https://hdl.handle.net/10182/46 2018-01-21T10:34:06Z https://hdl.handle.net/10182/8877 Bottom-up governance after a natural disaster: a temporary post-earthquake community garden in central Christchurch, New Zealand Montgomery, Roy L.; Wesener, Andreas; Davies, F. Creative temporary or transitional use of vacant urban open spaces is seldom foreseen in traditional urban planning and has historically been linked to economic or political disturbances. Christchurch, like most cities, has had a relatively small stock of vacant spaces throughout much of its history. This changed dramatically after an earthquake and several damaging aftershocks hit the city in 2010 and 2011; temporary uses emerged on post-earthquake sites that ran parallel to the “official” rebuild discourse and programmes of action. The paper examines a post-earthquake transitional community-initiated open space (CIOS) in central Christchurch. CIOS have been established by local community groups as bottom-up initiatives relying on financial sponsorship, agreements with local landowners who leave their land for temporary projects until they are ready to redevelop, and volunteers who build and maintain the spaces. The paper discusses bottom-up governance approaches in depth in a single temporary post-earthquake community garden project using the concepts of community resilience and social capital. The study analyses and highlights the evolution and actions of the facilitating community organisation (Greening the Rubble) and the impact of this on the project. It discusses key actors’ motivations and values, perceived benefits and challenges, and their current involvement with the garden. The paper concludes with observations and recommendations about the initiation of such projects and the challenges for those wishing to study ephemeral social recovery phenomena. 2016-01-01T00:00:00Z https://hdl.handle.net/10182/8859 From decision-support to compliance tool: the social dimensions of Overseer and the implications for farm nutrient management Barr, Emma Brittany An increase of public and scientific pressure resulting in recent reforms of New Zealand’s National Policy Statement for Freshwater Management (NPS-FM) has instigated a reliance on Overseer to regulate nutrient losses from agricultural land. Overseer was previously used as a qualitative tool for farmers to assess fertiliser requirements for the following season, but has now changed to a quantitative, compliance tool in use by a number of regional councils. Understanding farmers’ perceptions of this new approach is vital to its effectiveness as a management technique. This research presents an analysis of fifteen semi-structured interviews of farmers and farm consultants from two locations in the Bay of Plenty: The Rangitāiki Plains, who use Overseer for decision-support, and the Rotorua Lakes, who use Overseer for compliance. This research has found that the role of numbers, power and authority, model credibility, perceived fairness, social identity, and the relationship to data production were significant to farmers’ perceptions of Overseer. The perceptions farmers have of Overseer is a key influence in their acceptance of nutrient regulation and adoption of sustainable nutrient management practices. By taking the focus away from individual’s technical understandings of scientific knowledge, this research has attempted to explore the social identities that characterise public responses to regulations. Trust and credibility emerged as key themes in the development of perceptions to the use of Overseer by farmers, shaped by the working relationships between farmers and council staff, council scientists, private consultants, members of the public, and industry representatives. It was found that when considering Overseer, many farmers focus on contextual factors surrounding its use, rather than the practicalities of the model itself. This shows that continued efforts to improve the scientific accuracy of Overseer will not resolve issues of distrust between farmers and Overseer. 2017-01-01T00:00:00Z https://hdl.handle.net/10182/8832 Evaluation of community preferences for decentralised water management systems: a case study in Akaroa, Banks Peninsula Sun, Han Limitations on the supply of fresh water and increasing demand for council supplied water have become major issues in Akaroa, a tourist town on the Banks Peninsula approximately 80 kilometres from Christchurch City. Restrictions on domestic water use in the summer and new requirements for decentralised water management systems for new construction have been used to alleviate the burden of town water supply. Rainwater harvesting systems (RWHS) and greywater reuse system (GWRS) both represent potential options to decentralise the current water supply even further. This study informs the ongoing debate about water allocation on the Banks Peninsula by conducting a choice experiment (CE) to evaluate Akaroa homeowners’ preferences for installing these systems. Primary data was collected from Akaroa residents, and a latent class model was specified to estimate willingness to pay (WTP) for decentralised water supply systems. Results reveal that approximately two-thirds of the sample actually had a negative WTP for decentralised systems (range from -$3,145 to -$1,672), while WTP estimates for the remaining respondents ranged from $1,912 to $2,749. For both of these groups, subsidies will be required to encourage the adoption of all types of systems. Identification of the factors that affect latent class membership could be a focus for further studies. 2017-10-03T00:00:00Z https://hdl.handle.net/10182/8793 Community-led planning in post-disaster recovery: a Diamond Harbour case study Love, Robert Gerard There is strong consensus in the civil defence and emergency management literature that public participation is essential for a 'good' recovery. However, there is a paucity of research detailing how this community-led planning should be carried out in the real world. There are few processes or timelines for communities to follow when wanting to plan for themselves, nor is there a great deal of advice for communities who want to plan for their own recovery. In short, despite this consensus that community involvement is desireable, there is very little information available as to the nature of this involvement or how communities might facilitate this. It is simply assumed that communities are willing and able to participate in the recovery process and that recovery authorities will welcome, encourage, and enable this participation. This is not always the case, and the result is that community groups can be left feeling lost and ineffective when trying to plan for their own recovery. In attempting to address this gap, my study contributes to a better understanding of community involvement in recovery planning, based on research with on particular a community group (SPRIG), who has undertaken their own form of community-led planning in a post-disaster environment. Through group observations and in-depth interviews with members of SPRIG, I was able to identify various roles for such groups in the post-disaster recovery process. My research also contributes to an enhanced understanding of the process a community group might follow to implement their own form of post-disaster recovery planning, with the main point being that any planning should be done side by side with local authorities. Finally, I discovered that a community group will face organisational, community and institutional challenges when trying to plan for their area; however, despite these challenges, opportunities exist, such as the chance to build a better future. 2012-01-01T00:00:00Z