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Research papers, University of Canterbury Library

Many contemporary urban communities are challenged by increased flood risks and rising temperatures, declining water quality and biodiversity, and reduced mental, physical, cultural and social wellbeing. The development of urban blue-green infrastructure (BGI), defined as networks of natural and semi-natural blue-green spaces which enable healthy ecosystem processes, has been identified as one approach to mitigate these challenges and enable more liveable cities. Multiple benefits associated with urban BGI have been identified, including reduced flood risk and temperatures, improved water quality and biodiversity, enhanced mental and physical wellbeing, strengthened social cohesion and sense of place, and the facilitation of cultural connections and practices. However, socio-cultural benefits have tended to be neglected in BGI research and design, resulting in a lack of awareness of how they may be maximised in BGI design. As such, this research sought to understand how BGI can best be designed to enable liveable cities. Four questions were considered: (i) what benefits are associated with urban BGI, (ii) how does the design process influence the benefits achieved by BGI, (iii) what challenges are encountered during BGI design, and (iv) how might the incorporation of communities and Indigenous knowledge into BGI research and design enhance current understandings and applications of urban BGI? To address these questions, a mixed methods case study approach was employed in Ōtautahi Christchurch and Kaiapoi. The four selected case studies were Te Oranga Waikura, Wigram Basin, Te Kuru and the Kaiapoi Honda Forest. The cases are all council owned urban wetlands which were primarily designed or retrofitted to reduce urban flood risks following the Canterbury Earthquake Sequence. To investigate BGI design processes in each case, as well as how communities interact with, value and benefit from these spaces. BGI projects were found to be designed by interdisciplinary design teams driven by stormwater engineers, landscape architects and ecologists which prioritised bio-physical outcomes. Further, community and Indigenous engagement approaches closely resembled consultation, with the exception of Te Kuru which employed a co-design approach between councils and Indigenous and community groups. This co-design approach was found to enhance current understandings and applications of urban BGI, while uncovering multiple socio-cultural values to be incorporated into design, such as access to cultural healing resources, increased community connections to water, and facilitating cultural monitoring methodologies and citizen science initiatives. Communities frequently identified the opportunity to connect with natural environments and enhanced mental and physical wellbeing as key benefits of BGI. Conversely, strengthened social cohesion, sense of place and cultural connections were infrequently identified as benefits, if at all. This finding indicates a disconnect between the bio-physical benefits which drive BGI design and the outcomes which communities value. As such, there is a need for future BGI design to more fully consider and design for socio- cultural outcomes to better enable liveable cities. To better design BGI to enhance urban liveability, this research makes three key contributions. First, there is a need to advance current approaches to transdisciplinary design to better account for the full scope of perspectives and values associated with BGI. Second, there is a need to transition towards relational co-design with Indigenous and community groups and knowledge. Third, it is important to continue to monitor, reflect on and share both positive and negative BGI design experiences to continually improve outcomes. The incorporation of social and cultural researchers, knowledges and perspectives into open and collaborative transdisciplinary design teams is identified as a key method to achieve these opportunities.

Research papers, University of Canterbury Library

There is a now a rich literature on the connections between digital media, networked computing, and the shaping of urban material cultures. Much less has addressed the post-disaster context, like we face in Christchurch, where it is more a case of re-build rather than re-new. In what follows I suggest that Lev Manovich’s well-known distinction between narrative and database as distinct but related cultural forms is a useful framework for thinking about the Christchurch rebuild, and perhaps urbanism more generally.

Research papers, University of Canterbury Library

In recent work on commons and commoning, scholars have argued that we might delink the practice of commoning from property ownership, while paying attention to modes of governance that enable long-term commons to emerge and be sustained. Yet commoning can also occur as a temporary practice, in between and around other forms of use. In this article we reflect on the transitional commoning practices and projects enabled by the Christchurch post-earthquake organisation Life in Vacant Spaces, which emerged to connect and mediate between landowners of vacant inner city demolition sites and temporary creative or entrepreneurial users. While these commons are often framed as transitional or temporary, we argue they have ongoing reverberations changing how people and local government in Christchurch approach common use. Using the cases of the physical space of the Victoria Street site “The Commons” and the virtual space of the Life in Vacant Spaces website, we show how temporary commoning projects can create and sustain the conditions of possibility required for nurturing commoner subjectivities. Thus despite their impermanence, temporary commoning projects provide a useful counter to more dominant forms of urban development and planning premised on property ownership and “permanent” timeframes, in that just as the physical space of the city being opened to commoning possibilities, so too are the expectations and dispositions of the city’s inhabitants, planners, and developers.

