Controlling and altering nature was an early and ongoing concern for colonial Christchurch, from drainage and flood control and the introduction of European plants and animals to the development of the “garden city.” 
This section focusses on the interaction of people and the environment in Ōtautahi - Christchurch.

People in the Landscape

For an overview of the connection Ngāi Tahu has with the landscape, see:

• "Ngāi Tahu and the Canterbury landscape: a broad context" chapter 2 of Southern Capital: Christchurch: Towards a City Biography 1850-2000.
• Te Whakatau Kaupapa: Ngāi Tahu resource management strategy for the Canterbury region.
• Mahaanui Iwi Management Plan 2013. This plan provides guidance on environmental decisions and an understanding of Ngāi Tahu values for the protection of taonga.  
• A series of clips on our local environment created by Ngāi Tahu and Environment Canterbury are available on YouTube. 

​​The European approach to the Christchurch landscape is discussed in:

• “Confronting nature” chapter 3 of Southern Capital: Christchurch: Towards a City Biography 1850-2000. 
• ​Christchurch swamp to city: a short history of the Christchurch Drainage Board, 1875-1989. 

Browse the catalogue using subject keywords such as: 

• Heathcote Avon estuary 
• restoration ecology Christchurch 
• wetlands Christchurch 
• natural resources -- New Zealand -- Canterbury -- management 

See also Tī Kōuka Whenua from Christchurch City Libraries, it provides brief insights into significant sites throughout the region. 

The Garden City 

Matt Morris's online thesis A history of Christchurch home gardening from colonisation to the Queen's visit: Gardening culture in a particular society and environment (2006) shows "how gardening discourses related to ideas about the maintenance of the social and cultural order", and undertook case studies which showed the limited but significant effect that gardening discourses had on Christchurch gardens. 

NZ On Screen has a 1952 film produced by the City Council: Christchurch-Garden City of New Zealand and there is a range of books which refer to the garden city in their title. This 1988 radio documentary Garden City Springtime, focuses on Hagley Park and the city's gardens in Spring.

The Christchurch Beautifying Association is over 100 years old. See our publications by and about the Association here. 

Documents related to Hagley Park and the Botanic Gardens can be found on the Christchurch City Council website, including a detailed history of the facilities. In 1994, Hagley Park was patrolled by police on horseback, as you can hear in this radio documentary

For more books on the history of gardening in Christchurch, search the catalogue using the subject gardening New Zealand Christchurch history.

The Canterbury Horticultural Society's journal The City Beautiful contains advice and comment on gardens, gardening, plants and more.Our holdings begin in 1928 and continue to 2001 (with a few name changes and gaps on the way).

For works digitised on this topic see: Christchurch, The Garden City