Visitors’ and locals’ views of environmental management in Christchurch, New Zealand

Abstract

The objective of the research presented in this report was to develop an understanding of visitors' and locals' views of environmental management in Christchurch. A total of 63 people were selected in a diverse, non-random sample with roughly equal proportions of men and women, and including 21 overseas visitors, 33 domestic visitors and 22 local people. Each subject sorted a pre selected set of structured photographs into nine piles, ranging from those that represented good environmental management to those that represented poor environmental management, to create their own Q sort. All Q sorts were factor analysed to identify three factors or views on environmental management. Subjects' attitudes, beliefs and expectations in making their selections were recorded in interviews and provide an additional basis for interpreting the three different factors. The themes distinctive to the factors, and the themes that are common to the factors, are discussed to develop some theoretical implications. Finally, a number of implications for policy are considered, in particular the need to retain a breadth of approaches to environmental management.