At a new car park in central Christchurch, every single cent you pay goes back into the community.
Photo: Supplied / Gap Filler
Good Spot was set up by Gap Filler – an urban regeneration initiative turning Christchurch's vacant sites into temporary community projects.
Strategic director Ryan Reynolds tells us more about it.
The Good Spot car park – which is on the corner of Lichfield and Manchester streets – has machines you can pay with, and at peak times an attendant explaining the site and community activities and also giving discounts to car-poolers.
Good Spot has 67 spaces, including 3 mobility car parks, and charges on par with the commercial parking buildings in central Christchurch – $2 an hour or $5.50 a day.
They're located in Christchurch's East Frame precinct where Fletcher Living is building apartments and townhouses over the next eight years.
The government required the housing company lend sites that will be vacant for a number of years to the community, so they approached Gap Filler.
Up until a couple of years ago, Gap Filler had more of a grassroots versus corporate mindset, but that's now shifted, Reynolds says.
"You're not going to stop people from building apartments and townhouses and office buildings. If we want to have any long-term community impact it's important to get involved with this stuff ... Some of the stuff we do here could still be ongoing when those apartment buildings are occupied and could maybe help grow a sense of community in those apartments."
