Christchurch Central City	Linwood
Addington	Sydenham	Phillipstown

Christchurch Central City or Christchurch City Centre is the geographical centre and the heart of Christchurch, New Zealand. It is defined as the area within the Four Avenues (Bealey Avenue, Fitzgerald Avenue, Moorhouse Avenue and Deans Avenue^[4]) and thus includes the densely built up central city, some less dense surrounding areas of residential, educational and industrial usage, and green space including Hagley Park, the Christchurch Botanic Gardens and the Barbadoes Street Cemetery.

It suffered heavy damage in the 2010 Canterbury earthquake and was devastated in the 2011 Christchurch earthquake. Following this second earthquake, the Central City Red Zone was set up and, with a gradually shrinking area, remained inaccessible except to authorised contractors until June 2013. However, proposals to relocate the city centre elsewhere, to avoid future damage, were considered both uneconomical (as much of the infrastructure was still mainly intact) and unnecessary, as the rebuilt city centre would be to modern building standards so as to be able to withstand similar quakes and liquefaction in the future.^[5]