Gap Filler

A couple of weeks ago I blogged about a tiny phone booth library in England. Now I've discovered that New Zealand has its own version, and not only that, it's part of a creative use of post-earthquake and post-demolition gaps in the Christchurch city landscape. The 'Gap Filler' website describes the project as follows:

'Gap Filler is a creative urban regeneration initiative started in response to the September 4, 2010 Canterbury earthquake, and revised and expanded in light of the more destructive February 22, 2011 quake. It is now administered by the Gap Filler Charitable Trust. Gap Filler aims to temporarily activate vacant sites within Christchurch with creative projects, to make for a more interesting, dynamic and vibrant city.'

There have been a number of individual projects such as a petanque pitch and a photographic art gallery. I learned about Gap Filler it when I read Moata's Blog on the Stuff news website. She describes a book exchange Gap Filler that she uses and helps to keep tidy. It's a glass fronted fridge, complete with paving stones leading to it from the roadside, for anyone in the community to use. Moata explains the book exchange in a bit more detail and she describes a rather unique book she acquired this week. I recommend you read her blog post about the book. I thoroughly enjoy reading her blog. Her posts are entertaining and it's refreshing to enjoy the clever and thoughtful comments that people leave compared to the rubbish comments that appear on some websites.