Department of Environmental Management

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The Department of Environmental Management promotes the advancement of knowledge, through teaching and research, that will allow the sustainable use of environmental and natural resources.

Staff publications and research activities reflect the well established interdisciplinary nature of the Department; research interests include environmental policy, planning and politics, natural resources and environmental economics, ecological economics, transport studies, biodiversity and biodiversity policy, ecological evaluation, environmental ethics, environmental education, women and the environment, the Treaty of Waitangi, Māori approaches to environmental management, indigenous peoples and sustainability and socio-cultural and political perspectives of the environment.

Recent Submissions

Now showing 1 - 5 of 1213
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    Peri-urban land use: A paper prepared for the New Zealand Land Use Advisory Council
    (Joint Centre for Environmental Sciences, University of Canterbury and Lincoln College, 1979) Barker, W. H.; Brown, H. J.
    This paper presents an overview of the issues and problems of regulating and guiding land use in the peri-urban area. The various land uses are considered, as are traditional views of the problems, and the statutory means of control. The principal findings are that the issues are both deeper and more complex than traditionally thought, and that existing land use control procedures are generally not reflecting this complexity. It is observed that the peri-urban area is very important to the well-being of both the urban area and the rural area, and that continuation of simplistic approaches to control will damage social and economic systems, and increase the chances of irreversible undesirable changes in land use, particularly on high quality soils.
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    Reshaping Christchurch’s public transport system: The potential of transit orientated development and rail : A dissertation submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the Degree of Master of Planning at Lincoln University
    (Lincoln University, 2023) Chrystal, Aidan
    Christchurch, New Zealand, is a city with a seemingly forgotten rail history. The city once had an intricate tram system that served much of the city which was removed and sealed over in the 1950s, and a heavy rail system that serviced much of the surrounding Canterbury townships and the South Island which has served only tourists since 1970. This abandoning of the rail network that once shaped the region was due to the rapid uptake of private vehicle usage which was more convenient and cheaper than rail. In recent years studies into the feasibility of reinstating public rail transport have received significant interest from local government and public due to growing concerns about climate change and the city’s urban sprawl. This research will investigate the potential of a public rail network in the Greater Christchurch region of New Zealand and will provide further analysis Rapid Mass Transit options in the region. Literature was reviewed on the current and previous rail proposals for the Greater Christchurch region as well as reviewing successful rail projects internationally. Key informant semi-structured interviews were conducted with members of the Christchurch City Council/Greater Christchurch Partnership, Environment Canterbury and The Ministry of Transport to ascertain the key barriers and enablers of implementing a rail system in Christchurch. A quantitative analysis calculated the possible ridership numbers of an comprehensive Greater Christchurch region was also conducted using ArcGis, Census Commuter Data with Excel-based equations. This helped create a key research finding of an upper limit of 376,063 daily trips or 137,262,995 yearly trips that could be moved by rail between the catchments as defined within ArcGis. Other key findings highlight the importance of transit orientated development (TOD) in the success of rail whilst highlighting the success of new rail is at the expense of other transportation modes such as private vehicles. This suggests restricting cars in densified zones such as the central city being key to influencing a mode shift. Additionally, a change in mindset is also needed from the public to adopt public transport and from planners to find better ways of examining the potential success of rail through Cost-benefit analysis.
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    Assessing the likely impacts of removing minimum parking requirements in New Zealand : A dissertation submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the Degree of Master of Planning at Lincoln University
    (Lincoln University, 2023) Ashcroft, Devon
    Minimum Parking Requirements (MPRs) determine the minimum number of car parks developers must provide based on the development, land use or activity occurring. Initially developed to manage car ownership growth and prevent the overspill of private vehicles onto surrounding streets, it has become increasingly evident that these requirements are unnecessary, and in fact, have resulted in more negative consequences than benefits. Planners and developers believe MPRs are overly restrictive, lack flexibility, and contribute to inefficient use of valuable land by providing excessive car parking rather than allocating this for housing or commercial development. Therefore, there has been a global shift toward gradually removing MPRs, with this change incorporated by New Zealand through the National Policy Statement on Urban Development 2020 (NPS-UD). Under the NPS-UD, MPRs are no longer allowed within district plans of tier 1, 2 and 3 territorial authorities, with all MPRs required to be removed by February 2022. Given the recent adoption of this change, a substantial knowledge gap exists in the research regarding