Research papers, University of Canterbury Library

In recent work on commons and commoning, scholars have argued that we might delink the practice of commoning from property ownership, while paying attention to modes of governance that enable long-term commons to emerge and be sustained. Yet commoning can also occur as a temporary practice, in between and around other forms of use. In this article we reflect on the transitional commoning practices and projects enabled by the Christchurch post-earthquake organisation Life in Vacant Spaces, which emerged to connect and mediate between landowners of vacant inner city demolition sites and temporary creative or entrepreneurial users. While these commons are often framed as transitional or temporary, we argue they have ongoing reverberations changing how people and local government in Christchurch approach common use. Using the cases of the physical space of the Victoria Street site “The Commons” and the virtual space of the Life in Vacant Spaces website, we show how temporary commoning projects can create and sustain the conditions of possibility required for nurturing commoner subjectivities. Thus despite their impermanence, temporary commoning projects provide a useful counter to more dominant forms of urban development and planning premised on property ownership and “permanent” timeframes, in that just as the physical space of the city being opened to commoning possibilities, so too are the expectations and dispositions of the city’s inhabitants, planners, and developers.

Research papers, University of Canterbury Library

This thesis describes research into developing a client/server ar- chitecture for a mobile Augmented Reality (AR) application. Following the earthquakes that have rocked Christchurch the city is now changed forever. CityViewAR is an existing mobile AR application designed to show how the city used to look before the earthquakes. In CityViewAR 3D virtual building models are overlaid onto video captured by a smartphone camera. However the current version of CityViewAR only allows users to browse information stored on the mobile device. In this research the author extends the CityViewAR application to a client-server model so that anyone can upload models and annotations to a server and have this information viewable on any smartphone running the application. In this thesis we describe related work on AR browser architectures, the system we developed, a user evaluation of the prototype system and directions for future work.

Research papers, University of Canterbury Library

In 2010/2011, Ōtautahi Christchurch, Aotearoa New Zealand, suffered a devastating series of earthquakes and aftershocks that resulted in loss of life and significant damage to infrastructure and housing. This created an opportunity to re-build and regenerate a city ready to meet the challenges of the twenty-first century. This paper examines the effectiveness of cross sector collaboration to deliver a more resilient, sustainable, and healthy city. Drawing on case studies focused on a proposed innercity housing project, we highlight the challenges and barriers to alternative healthier development. We found a series of barriers to an urban recovery and rebuild that included a lack of skills to transact between the private and public sector, a lack of cooperation and shared drivers, and a lack of bold leadership and workable relationships. This paper underlines some of the failures to support regeneration that in turn highlights what is needed for regeneration approaches and processes to foster innovation and deliver healthier and more sustainable urban living.

Research papers, University of Canterbury Library

Christchurch Ōtautahi, New Zealand, is a city of myriad waterways and springs. Māori, the indigenous people of New Zealand, have water quality at the core of their cultural values. The city’s rivers include the Avon/Ōtākaro, central to the city centre’s aesthetic appeal since early settlement, and the Heathcote/Ōpāwaho. Both have been degraded with increasing urbanisation. The destructive earthquake sequence that occurred during 2010/11 presented an opportunity to rebuild significant areas of the city. Public consultation identified enthusiasm to rebuild a sustainable city. A sustainable water sensitive city is one where development is constructed with the water environment in mind. Water sensitive urban design applies at all scales and is a holistic concept. In Christchurch larger-scale multi-value stormwater management solutions were incorporated into rapidly developed greenfield sites on the city’s outskirts and in satellite towns, as they had been pre-earthquake. Individual properties on greenfield sites and within the city, however, continued to be constructed without water sensitive features such as rainwater tanks or living roofs. This research uses semi-structured interviews, policy analysis, and findings from local and international studies to investigate the benefits of building-scale WSUD and the barriers that have resulted in their absence. Although several inter-related barriers became apparent, cost, commonly cited as a barrier to sustainable development in general, was strongly represented. However, it is argued that the issue is one of mindset rather than cost. Solutions are proposed, based on international and national experience, that will demonstrate the benefits of adopting water sensitive urban design principles including at the building scale, and thereby build public and political support. The research is timely - there is still much development to occur, and increasing pressures from urban densification, population growth and climate change to mitigate.

