Researchers have begun to explore the opportunity presented by blue-green infrastructure(a subset of nature-based solutions that provide blue and green space in urban infrastructure)as a response to the pressures of climate change. The 2010/2011 Canterbury earthquake sequence created a unique landscape within which there is opportunity to experiment with and invest in new solutions to climate change adaptation in urban centres. Constructed wetlands are an example of blue-green infrastructure that can potentially support resilience in urban communities. This research explores interactions between communities and constructed wetlands to understand how this may influence perceptions of community resilience. The regeneration of the Ōtākaro Avon River Corridor (OARC) provides a space to investigate these relationships. Seven stakeholders from the community, industry, and academia, each with experience in blue-green infrastructure in the OARC, participated in a series of semi-structured interviews. Each participant was given the opportunity to reflect on their perspectives of community, community resilience, and constructed wetlands and their interconnections. Interview questions aligned with the overarching research objectives to (1) understand perceptions around the role of wetlands in urban communities, (2) develop a definition for community resilience in the context of the Ōtākaro Avon community, and (3) reflect on how wetlands can contribute to (or detract from) community resilience. This study found that constructed wetlands can facilitate learning about the challenges and solutions needed to adapt to climate change. From the perspective of the community representatives, community resilience is linked to social capital. Strong social networks and a relationship with nature were emphasised as core components of a community’s ability to adapt to disruption. Constructed wetlands are therefore recognised as potentially contributing to community resilience by providing spaces for people to engage with each other and nature. Investment in constructed wetlands can support a wider response to climate change impacts. This research was undertaken with the support of the Ōtākaro Living Laboratory Trust, who are invested in the future of the OARC. The outcomes of this study suggest that there is an opportunity to use wetland spaces to establish programmes that explore the perceptions of constructed wetlands from a broader community definition, at each stage of the wetland life cycle, and at wider scales(e.g., at a city scale or beyond).
While it is well known that challenging and distressing events can negatively impact people’s psychological and physical state, increasingly researchers have investigated how challenging or stressful life circumstances can lead to the phenomenon of posttraumatic growth: positive psychological or life changes that can emerge from potentially traumatic events. Posttraumatic growth has been investigated primarily with people displaying varying levels of posttraumatic stress symptoms and other psychopathology due to theories suggesting that resilience would prohibit posttraumatic growth. Few studies have examined growth amongst resilient people. The current study examined posttraumatic growth in a sample of sixty psychologically healthy people who experienced the Canterbury earthquake sequence of 2010-2011. The current study is a follow-up study that used thematic analysis to explore: (1) Whether posttraumatic growth is evident nine years after the Canterbury earthquake sequence and approximately six years after baseline assessment; and (2) What themes may facilitate the posttraumatic growth process in psychologically healthy people. Data were collected using semi-structured interviews. Thematic analysis revealed four themes describing participants’ experiences of growth: New possibilities, reappraisal of life and priorities, positive changes in self-perception and closer more meaningful relationships. Themes describing posttraumatic growth provide evidence for research question one. Thematic analysis revealed three main themes and multiple subthemes that may facilitate the process of growth in psychologically healthy people: Hardship, optimistic positive appraisal and people helping people. Themes describing processes that may lead to growth provide evidence for research question two. Results of the current study provide insights about the experience of growth in psychologically healthy people and cognitive and psychosocial factors that may facilitate growth in resilient individuals.
The University of Canterbury’s RECOVER project (Reef Ecology and Coastal Values, Earthquake Recovery) is a research programme funded by the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE), and supported by the Ministry of Primary Industries (MPI). It has been evaluating recovery from the 7.8 Mw Kaikōura earthquake in the coastal environment between Oaro in the south and Marfells Beach in the north. The project has documented a wide range of biological and physical impacts in the coastal environment over the past four years. These include the widespread mortality of habitat-forming species that support characteristic ecosystems and natural resources on the coast (Alestra et al. 2021; Schiel et al. 2019; Tait et al. 2021). Due to the popularity of the coast for recreational use, interactions between people and the recovering environment are an important influence on recovery processes. These interactions may include threats to the natural environment but also the potential for positive interventions that could help to restore natural ecosystems and resources – including those that have been degraded in the past. Physical effects of uplift at the coastline include the seaward movement of shorelines and creation of new land above the reach of the tide, leading to a widening of beaches (Orchard et al. 2020; Orchard et al. in press). This has also provided a greater opportunity for off-road vehicle access to sections of the coast previously protected by headlands that were impassable at high tide (Marlborough District Council 2019; Orchard 2020). MDC management responses have included the development of a proposed bylaw to reduce the impacts of motor vehicle use in the area (Marlborough District Council 2021). Changes in the position of the sea-level on the landscape also affect the location of characteristic ecosystems such as sand dunes and storm beaches as they recover to a new norm. Notable changes include the establishment of new dunes closer to the sea which could potentially lead to the degradation of old dune systems that may experience reduced sand supply as a result. Wildlife habitat has also been affected by these uplift and re-assembly effects although the specific impacts remain largely unknown. This report contributes to a collaborative project between the Marlborough District Council (MDC) and University of Canterbury (UC) which aims to help protect and promote the recovery of native dune systems on the Marlborough coast. It is centred around the mapping of dune vegetation and identification of dune protection zones for old-growth seed sources of the native sand-binders spinifex (Spinifex sericeus) and pīngao (Ficinia spiralis). Both are key habitat-formers associated with nationally threatened dune ecosystems (Holdaway et al. 2012), and pīngao is an important weaving resource and Ngāi Tahu taonga species. The primary goal is to protect existing seed sources that are vital for natural regeneration following major disturbances such as the earthquake event. Several additional protection zones are also identified for areas where new dunes are successfully regenerating, including areas being actively restored in the Beach Aid project that is assisting new native dunes to become established where there is available space.
