Queenstown Streetscape

Queenstown has never had a challenge attracting people to the streets of the CBD. The demand has always been making sure the experience was as pleasurable as the views offered from nearly every street corner – which is quite the task. Surrounded by so much natural beauty, it was decided the town centre could do with some reinvigorating, making it more aesthetically pleasing to the eye and adding to the already stunning landscape. 

Trees featured in this streetscape: 

Native & Evergreen

Deciduous

Queenstown has been the jewel-in-the-NZ-tourism-crown ever since Shotover Jet introduced high octane fun to tourists in 1965. From there, it has grown up and out, becoming the adventure capital of the world where adults can sign up to experiences that’ll have them screaming and laughing like children, and children can sign up to experiences that’ll show the adults how to really scream. 

The challenge with such popularity is keeping up while staying true to its heritage. Recognising this action was taken with a project to transform the pedestrian spaces from being merely functional to spaces that are safer to explore, and more pleasurable to wander around. Then LandLAB began devising a plan full of changes to reconnect the Town Centre to the spirit of Queenstown and its community.

The changes include widening the footpaths and extending the pedestrian areas to make them safer for families. A clear link from Queenstown Garden through to the Gondola creates a safe route for exploring visitors who can enjoy the new outside seating, walk past golden lampposts and over purposely designed bricks.

Visitors can also enjoy a number of trees from our nursery. They were purposefully selected to choose trees for a Town Centre, surrounded by views that have visitors looking out to a picturesque landscape. When visitors do look at the street ahead, vying for their attention, are lots of bright, shiny stores. Yet the selected trees worked. 

Take CARPODETUS serratus – NZ Native Marble Leaf, the immensely attractive marble-like leaves are reminiscent of the Southern Alps valleys (when viewed from above) and the small white flowers of Summer bring a freshness that reflects the clear alpine setting. Then there’s the HOHERIA angustifolia – NZ Native Lacebark, a tree that’s as equally attractive to visitors as Queenstown, although in this case we’re talking about the Bellbirds and Tui who find it hard to resist the star-shaped white flowers.

These may seem like tenuous reasons for why these trees work in Queenstown CBD but we would encourage you to visit and take a look for yourself, because they certainly work with their surroundings. What cannot be denied is the ability of the trees selected to survive and thrive in the Alpine conditions, where long Summer days and stark Winter mornings are equally embraced. Which makes them suitable for just about anywhere in New Zealand really.

Footnote: A time-lapse video of the transformation can be watched here.