Research papers, University of Canterbury Library

In 2010/11 Christchurch, New Zealand suffered a series of major earthquakes that resulted in significant damage to the physical and social environment. The majority of buildings suffered some type of damage, with an estimated 11% of homes requiring demolition. The total cost of rebuilding the city has been estimated at $31bn; equivalent to 17% of NZ’s annual GDP. The social impacts of the disaster are ongoing and difficult to estimate, with continuing social displacement throughout the city and metropolitan area. These impacts will continue to have a significant impact on community recovery and resilience for some time to come. This paper introduces the Greening the Greyfields research project, which aims to develop and implement of a number of tools to aid urban planning decision-making with an overt focus on community and stakeholder engagement in the post-disaster reconstruction of Christchurch. The research was initially developed in two Australian metropolitan areas (Perth and Melbourne) and has been extended to New Zealand, to help facilitate the reconstruction process in Christchurch. The project has developed a geospatial toolkit designed to help produce best reconstruction options, by identifying potential redevelopment precincts, and simulating different scenarios in a 3D visualisation environment. The implementation of the project in Christchurch includes direct feedback from different stakeholders, in order to get buy-in and make the reconstruction process more sustainable and community-inclusive. This paper will briefly outline the methodology comprising the tools, and how it encourages community and stakeholder involvement in the post-disaster reconstruction of Christchurch.

Research papers, University of Canterbury Library

Since September 2010 Christchurch, New Zealand, has experienced a number of significant earthquakes. In addition to loss of life, this has resulted in significant destruction to infrastructure, including road corridors; and buildings, especially in the central city, where it has been estimated that 60% of buildings will need to be rebuilt. The rebuild and renewal of Christchurch has initially focused on the central city under the direction of the Christchurch City Council. This has seen the development of a draft Central City Plan that includes a number of initiatives that should encourage the use of the bicycle as a mode of transport. The rebuild and renewal of the remainder of the city is under the jurisdiction of a specially set up authority, the Christchurch Earthquake Recovery Authority (CERA). CERA reports to an appointed Minister for Canterbury Earthquake Recovery, who is responsible for coordinating the planning, spending, and actual rebuilding work needed for the recovery. Their plans for the renewal and rebuild of the remainder of the city are not yet known. This presentation will examine the potential role of the bicycle as a mode of transport in a rebuilt Christchurch. The presentation will start by describing the nature of damage to Christchurch as a result of the 2010 and 2011 earthquakes. It will then review the Central City Plan (the plan for the rebuild and renewal for central Christchurch) focusing particularly on those aspects that affect the role of the bicycle. The potential for the success of this plan will be assessed. It will specifically reflect on this in light of some recent research in Christchurch that examined the importance of getting infrastructure right if an aim of transport planning is to attract new people to cycle for utilitarian reasons.

Research papers, University of Canterbury Library

The characteristics of the local environment such as access to community amenity and facilities and their impact on health and wellbeing have been well researched. The question is can local amenity confer similar benefits to help facilitate community resilience? Research following the Christchurch, New Zealand February 22nd 2011 earthquake has shown that socially connected communities were able to respond and adapt with collective action. The informal community response was important in supporting residents until infrastructure and more formal structures could be put in place. This research provides support to the importance of social connectedness prior to a disaster to help foster community resilience. It discusses the role of local infrastructure such as shops, local pubs and community amenity in providing gathering places for people to meet and interact and share information. It shows that geographically defined communities with central meeting places were able to use social connections and from this collective action as support. Resilience is a by-product of having good social connections and community amenity helps to facilitate those connections.

Research papers, University of Canterbury Library

Christchurch and Canterbury suffered significant housing losses due to the earthquakes. Estimates from the Earthquake Commission (EQC) (2011) suggest that over 150,000 homes (around three quarters of Christchurch housing stock) sustained damage from the earthquakes. Some areas of Christchurch have been declared not suitable for rebuilding, affecting more than 7,500 residential properties.

