The Goodfellow Group was engaged by Christchurch City Council to undertake a desktop mapping study estimating tsunami evacuation signage needs across coastal Christchurch and Banks Peninsula. Covering six distinct sub-areas, from the Waimakariri River and eastern suburbs to Lyttelton and Akaroa Harbours, the outer bays of Banks Peninsula and Kaitōrete Spit, the study applied national standards TS 01/08 and DGL 08/25 to identify the type, quantity and indicative location of signs required. Our approach combined evacuation zone mapping, road and walking networks, activity heatmaps and site visits, with each sub-area’s terrain, access constraints and visitor patterns shaping the signage strategy.

The study also drew on interviews with emergency management teams at six councils, including Wellington’s pioneering “blue line” programme, to inform recommendations for future stages. These include painted blue lines at zone boundaries, multilingual signage in key tourist destinations, and integration with community education and wider resilience initiatives. The result is a scalable framework to support Council’s budgeting, stakeholder engagement and the next phases of field-based design.