implications in the New Zealand context. This research examines the potential positive and negative impacts of this policy change and how it will affect communities differently throughout New Zealand, with a specific focus on Christchurch, Auckland and Whangarei. Additionally, the research provides recommendations for complementary policies to accompany the removal of MPRs. The primary research method used was semi-structured interviews, analysed through in-depth thematic analysis. Interviewees included planners and developers from Auckland, Whangarei, and Christchurch. The findings from these interviews were compared and contrasted to existing literature and categorised into three overarching research questions. To ensure that communities gain maximum benefit from the policy change, four key recommendations are proposed to implement alongside the removal of MPRs. These recommendations include adopting a flexible and targeted approach, increasing alternative transport modes, strengthening on-street parking management and enforcement, and suggesting additional design criteria to be implemented with the removal of MPRs.
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    An analysis of the implications of planned behaviour theory on walkability in Christchurch, New Zealand : A dissertation submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the Degree of Master of Planning at Lincoln University
    (Lincoln University, 2023) Davis, Jack
    Walkability has recently become a key indicator of well-functioning cities. These cities have the ability to reduce carbon emissions, enhance social cohesion, and increase human physical health. With cities around the world striving to create more of these walkable areas, it is important to identify the primary drivers of this behaviour. This dissertation explores the implications of Planned Behaviour Theory to assess whether it can be used to predict human transport behaviour. Walkability for this study has been defined as the proximity of which, on average, people are from their needed amenities. This research took a quantitative approach and aimed to analyse the walkability across three areas of Christchurch, New Zealand, with a particular focus on how this can be applied to inform decision making on local policy. The independent variable in this study was the average time taken, in minutes, to reach essential services including healthcare, supermarkets, and education. A one-way ANOVA identified a statistically significant (F(2,54) = 35.27, p <0.001) result between the most walkable area and the two areas of less walkability. Riccarton South, identified as a 10-minute neighbourhood, contributed most significantly to this difference and was characterised by having greater access to amenities compared to the other two neighbourhoods of Somerfield West and Parklands. Two additional variables, time of day as well as day of the week, were also analysed and identified. No statistically significant result across the three neighbourhood areas were found. This research provides valuable insight into the psychological behaviour of people and provides recommendations to policy and planning practitioners as they seek to create these well functioning areas.
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    Fragmentações, Violações, and Resistência: Weaving struggle and dreams in the Carajás corridor of the Brazilian Amazon : A thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy at Lincoln University
    (Lincoln University, 2023) Figueiredo de Almeida Silva Campos, Leila
    The Estrada de Ferro Carajás is an 892 km railroad in Northern Brazil built to transports iron ore extracted by Vale S. A. from Serra dos Carajás in Pará state to ports in São Luís, Maranhão. Over the years, the connection between the railroad to other infrastructure and extractive projects has resulted on a logistics-export corridor – sometimes dubbed an “iron serpent” or “project of death” by local communities. Criss-crossing two Amazonian states, the Carajás corridor cuts through hundreds of territories of traditional peoples and communities, including Indigenous peoples, peasants, and quilombolas. Using document data and in-depth interviews interpreted through reflexive thematic analysis, this thesis aims to understand how the relationship between Vale, the state, and quilombolas contributes to the formation, expansion, and maintenance if the Carajás corridor. This thesis identifies contradictions at the heart of the iron serpent: instead of a connecting entity promoting progress, development, and cohesion, this research positions the railroad as a place of ‘Fragmentação’, ‘Violações’, and ‘Resistência’. Processes of Fragmentação (fragmentation) separate a contiguous quilombola territory in more easily manageable entities to favour the corridor. Violações (violations) encompass the cumulative harm caused by Vale and the Brazilian state in the enactment of resource regulations. Meanwhile, processes of Resistência (resistance) challenge the formation, expansion, and maintenance of the corridor, and are performed by quilombola communities and allies. This thesis brings important contributions to studies on development and resource extraction. Previous studies have tended to position mining companies as the most powerful actors in extractive areas, coercing the state to disregard regulations. My research points to a more nuanced scenario, in which the state itself enables, enacts, and relies on socioenvironmental harm - thus co-producing harm in the corridor alongside Vale. This thesis also introduces the concept of ‘silencing zones’ to reflect the physical, symbolic, and normative strategies enacted by Vale and the state to harm communities in the corridor. Finally, this study contributes to the growing literature on environmental justice by presenting community-led initiatives to resist extractive pursuits within and beyond the state, weaving new threads for state-making and territorial autonomy.