Research papers, University of Canterbury Library

The Canterbury earthquakes have generated economic demand and supply volatility, highlighting geographical and structural interdependencies. Post-earthquake reconstruction and new developments have seen skills training, relocation, recruitment and importation of skills becoming crucial for construction companies to meet demand and compete effectively. This report presents 15 case studies from a range of organisations involved in the Canterbury rebuild, exploring the business dynamics and outcomes of their resourcing initiatives. A key finding of this research is that, for many construction organisations, resourcing initiatives have become part of their organisational longer-term development strategies, rather than simply a response to ‘supply and demand’ pressures. Organisations are not relying on any single resourcing solution to drive their growth but use a combination of initiatives to create lasting business benefits, such as cost savings, improved brand and reputation, a stable and productive workforce, enhanced efficiency and staff morale, as well as improved skill levels.

Research papers, University of Canterbury Library

Cities need places that contribute to quality of life, places that support social interaction. Wellbeing, specifically, community wellbeing, is influenced by where people live, the quality of place is important and who they connect with socially. Social interaction and connection can come from the routine involvement with others, the behavioural acts of seeing and being with others. This research consisted of 38 interviews of residents of Christchurch, New Zealand, in the years following the 2010-12 earthquakes. Residents were asked about the place they lived and their interactions within their community. The aim was to examine the role of neighbourhood in contributing to local social connections and networks that contribute to living well. Specifically, it focused on the role and importance of social infrastructure in facilitating less formal social interactions in local neighbourhoods. It found that neighbourhood gathering places and bumping spaces can provide benefit for living well. Social infrastructure, like libraries, parks, primary schools, and pubs are some of the places of neighbourhood that contributed to how well people can encounter others for social interaction. In addition, unplanned interactions were facilitated by the existence of bumping places, such as street furniture. The wellbeing value of such spaces needs to be acknowledged and factored into planning decisions, and local rules and regulations need to allow the development of such spaces.

Research papers, University of Canterbury Library

This community-partnered thesis explores the impact of ReVision Youth Audits in promoting youth-friendly community spaces in Christchurch, a city undergoing long-term urban transformation following the 2010–2011 earthquakes. In partnership with ReVision, a not-for-profit organisation facilitating youth-led audits of public and community spaces, this research examines how audit recommendations have been implemented by organisations responsible for 23 previously audited sites. Using a mixed-methods approach, including an online stakeholder survey (n = 16) and semi-structured interviews (n = 2), the study identified variation in implementation outcomes, with non-profit organisations reporting higher adoption levels than local government entities. Stakeholders reported that commonly implemented recommendations included enhanced lighting, inclusive signage, additional seating, and youth-focused amenities such as murals, free Wi-Fi, and gender-neutral toilets. The average youth-friendliness score increased from 4.7 to 7.5 out of 10 following implementations, reflecting tangible improvements in accessibility, inclusivity, and youth engagement. Despite these gains, several barriers limited full implementation. Local government stakeholders cited procedural delays, regulatory frameworks, and funding cycles tied to long- term planning. At the same time, non-profits stakeholders faced constraints such as property ownership and limited influence over shared spaces. Challenges related to timing, staffing capacity, and the absence of follow-up mechanisms were also reported. Stakeholders recomended integrating youth input in the design process earlier, as several audits occurred after key planning phases. Feedback on the audit process was largely positive, with high ratings for the clarity of recommendations and the tool's credibility. However, stakeholders advocated for refinements when recording the audit recommendations to capture young people's lived experiences better and sustain youth involvement beyond the initial audit phase. The research demonstrates that the ReVision Youth Audit framework contributes to meaningful improvements in public spaces especially for youth and reinforces the value of youth-informed urban design. This research provides practical guidance for enhancing youth engagement in urban planning and improving the long-term utility of participatory audit frameworks, based on an analysis of both the factors that enabled and those that constrained the implementation of audit recommendations.

Research papers, University of Canterbury Library

In this paper, we consider how religious leaders and Civil Defence authorities might collaborate to establish a two-way information conduit during the aftermath of a disaster. Using surveys and in-person interviews, clergy in different Christian denominations were asked about their roles in the earthquake, the needs of their congregations and the possibilities and obstacles to deeper collaboration with Civil Defence authorities.

