The study contributes to a better understanding of utilisation and interaction patterns in post-disaster temporary urban open spaces. A series of devastating earthquakes caused large scale damage to Christchurch’s central city and many suburbs in 2010 and 2011. Various temporary uses have emerged on vacant post-earthquake sites including community gardens, urban agriculture, art installations, event venues, eateries and cafés, and pocket parks. Drawing on empirical data obtained from a spatial qualities survey and a Public Life Study, the report analyses how people used and interacted with three exemplary transitional community-initiated open spaces (CIOS) in relation to particular physical spatial qualities in central Christchurch over a period of three weeks. The report provides evidence that users of post-disaster transitional community-initiated open spaces show similar utilisation and interaction patterns in relation to specific spatial qualities as observed in other urban environments. The temporary status of CIOS did apparently not influence ‘typical’ utilisation and interaction patterns.
The urban environment influences the way people live and shape their everyday lives, and microclimate sensitive design can enhance the use of urban streets and public spaces. Innovative approaches to urban microclimate design will become more important as the world’s population becomes ever more urban, and climate change generates more variability and extremes in urban microclimatic conditions. However, established methods of investigation based upon conventions drawn from building services research and framed by physiological concepts of thermal comfort may fail to capture the social dynamics of urban activity and their interrelationship with microclimate. This research investigates the relationship between microclimate and urban culture in Christchurch, New Zealand, based upon the concept of urban comfort. Urban comfort is defined as the socio-cultural (therefore collective) adaptation to microclimate due to satisfaction with the urban environment. It involves consideration of a combination of human thermal comfort requirements and adaptive comfort circumstances, preferences and strategies. A main methodological challenge was to investigate urban comfort in a city undergoing rapid physical change following a series of major earthquakes (2010-2011), and that also has a strongly seasonal climate which accentuates microclimatic variability. The field investigation had to be suitable for rapidly changing settings as buildings were demolished and rebuilt, and be able to capture data relevant to a cycle of seasons. These local circumstances meant that Christchurch was valuable as an example of a city facing rapid and unpredictable change. An interpretive, integrative, and adaptive research strategy that combined qualitative social science methods with biophysical measures was adopted. The results are based upon participant observation, 86 in-depth interviews with Christchurch residents, and microclimate data measurements. The interviews were carried out in a variety of urban settings including established urban settings (places sustaining relatively little damage) and emerging urban settings (those requiring rebuilding) during 2011-2013. Results of this research show that urban comfort depends on adaptive strategies which in turn depend on culture. Adaptive strategies identified through the data analysis show a strong connection between natural and built landscapes, combined with the regional outdoor culture, the Garden City identity and the connections between rural and urban landscapes. The results also highlight that thermal comfort is an important but insufficient indicator of good microclimate design, as social and cultural values are important influences on climate experience and adaptation. Interpretive research is needed to fully understand urban comfort and to provide urban microclimate design solutions to enhance the use of public open spaces in cities undergoing change.
While there are varying definitions of the term ‘social cohesion’, a number of common themes regularly surface to describe what cohesive societies look like. Previous studies using known indicators of social cohesion have often been conducted at the international level for cross-country comparison, while there has been less focus on social cohesion within countries. The purpose of this research is to identify if indicators of social cohesion can be used to map trends at the city level in order to draw meaningful conclusions, particularly in the aftermath of a natural disaster. Using known indicators of social cohesion and Christchurch City as the basis for this study, variations in social cohesion have been found within the city wards, that preceded but were affected by the events of the Canterbury earthquakes during 2010/11. These findings have significant policy implications for the future of Christchurch, as city leaders work towards the recovery of and subsequent rebuilding of communities.
New Zealand is one of the most highly urbanised countries in the world with well over 87 per cent of us living in 138 recognised urban centres, yet the number of people residing in inner city areas is proportionally very low. Householders have been exercising their preference for suburban or rural areas by opting for low density suburban environments. It is widely agreed that productivity and sustainability increase when people aggregate in the inner city, however there is a perceived trade-off between the density and liveability of an area. Achieving liveability in the inner city is concerned with reducing the pressures which emerge from higher population densities. Promoting inclusive societies, revitalising underutilised cityscapes, ensuring accessibility and fostering sense of place, are all elements essential to achieving liveable communities. The rebuild following the 2010 and 2011 Canterbury earthquakes provides Christchurch with an opportunity to shape a more environmentally sustainable, economically vibrant and liveable city. This research involves undertaking a case study of current inner city liveability measures and those provided for through the rebuild. A cross-case analysis with two of the world’s most liveable cities, Melbourne and Vancouver, exposes Christchurch’s potential shortcomings and reveals practical measures the city could implement in order to promote liveability.
This report presents the experiences of Tangata Whaiora (Mental health clients) through the disastrous earthquakes that struck Otautahi/Christchurch in 2010-11. It further analysis these experience to how show the social networks these individuals, their whānau, supporting staff respond and recover to a significant urban disaster.
The disaster challenged the mental health of those individuals who are impacted and the operations of organisations and networks that support and care for the mentally ill. How individuals and their families navigate a post-disaster landscape provides an unfortunate but unique opportunity to analyse how these support networks respond to severe disruption.
Tangata Whaiora possess experiences of micro-scale personal and family disasters and were not necessarily shocked by the loss of normality in Ōtautahi as a result of the earthquakes. The organic provision of clear leadership, outstanding commitment by staff, and ongoing personal and institutional dedication in the very trying circumstances of working in a post-disaster landscape all contributed to Te Awa o te Ora’s notable response to the disaster.
This report presents research on the affects of the Ōtautahi/Christchurch earthquakes of 2010 to 2012 on the city’s Tangata Whaiora community, ‘people seeking health’ as Māori frame mental health clients. Drawing on the voices of 39 participants of a Kaupapa Māori provider (Te Awa o te Ora), this report presents extended quotes from Tangata Whaiora, their support staff (many of whom are Tangata Whaiora), and managers as they speak of the events, their experiences, and support that sustained them in recoveries of well-being through the worse disaster in Aotearoa/New Zealand in three generations.
Ōtautahi contains a significant urban Māori population, many living in suburbs that were seriously impacted by the earthquakes that began before dawn on September 4th, 2010, and continued throughout 2011 and 2012. The most damaging event occurred on February 22nd, 2011, and killed 185 people and severely damaged the CBD as well as many thousands of homes. The thousands of aftershocks delayed the rebuilding of homes and infrastructure and exacerbated the stress and dislocation felt by residents. The tensions and disorder continue for numerous residents into 2014 and it will be many years before full social and physical recovery can be expected.
This report presents extended excerpts from the interviews of Tangata Whaiora and their support staff. Their stories of survival through the disaster reinforce themes of community and whānau while emphasising the reality that a significant number of Tangata Whaiora do not or cannot draw on this supports. The ongoing need for focused responses in the area of housing and accommodation, sufficiently resourced psycho-social support, and the value of Kaupapa Māori provision for Māori and non-Māori mental health clients cannot be overstated. The report also collates advice from participants to other Tangata Whaiora, their whānau, providers and indeed all residents of places subject to irregular but potentially devastating disaster. Much of this advice is relevant for more daily challenges and should not be underestimated despite its simplicity.
