Christchurch residents enjoyed pre-quake lifestyle

Christchurch residents rated their overall quality of life highly before the February earthquake, according to the nation-wide survey released today.

In the biennial Quality of Life survey which measures the perceptions of over 6000 residents living in eight of the country’s largest cities, Christchurch scored highest with 95% of residents rating their quality of life as good or extremely good, compared to Wellington 94% and Auckland 92%.

Surveying in Christchurch finished on 21 February, the day before the devastating earthquake. Christchurch Mayor Bob Parker says the results should be interpreted as residents’ pre-earthquake perceptions on factors such as health and wellbeing, crime and safety, Council processes, lifestyle, and public transport.

 “With regard to overall quality of life, Christchurch rated the highest of any of the eight cities and the key components of quality of life for residents in order of importance were family, health, financial stability and environment/location,” Mr Parker says.

“All of these areas are potential risk factors for the city now and into the future as a result of the earthquake and its aftermath. What is of value with this survey is the number of positives in residents’ perceptions pre-quake which will assist us greatly as to what our residents’ value as we rebuild our city.”

While Christchurch had the highest score (97%) of residents feeling they had easy or very easy access to parks or greenspace, it had the lowest score (36%) around the perception of safety in the central city after dark.

Just over two thirds of Christchurch residents (68%) have a sense of pride in the way their city looks and feels. The most common reason given for a sense of pride was the green city concept and beautiful parks and gardens, followed by Christchurch being a good place to live for lifestyle reasons.

The two most frequently mentioned reasons cited by those who did not have a sense of pride was loss of heritage buildings as a result of the September earthquake and the city looking drab and needing sprucing up.