Research papers, University of Canterbury Library

Disaster recovery involves the restoration, repair and rejuvenation of both hard and soft infrastructure. In this report we present observationsfrom seven case studies of collaborative planning from post-earthquake Canterbury, each of which was selected as a means of better understanding ‘soft infrastructure for hard times’. Though our investigation is located within a disaster recovery context, we argue that the lessons learned are widely applicable. Our seven case studies highlighted that the nature of the planning process or journey is as important as the planning objective or destination. A focus on the journey can promote positive outcomes in and of itself through building enduring relationships, fostering diverse leaders, developing new skills and capabilities, and supporting translation and navigation. Collaborative planning depends as much upon emotional intelligence as it does technical competence, and we argue that having a collaborative attitude is more important than following prescriptive collaborative planning formulae. Being present and allowing plenty of time are also key. Although deliberation is often seen as an improvement on technocratic and expertdominated decision-making models, we suggest that the focus in the academic literature on communicative rationality and discursive democracy has led us to overlook other more active forms of planning that occur in various sites and settings. Instead, we offer an expanded understanding of what planning is, where it happens and who is involved. We also suggest more attention be given to values, particularly in terms of their role as a compass for navigating the terrain of decision-making in the collaborative planning process. We conclude with a revised model of a (collaborative) decision-making cycle that we suggest may be more appropriate when (re)building better homes, towns and cities.

Research papers, University of Canterbury Library

The New Zealand city of Christchurch suffered a series of devastating earthquakes in 2010-11 that changed the urban landscape forever. A new rebuilt city is now underway, largely based on the expressed wishes of the populace to see Christchurch return to being a more people-oriented, cycle-friendly city that it was known for in decades past. Currently 7% of commuters cycle to work, supported by a 200km network of mostly conventional on-road painted cycle lanes and off-road shared paths. The new "Major Cycleways" plan aims to develop approximately 100km of high-quality cycling routes throughout the city in 5-7 years. The target audience is an unaccompanied 10-year-old cycling, which requires more separated cycleways and low-volume/speed "neighbourhood greenways" to meet this standard. This presentation summarises the steps undertaken to date to start delivering this network. Various pieces of research have helped to identify the types of infrastructure preferred by those currently not regularly cycling, as well as helping to assess the merits of different route choices. Conceptual cycleway guidelines have now been translated into detailed design principles for the different types of infrastructure being planned. While much of this work is based on successful designs from overseas, including professional advice from Dutch practitioners, an interesting challenge has been to adapt these designs as required to suit local road environments and road user expectations. The first parts of the new network are being rolled out now, with the hope that this will produce an attractive and resilient network for the future population that leads to cycling being a major part of the local way of life.

