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Images, UC QuakeStudies

A photograph of Crack'd for Christchurch's partially-completed mosaic on their armchair artwork.Crack'd for Christchurch comments, "We had many interesting discussion about the 'opus' (the background cream colour surrounding our pattern). Should it flow like the pattern, or be a geometric grid as these lines drawn on the chair indicate?."

Images, UC QuakeStudies

A photograph of pieces of broken china laid out in a pattern across a courtyard. A member of Crack'd for Christchurch is kneeling next to the china.Crack'd for Christchurch comments, "December 2011. Jenny Cooper. China spread out for a publicity shot."

Images, UC QuakeStudies

A photograph of boxes and buckets of broken china stacked in a room. Labels on the storage containers indicate that the china has been organised by colour, pattern, and texture.Crack'd for Christchurch comments, "The results of a lot of hard work. Sorted and boxed china nearly a year after beginning."

Images, UC QuakeStudies

A photograph of members of Crack'd for Christchurch working on their armchair artwork.Crack'd for Christchurch comments, "Most of the pattern is in place, and the opus is slowly being put around each flower. From top: Jennie Cooper and Katherine O'Connor."

Images, UC QuakeStudies

A photograph of members of Crack'd for Christchurch working on their armchair artwork.Crack'd for Christchurch comments, "Most of the pattern is in place, and the opus is slowly being put around each flower. From left: Marie Hudson, Jennie Cooper, and Katherine O'Connor."

Research papers, Lincoln University

Tree mortality is a fundamental process governing forest dynamics, but understanding tree mortality patterns is challenging because large, long-term datasets are required. Describing size-specific mortality patterns can be especially difficult, due to few trees in larger size classes. We used permanent plot data from Nothofagus solandri var. cliffortioides (mountain beech) forest on the eastern slopes of the Southern Alps, New Zealand, where the fates of trees on 250 plots of 0.04 ha were followed, to examine: (1) patterns of size-specific mortality over three consecutive periods spanning 30 years, each characterised by different disturbance, and (2) the strength and direction of neighbourhood crowding effects on sizespecific mortality rates. We found that the size-specific mortality function was U-shaped over the 30-year period as well as within two shorter periods characterised by small-scale pinhole beetle and windthrow disturbance. During a third period, characterised by earthquake disturbance, tree mortality was less size dependent. Small trees (,20 cm in diameter) were more likely to die, in all three periods, if surrounded by a high basal area of larger neighbours, suggesting that sizeasymmetric competition for light was a major cause of mortality. In contrast, large trees ($20 cm in diameter) were more likely to die in the first period if they had few neighbours, indicating that positive crowding effects were sometimes important for survival of large trees. Overall our results suggest that temporal variability in size-specific mortality patterns, and positive interactions between large trees, may sometimes need to be incorporated into models of forest dynamics.

Research papers, Lincoln University

In the last two decades, the retail sector has experienced unprecedented upheaval, having severe implications for economic development and sustenance of traditional inner-city retail districts. In the city of Christchurch, New Zealand, this effect has been exacerbated by a series of earthquakes in 2010/2011 which destroyed much of the traditional retail precinct of the city. After extensive rebuild activity of the city’s infrastructure, the momentum of retailers returning to the inner city was initially sluggish but eventually gathered speed supported by increased international visitation. In early 2020, the return to retail normality came to an abrupt halt after the emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic. This study uses spending and transaction data to analyze the compounding impact of the earthquake’s aftermath, shift to online shopping, and the retail disruption in the Christchurch central retail precinct because of COVID-19. The findings illustrate how consumers through their spending respond to different types of external shocks, altering their consumption patterns and retail mode (offline and online) to cope with an ever-changing retail landscape. Each event triggers different spending patterns that have some similarities but also stark differences, having implications for a sustainable and resilient retail industry in Christchurch. Implications for urban retail precinct development are also discussed.