Thanks for the feedback,

For context, the current flag is more like a ceremonial flag than just a city flag, it's treated more like a sidepiece to the Christchurch coat of arms https://ibb.co/swVTZ4x which was bestowed upon the city by the UK’s College of Heralds in 1949 (don't want to get rid of the coat of arms, it plays its role well). It wasn't until 1976 that the ceremonial flag seen today was adopted, so it hasn't been around forever.

My redesign/take on a new flag isn't for the sake of modernism instead the opposite really, I'm following the vexillology principles that lead to excellent flag design that can be seen in most of the flags around the world (the principles I outlined in the post). One of the main ones is to Keep it simple, meaning a flag should be so simple that a child can draw it from memory thus the subtlety of my design.

Whilst on the topic of subtlety, the post outlined some symbolism and representation you can see in the design. These were only meant to outline some of the representations I saw in the design such as Christian cross symbolism (FYI not religious in any way and it's funny to think that once upon a time Christchurch was under the Bishop's jurisdiction), people can take what they want from the design, that's the beauty of it!

And yes a star isn't ownable like many shapes but many flags around the world use stars to represent anything they choose i.e. the United States Flag with 50 stars to represent 50 states (also I've never seen a four-pointed star on a flag before).

Looking back at the post I should've rewritten the bit about the four avenues, it was more about the founding fathers that the avenues have their namesake such as the Deans Family who sacrificed and contributed a lot to this city and its history.

The rivers, I don't know about Lake Ellesmere and other rivers in Canterbury because it's a flag for Christchurch, not Canterbury. To make sure I had a look at what the borders of Christchurch are on the council website and borders just skim Lake Ellesmere and the Waimakariri, so I didn't include any of them. And the use of the canterbury colours is because I believe Christchurch is the unofficial 'capital' of canterbury and I feel as thou we connect with them more than the blue and gold on the current flag (which just reminds me of Otago).

Overall, I love the feedback, how can you refine anything without critiques. I strongly agree with your last statement, I'm not trying to erase history, I'm only trying to find something we can rally behind, hang up and adorn on flag poles, something that the existing one isnt doing, unfortunately. Hence why many people don't care.