Research papers, University of Canterbury Library

Fine grained sediment deposition in urban environments during natural hazard events can impact critical infrastructure and properties (urban terrain) leading to reduced social and economic function and potentially adverse public health effects. Therefore, clean-up of the sediments is required to minimise impacts and restore social and economic functionality as soon as possible. The strategies employed to manage and coordinate the clean-up significantly influence the speed, cost and quality of the clean-up operation. Additionally, the physical properties of the fine grained sediment affects the clean-up, transport, storage and future usage of the sediment. The goals of the research are to assess the resources, time and cost required for fine grained sediment clean-up in an urban environment following a disaster and to determine how the geotechnical properties of sediment will affect urban clean-up strategies. The thesis focuses on the impact of fine grained sediment (<1 mm) deposition from three liquefaction events during the Canterbury earthquake sequence (2010-2011) on residential suburbs and transport networks in Christchurch. It also presents how geotechnical properties of the material may affect clean-up strategies and methods by presenting geotechnical analysis of tephra material from the North Island of New Zealand. Finally, lessons for disaster response planning and decision making for clean-up of sediment in urban environments are presented. A series of semi-structured interviews of key stakeholders supported by relevant academic literature and media reports were used to record the clean-up operation coordination and management and to make a preliminary qualification of the Christchurch liquefaction ejecta clean-up (costs breakdown, time, volume, resources, coordination, planning and priorities). Further analysis of the costs and resources involved for better accuracy was required and so the analysis of Christchurch City Council road management database (RAMM) was done. In order to make a transition from general fine sediment clean-up to specific types of fine disaster sediment clean-up, adequate information about the material properties is required as they will define how the material will be handled, transported and stored. Laboratory analysis of young volcanic tephra from the New Zealand’s North Island was performed to identify their geotechnical properties (density, granulometry, plasticity, composition and angle of repose). The major findings of this research were that emergency planning and the use of the coordinated incident management system (CIMS) system during the emergency were important to facilitate rapid clean-up tasking, management of resources and ultimately recovery from widespread and voluminous liquefaction ejecta deposition in eastern Christchurch. A total estimated cost of approximately $NZ 40 million was calculated for the Christchurch City clean-up following the 2010-2011 Canterbury earthquake sequence with a partial cost of $NZ 12 million for the Southern part of the city, where up to 33% (418 km) of the road network was impacted by liquefaction ejecta and required clearing of the material following the 22 February 2011 earthquake. Over 500,000 tonnes of ejecta has been stockpiled at Burwood landfill for all three liquefaction inducing earthquake events. The average cost per kilometre for the event clean-up was $NZ 5,500/km (4 September 2010), $NZ 11,650/km (22 February 2011) and $NZ 11,185/km (13 June 2011). The duration of clean-up time of residential properties and the road network was approximately two to three months for each of the three liquefaction ejecta events; despite events volumes and spatial distribution of ejecta. Interviews and quantitative analysis of RAMM data revealed that the experience and knowledge gained from the Darfield earthquake (4 September 2010) clean-up increased the efficiency of the following Christchurch earthquake induced liquefaction ejecta clean-up events. Density, particle size, particle shape, clay content and moisture content, are the important geotechnical properties that need to be considered when planning for a clean-up method that incorporates collection, transport and disposal or storage. The geotechnical properties for the tephra samples were analysed to increase preparedness and reaction response of potentially affected North Island cities from possible product from the active volcanoes in their region. The geotechnical results from this study show that volcanic tephra could be used in road or construction material but the properties would have to be further investigated for a New Zealand context. Using fresh volcanic material in road, building or flood control construction requires good understanding of the material properties and precaution during design and construction to extra care, but if well planned, it can be economically beneficial.

Research papers, University of Canterbury Library

Using greater Christchurch as a case study, this research seeks to understand the key drivers of residential choice of families with children who live in recently developed, low-density greenfield subdivisions. In particular, the research examines the role that transport-related implications play in families’ choice of residence and location. It also explores the lived experience of the quotidian travel of these households, and the intrinsic value of their time in the car. While the research is situated in one particular location, it is designed to gain an understanding of urban processes and residents’ experiences of these as applicable to broader settings. Concerns about the pernicious environmental, fiscal, and wellbeing effects of sprawling urban form have been growing over the past few decades, inciting many cities including Christchurch to start shifting planning policies to try and achieve greater intensification and a denser development pattern. The 2010/2011 Christchurch earthquake sequence and its destruction of thousands of homes however created huge pressure for housing development, the bulk of which is now occurring on greenfield sites on the peripheries of Christchurch City and its neighbouring towns. Drawing on the insights provided by a wide body of both qualitative and quantitative literature on residential choice, transport and urban form, and mobilities literature as a basis, this research is interested in the attraction of these growing neighbourhoods to families, and puts the focus firmly on the attitudes, values, motivations, decisions, and lived experience of those who live in the growing suburbs of Christchurch.

Research papers, University of Canterbury Library

- The Avon-Ōtākaro Redzone is an 11 kilometer stretch of land along the Avon-Ōtākaro River in Christchurch. - This project focused on the creation of a publicly available biodiversity map of the AvonŌtākaro River Corridor, a project undertaken as part of the ecological restoration of the Christchurch redzone. - This project originated from the Christchurch 2010-2011 earthquake sequence which saw liquefaction damage along 11km of the Avon River. Under guidance from The Nature Lab & Ōtākaro Living Laboratory, and various other experts, the primary research objective was to map historical biodiversity, identify hotspots, and assess areas for potential revegetation. - The data collected came from historical black maps, current iNaturalist data, and soil classification information. - The findings show that, pre-colonialism, the area was composed of herbaceous areas, wetlands, native shrubland, and tussock land, with key plants such as river, fern, tutu, and cabbage trees. - The post-earthquake analysis shows a transition from a residential area to patchy grasslands and swampy areas. - The findings also showed a strong relationship between historic sites and soil classifications, providing knowledge for past and future vegetation patterns and spread. - This map will be a valuable resource for conservation efforts and public engagement as the area transitions into a blue-green corridor.

