Christchurch was heavily industrialised in the early 20th century, with the opening of the Main South Line railway and the development of state housing saw rapid growth in the city's economy and population.

Christchurch has hosted numerous international sporting events, notably the 1974 British Commonwealth Games at the purpose-built Queen Elizabeth II Park.

[20] Prior to European occupation of the modern-day greater Christchurch area, the land was originally swampland with patchworks of marshland, grassland, scrub and some patches of tall forest of mostly kahikatea, mataī and tōtara.

[21] Christchurch was rich in birdlife prior to European colonisation, as they burned down forests and introduced predators, it led to local extinction of native birds.

[28] Around c. 1500 the Kāti Māmoe iwi migrated south from the east coast of the North Island and invaded the Christchurch basin, ultimately gaining control of much of Canterbury.

[29] In South New Brighton there was a major Māori settlement named Te Kai-a-Te-Karoro, this was an important food-gathering area to Ngāi Tūāhuriri that had kelp gull presence and mānuka scrub.

[54][55][56] Godley ordered that all work on the road should stop, leaving the steep foot and pack horse track that had been hastily constructed over the hill between the port and the Heathcote valley as the only land-access to the area of Christchurch.

[57] Goods that were too heavy or bulky to be transported by pack horse over the Bridle Path were shipped by small sailing vessels some 13 kilometres (8.1 mi) by sea around the coast and up the Avon Heathcote Estuary to Ferrymead.

[84] The 1888 earthquake caused the highest 7.8 metres of the Christchurch Cathedral spire to collapse, many chimneys were broken, and the Durham Street Methodist Church had its stonework damaged.

[122] Although lower on the moment magnitude scale than the previous earthquake, the intensity and violence of the ground shaking was measured to be IX (Violent), among the strongest ever recorded globally in an urban area, which killed 185 people.

On 15 March 2019, fifty-one people died from two consecutive mass shootings at Al Noor Mosque and Linwood Islamic Centre by an Australian white supremacist.

[146]: 14 As a consequence of the flat terrain and spring-fed streams, large parts of the area now occupied by Christchurch City were originally a coastal wetland, with extensive swamp forests.

An early European visitor was William Barnard Rhodes, captain of the barque Australian, who climbed the Port Hills from Lyttelton Harbour in September 1836 and observed a large grassy plain with two small areas of forest.

[161] Towns and settlements in the functional urban area include: Christchurch has a temperate oceanic climate (Köppen: Cfb) with a mild summer, cool winter, and regular moderate rainfall.

A notable feature of the weather is the nor'wester, a hot föhn wind that occasionally reaches storm force, causing widespread minor damage to property.

[163] Like many cities, Christchurch experiences an urban heat island effect; temperatures are slightly higher within the inner-city regions compared to the surrounding countryside.

[170] On cold winter nights, the surrounding hills, clear skies, and frosty calm conditions often combine to form a stable inversion layer above the city that traps vehicle exhausts and smoke from domestic fires to cause smog.

[204] The four largest industries in the city, based on the percentage of filled jobs were healthcare and social assistance, professional scientific and technical services, construction, and retail trade.

[205] A number of nationally and internationally recognised brands and companies were founded and have their headquarters in Christchurch including Macpac, Kathmandu, PGG Wrightson, Tait Communications, Cookie Time, and Smiths City.

In software, Cantabrian Gil Simpson founded a company that made LINC and Jade programming languages, and a management buyout spawned local firm Wynyard Group.

These included Pulse Data, which became Human Ware (making reading devices and computers for blind people and those with limited vision) and CES Communications (encryption).

[211] Dairying has grown strongly in the surrounding areas, with high world prices for milk products and the use of irrigation to lift grass growth on dry land.

The Clothing Distribution Center in Christchurch had more than 140,000 pieces of extreme cold weather gear for issue to nearly 2,000 United States Antarctic Program participants in the 2007–08 season.

The largest multiplexes were the Hoyts 8 in the old railway station on Moorhouse Avenue (now replaced by EntX)[233] and Reading Cinemas (also eight screens) in the Palms Shopping Centre in Shirley.

[251] Christchurch has a long history with performing arts, dating back to December 1861, when the first theatre opened on the current site of The Press building on Gloucester Street.

Promoters, Venues and clubs such as Bassfreaks, The Bedford and Dux Live regularly have international, and New Zealand acts within the Drum and Bass scene performing live in Christchurch, along with dance parties, raves and gigs all featuring NZ and local Drum and Bass DJs, with often two or three happening on a single night or weekend (e.g. 2010 when UK Dubstep DJ Doctor P with Crushington was playing at The Bedford, while simultaneously Concord Dawn featuring Trei and Bulletproof was playing at Ministry).

The convention centre, now called Te Pae, hosts several events at the same time; starting with space for up to 2,000 people, this complements facilities in Auckland and Queenstown.

[313] The topology of the network broadly follow a spoke–hub distribution paradigm, with major routes intersecting the city and crossing at the central Christchurch Bus Interchange.

[327] There is a cable car system called the Christchurch Gondola which operates as a tourist attraction, providing transport from the Heathcote Valley to the top of Mount Cavendish in the city's south-east.

[343] Today, Orion owns and operates the local distribution network servicing the city, with electricity fed into it from two Transpower substations at Islington and Bromley.