Children are often overlooked in the aftermath of a natural disaster, and children’s use of coping strategies plays an important part in their post-disaster adaptation (Vernberg, La Greca, Silverman, & Prinstein, 1996). The aim of this qualitative study was to explore the coping strategies of children with adequate self-regulation skills and minimal behaviour problems, living in Christchurch following the major 2010 and 2011 earthquakes. This aim was achieved through the use of semi-structured interviews with five seven-year-old children, their parents, and their teachers. These interviews were analysed using Directed Content Analysis and results showed that children most often reported using active and adaptive coping strategies, followed by avoidant strategies. Results in the current literature regarding children’s coping suggest that children exposed to natural disasters are able to utilise strategies that involve some personal control over their environment and emotions, through the use of active and adaptive coping strategies. Findings from this study contribute to the current understanding of children’s use of coping strategies when faced with commonly occurring childhood upsets. Further research is required regarding the outcomes associated with the use of effective coping strategies following traumatic events.
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.