Research papers, University of Canterbury Library

In this paper we introduce CityViewAR, a mobile outdoor Augmented Reality (AR) application for providing AR information visualization on a city scale. The CityViewAR application was developed to provide geographical information about the city of Christchurch, which was hit by several major earthquakes in 2010 and 2011. The application provides information about destroyed buildings and historical sites that were affected by the earthquakes. The geo-located content is provided in a number of formats including 2D map views, AR visualization of 3D models of buildings on-site, immersive panorama photographs, and list views. The paper describes the iterative design and implementation details of the application, and gives one of the first examples of a study comparing user response to AR and non-AR viewing in a mobile tourism application. Results show that making such information easily accessible to the public in a number of formats could help people to have richer experience about cities. We provide guidelines that will be useful for people developing mobile AR applications for city-scale tourism or outdoor guiding, and discuss how the underlying technology could be used for applications in other areas.

Research papers, University of Canterbury Library

The development of Digital City technologies to manage and visualise spatial information has increasingly become a focus of the research community, and application by city authorities. Traditionally, the Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and Building Information Models (BIM) underlying Digital Cities have been used independently. However, integrating GIS and BIM into a single platform provides benefits for project and asset management, and is applicable to a range of issues. One of these benefits is the means to access and analyse large datasets describing the built environment, in order to characterise urban risk from and resilience to natural hazards. The aim of this thesis is to further explore methodologies of integration in two distinct areas. The first, integration through connectivity of heterogeneous datasets where GIS spatial infrastructure data is merged with 3D BIM building data to create a digital twin. Secondly, integration through analysis whereby data from the digital twin are extracted and integrated with computational models. To achieve this, a workflow was developed to identify the required datasets of a digital twin, and develop a process of integrating those datasets through a combination of; semi-autonomous conversion, translation and extension of data; and semantic web and services-based processes. Through use of a designed schema, the data were streamed in a homogenous format in a web-based platform. To demonstrate the value of this workflow with respect to urban risk and resilience, the process was applied to the Taiora: Queen Elizabeth II recreation and sports centre in eastern Christchurch, New Zealand. After integration of as-built GIS and BIM datasets, targeted data extraction was implemented, with outputs tailored for analysis in an infrastructure serviceability loss model, which assessed potable water network performance in the 22nd February 2011 Christchurch Earthquake. Using the same earthquake conditions as the serviceability loss model, performance of infrastructure assets in service at the time of the 22nd February 2011 Christchurch Earthquake was compared to new assets rebuilt at the site, post-earthquake. Due to improved potable water infrastructure resilience resulting from installation of ductile piles, a decrease of 35.5% in the probability of service loss was estimated in the serviceability loss model. To complete the workflow, the results from the external analysis were uploaded to the web-based platform. One of the more significant outcomes from the workflow was the identification of a lack of mandated metadata standards for fittings/valves connecting a building to private laterals. Whilst visually the GIS and BIM data show the building and pipes as connected, the semantic data does not include this connectivity relationship. This has no material impact on the current serviceability loss model as it is not one of the defined parameters. However, a proposed modification to the model would utilise the metadata to further assess the physical connection robustness, and increase the number of variables for estimating probability of service loss. This thesis has made a methodological contribution to urban resilience analysis by demonstrating how readily available up-to-date building and infrastructure data can be integrated, and with tailored extraction from a Digital City platform, be used for disaster impact analysis in an external computational engine, with results in turn imported and visualised in the Digital City platform. The workflow demonstrated that translation and integration of data would be more successful if a regional/national mandate was implemented for the submission of consent documentation in a specified standard BIM format. The results of this thesis have identified that the key to ensuring the success of an integrated tool lies in the initial workflow required to safeguard that all data can be either captured or translated in an interoperable format.

