Margaret Mahy Playground

Margaret Mahy Playground as seen from Manchester Street

The Margaret Mahy Playground is a playground in the Christchurch Central City on the banks of the Avon River.

Following the 2011 Christchurch earthquake, the government's Recovery Plan had a "city-wide family playground" as one of the elements of the East Frame.[1] The playground opened on 22 December 2015, and it is the largest playground in the Southern Hemisphere. The total project cost exceeded NZ$40m, with NZ$19.6m for land purchase, NZ$1.3m for demolition of buildings, and NZ$20m for land development, including NZ$3m for the playground itself.[2] Having mostly received an enthusiastic response from the public, there was criticism that such an expensive playground did not cater better for children with physical disabilities.[3] The playground is named for Margaret Mahy, New Zealand's famous children's author.[4]

Elsie Locke Park in July 2013

The land incorporates the previous Elsie Locke Park, which was named after the famous activist in 1997 and was Christchurch's only park named after a resident during their lifetime.[5][6]

References

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Margaret Mahy Playground.
  1. ↑ Christchurch Central Recovery Plan : Te Mahere 'Maraka Ōtautahi' (PDF). Christchurch: Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Authority. July 2012. p. 35. ISBN 978 0 478 39718 5. Retrieved 23 December 2015.
  2. ↑ Stylianou, Giorgina (22 December 2015). "Multimillion-dollar Margaret Mahy playground open for fun in Christchurch". The Press. Retrieved 22 December 2015.
  3. ↑ Spink, Emily (13 January 2016). [How The Press covered David Bowie's 1978 visit to Christchurch "Playground 'misses mark'"] Check |url= value (help). The Press. p. A2. Retrieved 17 January 2016.
  4. ↑ "$3m playground ready to open". The Press. 17 December 2015. p. A3. Retrieved 22 December 2015.
  5. ↑ "Elsie Locke park future uncertain". The Press. 20 September 2013. Retrieved 22 December 2015.
  6. ↑ Horton, Murray (June 2001). "Obituary: Elsie Locke". Peace Researcher (Christchurch, New Zealand: New Zealand Nuclear Free Zone Committee) 23. ISSN 1173-2679. OCLC 173343104. Retrieved 5 August 2012.
This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Sunday, March 06, 2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.