The bad, the ugly and the good: Locating the consequences of the Canterbury earthquakes on the map of planning academia

Abstract

The effects of earthquakes on the economy, society and education at large have been well documented, but little attention has been paid to the effect on an academic discipline and its related academics. Commencing on 4th September 2010 the Canterbury region in New Zealand has suffered an ongoing sequence of seismic events. The most significant of these resulted in death and wide spread destruction of much of Christchurch city and the most recent, in Hurunui/Kaikoura in North Canterbury on 14th November 2016 has cut the main state highway and rail link between the South and North Islands. Located 23 km south from Christchurch’s Cathedral Square is Lincoln University, home of Canterbury’s professionally accredited planning programmes. Drawing on surveys, interviews and documentary analysis, this paper represents a first analysis of the impacts on planning academia in New Zealand with a particular focus on Lincoln University as a case study. While some of the consequences may be indicative of a wider range of issues, there have been significant changes in the nature of the planning programme focus and content, and the research orientation of researchers and institutional relationships at home and abroad. This paper attempts to make visible the often unmarked consequences (bad, good and ugly) of ‘disasters’ on the map of a discipline.