Research papers, University of Canterbury Library

The development of Digital City technologies to manage and visualise spatial information has increasingly become a focus of the research community, and application by city authorities. Traditionally, the Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and Building Information Models (BIM) underlying Digital Cities have been used independently. However, integrating GIS and BIM into a single platform provides benefits for project and asset management, and is applicable to a range of issues. One of these benefits is the means to access and analyse large datasets describing the built environment, in order to characterise urban risk from and resilience to natural hazards. The aim of this thesis is to further explore methodologies of integration in two distinct areas. The first, integration through connectivity of heterogeneous datasets where GIS spatial infrastructure data is merged with 3D BIM building data to create a digital twin. Secondly, integration through analysis whereby data from the digital twin are extracted and integrated with computational models. To achieve this, a workflow was developed to identify the required datasets of a digital twin, and develop a process of integrating those datasets through a combination of; semi-autonomous conversion, translation and extension of data; and semantic web and services-based processes. Through use of a designed schema, the data were streamed in a homogenous format in a web-based platform. To demonstrate the value of this workflow with respect to urban risk and resilience, the process was applied to the Taiora: Queen Elizabeth II recreation and sports centre in eastern Christchurch, New Zealand. After integration of as-built GIS and BIM datasets, targeted data extraction was implemented, with outputs tailored for analysis in an infrastructure serviceability loss model, which assessed potable water network performance in the 22nd February 2011 Christchurch Earthquake. Using the same earthquake conditions as the serviceability loss model, performance of infrastructure assets in service at the time of the 22nd February 2011 Christchurch Earthquake was compared to new assets rebuilt at the site, post-earthquake. Due to improved potable water infrastructure resilience resulting from installation of ductile piles, a decrease of 35.5% in the probability of service loss was estimated in the serviceability loss model. To complete the workflow, the results from the external analysis were uploaded to the web-based platform. One of the more significant outcomes from the workflow was the identification of a lack of mandated metadata standards for fittings/valves connecting a building to private laterals. Whilst visually the GIS and BIM data show the building and pipes as connected, the semantic data does not include this connectivity relationship. This has no material impact on the current serviceability loss model as it is not one of the defined parameters. However, a proposed modification to the model would utilise the metadata to further assess the physical connection robustness, and increase the number of variables for estimating probability of service loss. This thesis has made a methodological contribution to urban resilience analysis by demonstrating how readily available up-to-date building and infrastructure data can be integrated, and with tailored extraction from a Digital City platform, be used for disaster impact analysis in an external computational engine, with results in turn imported and visualised in the Digital City platform. The workflow demonstrated that translation and integration of data would be more successful if a regional/national mandate was implemented for the submission of consent documentation in a specified standard BIM format. The results of this thesis have identified that the key to ensuring the success of an integrated tool lies in the initial workflow required to safeguard that all data can be either captured or translated in an interoperable format.

Research papers, University of Canterbury Library

Natural hazard reviews reveal increases in disaster impacts nowhere more pronounced than in coastal settlements. Despite efforts to enhance hazard resilience, the common trend remains to keep producing disaster prone places. This paper explicitly explores hazard versus multi-hazard concepts to illustrate how different conceptualizations can enhance or reduce settlement resilience. Understandings gained were combined with onthe-ground lessons from earthquake and flooding experiences to develop of a novel ‘first cut’ approach for analyzing key multi-hazard interconnections, and to evaluate resilience enhancing opportunities. Traditional disaster resilience efforts often consider different hazard types discretely. However, recent events in Christchurch, a New Zealand city that is part of the 100 Resilient Cities network, highlight the need to analyze the interrelated nature of different hazards, especially for enhancing lifelines system resilience. Our overview of the Christchurch case study demonstrates that seismic, hydrological, shallow-earth, and coastal hazards can be fundamentally interconnected, with catastrophic results where such interconnections go unrecognized. In response, we have begun to develop a simple approach for use by different stakeholders to support resilience planning, pre and post disaster, by: drawing attention to natural and built environment multi-hazard links in general; illustrating a ‘first cut’ tool for uncovering earthquake-flooding multi-hazard links in particular; and providing a basis for reviewing resilience strategy effectiveness in multi-hazard prone environments. This framework has particular application to tectonically active areas exposed to climate-change issues.