Climate change and population growth will increase vulnerability to natural and human-made disasters or pandemics. Longitudinal research studies may be adversely impacted by a lack of access to study resources, inability to travel around the urban environment, reluctance of sample members to attend appointments, sample members moving residence and potentially also the destruction of research facilities. One of the key advantages of longitudinal research is the ability to assess associations between exposures and outcomes by limiting the influence of sample selection bias. However, ensuring the validity and reliability of findings in longitudinal research requires the recruitment and retention of respondents who are willing and able to be repeatedly assessed over an extended period of time. This study examined recruitment and retention strategies of 11 longitudinal cohort studies operating during the Christchurch, New Zealand earthquake sequence which began in September 2010, including staff perceptions of the major impediments to study operations during/after the earthquakes and respondents’ barriers to participation. Successful strategies to assist recruitment and retention after a natural disaster are discussed. With the current COVID-19 pandemic, longitudinal studies are potentially encountering some of the issues highlighted in this paper including: closure of facilities, restricted movement of research staff and sample members, and reluctance of sample members to attend appointments. It is possible that suggestions in this paper may be implemented so that longitudinal studies can protect the operation of their research programmes.<br /><br /><jats:bold>Key messages</jats:bold><br /><ul><li>Recruitment and retention of longitudinal study participants is challenging following a natural disaster.</li><br /><li>The long-lasting, global effects of the Covid 19 pandemic will increase this problem.</li><br /><li>Longitudinal study researchers should develop protocols to support retention before a disaster occurs.</li><br /><li>Researchers need to be pragmatic and flexible in the design and implementation of their studies.</li></ul>
Supplemental energy dissipation devices are increasingly used to protect structures, limit loads transferred to structural elements and absorbing significant response energy without sacrificial structural damage. Lead extrusion dampers are supplemental energy dissipation devices, where recent development of smaller volumetric size with high force capacities, called high force to volume (HF2V) devices, has seen deployment in a large series of scaled and full-scaled experiments, as well as in three new structures in Christchurch, NZ and San Francisco, USA. HF2V devices have previously been designed using limited precision models, so there is variation in force prediction capability. Further, while the overall resistive force is predicted, the knowledge of the relative contributions of the different internal reaction mechanisms to these overall resistive forces is lacking, limiting insight and predictive accuracy in device design. There is thus a major need for detailed design models to better understand force generation, and to aid precision device design. These outcomes would speed the overall design and implementation process for uptake and use, reducing the need for iterative experimental testing. Design parameters from 17 experimental HF2V device tests are used to create finite element models using ABAQUS. The analysis is run using ABAQUS Explicit, in multiple step times of 1 second with automatic increments, to balance higher accuracy and computational time. The output is obtained from the time- history output of the contact pressure forces including the normal and friction forces on the lead along the shaft. These values are used to calculate the resistive force on the shaft as it moves through the lead, and thus the device force. Results of these highly nonlinear, high strain analyses are compared to experimental device force results. Model errors compared to experimental results for all 17 devices ranged from 0% to 20% with a mean absolute error of 6.4%, indicating most errors were small. In particular, the standard error in manufacturing is SE = ±14%. In this case, 15 of 17 devices (88%) are within ±1SE (±14%) and 2 of 17 devices (12%) are within ±2SE (±28). These results show low errors and a distribution of errors compared to experimental results that are within experimental device construction variability. The overall modelling methodology is objective and repeatable, and thus generalizable. The exact same modelling approach is applied to all devices with only the device geometry changing. The results validate the overall approach with relatively low error, providing a general modelling methodology for accurate design of HF2V devices.
