Written in response to an e-mail from a foreign architect, considering migration to New Zealand …

New Zealand is a fairly well-developed country, although the population is pretty small — only 3 million in the whole country, with about 350,000 in Christchurch — so things are on a much smaller scale than you will be used to if you’re from a bigger city.

I’m afraid I can’t really compare housing well, as I’ve lived here all my life and haven’t seen much else, but I can tell you that most people live in detached housing — i.e. a house on a section of land rather than an apartment building or a flat built together with many others.

Older housing has no insulation - COLD - but newer (less than 10 years old) houses are quite comfortable to live in.

There are 5-6 tall buildings (around 10 storeys) in Christchurch, but no “skyscrapers”. Here’s a picture I took in town recently:

    <a href="http://www.myelin.co.nz/chch/2005/1/13/">Cashel Street</a>

Most of the landscape looks more like this — the occasional 4-6 storey building, surrounded by single storey buildings:

    <a href="http://www.myelin.co.nz/chch/2004/12/17/">CTV building</a>

Here’s a car park:

    <a href="http://www.myelin.co.nz/chch/2004/12/3/">Inner city car park</a>

And a restaurant:

    <a href="http://www.myelin.co.nz/chch/2004/12/2/">Alva Rados</a>

Right now there is a housing boom, and there is a LOT of building going on. It might collapse in the next few years, though, so I wouldn’t bet your future on it continuing.