Towards inclusion: Local government, public space and homelessness in New Zealand

Abstract:  This paper considers the political and normative dimensions of local government responses to homelessness in New Zealand. It outlines the context for local government action, the approaches adopted by three case study cities, and arguments for rejecting anti-homeless regulations in favour of supportive policies conducive to forging inclusive public space. It contributes to debates over homelessness policy by articulating an approach that integrates regulatory, funding and leadership roles. It argues that in addressing antisocial behaviour in public spaces, policy-makers must eschew approaches which effectively criminalize the sight, and status, of poverty.     

A commentary on coastal research in New Zealand universities

Abstract:    University research in coastal geomorphology, processes and management has made a major contribution to the fundamental understanding of coastal systems in New Zealand over the past 43 years. This article examines the growth in university-based coastal research since 1964 and discusses the geographical pattern and themes of this research. Data indicate a significant geographical concentration of research effort and focus on a narrow range of research themes. Underlying reasons for these characteristics of New Zealand coastal research are explored and challenges facing university based research are discussed. Such challenges can be overcome through a more coordinated research effort to realize the huge potential to undertake coastal science of national relevance and international significance.     

River Dog: Re‐imagining and re‐representing the environment and de‐idealising the rural in New Zealand film

The depiction of pristine countryside in New Zealand film has engendered a cultural disconnection with the environmental stories within the landscape. In this essay, we briefly examined the meaning of rural New Zealand landscape and its role in film. This research was done in part by making a short documentary, River Dog, a film about the rural New Zealand landscape. The character, plot and underlying message of River Dog were framed within visually relevant archetypes to form a constructive environmental message. Here, we examined River Dog's use of empathetic storytelling, an approach used to communicate an environmental issue without promulgating science or politics.     

The place of fieldtrips in New Zealand university geography

Abstract: This paper considers three questions: Why are fieldtrips used in geography? How does this mesh with the geographers’ own understandings of geography? What do lecturers hope to achieve on fieldtrips? Understandings are gleaned from interviews with those who run fieldtrips. There has been a tradition of fieldtrips in New Zealand and this very tradition helps to maintain them. Fieldtrips are shaped by geographers’ particular philosophical approaches to geography and take different approaches according to their aims.     

New Zealand Geography and the International Geographical Union Part II: Audience to stage, 1956–1974

A second phase of New Zealand engagement with the International Geographical Union spans from 1956 to 1974. The nature of this engagement which culminated in the hosting of a Regional Conference in New Zealand in 1974 is the subject of this paper.     

Preserving coastal natural character: Court interpretations of a long‐standing New Zealand policy goal

New Zealand's policy goal to preserve coastal natural character was first incorporated into planning legislation in 1973 and protected area legislation in 1977. An evaluation of 100 relevant Resource Management Act Court decisions determined the Courts' interpretations of this policy goal. The Courts have repeatedly found that natural character is of nature (not culture), including natural elements, patterns, and processes. There is a continuum of naturalness from pristine indigenous ecosystems to the urban environment. A 2014 Supreme Court decision has upheld the use of environmental bottom lines for natural character and the importance of protection as part of sustainable management.     

Recent and future higher sea levels in New Zealand: A review

Abstract:    Understanding past sea levels is essential to respond to the challenges of climate change. In the Pacific and Tasman, sea level has been up to 1.5 m higher during the mid-Holocene, similar to the predictions of some global warming models. Within New Zealand the knowledge of sea-level movements, especially during the recent past is poor, with the last major investigation being conducted 20 years ago. This paper reviews the state of local understanding of higher sea levels and suggests regions for further study and new methods of analysis to understand the nature of sea-level change in New Zealand.     

John Turnbull Thomson,Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society: An early New Zealand geographer

John Turnbull Thomson is more known in New Zealand for his work as Chief Surveyor of Otago Province (1856–1876) and first Surveyor General of New Zealand (1877–1879). He was also a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society of London from 1848 until his death in 1884. Thomson was an important and early self‐declared ‘does’ of geographer in New Zealand, prior to the establishment of university geography in 1937. Thomson's contribution included survey and mapping but he also gave public lectures on geography and contributed to debates about glaciation.     

Estuarine shore platforms in Whanganui Inlet, South Island, New Zealand

Whanganui Inlet is a low mesotidal environment where wave energy at the shoreline is limited due to a small fetch, a narrow entrance and tidal flat accretion to intertidal elevations. Wave energy is therefore only an erosive force at high tide and under storm conditions. Despite this low-energy environment extensive shore platforms occur within the inlet. They are sub-horizontal and range in width from 4.1 to 185.2 m with an average of 44.9 m. All the platforms are formed in sandstone of low resistance (mean N-type Schmidt Hammer rebound value of 17 ± 8) and have their seaward edges buried by intertidal sediment flats. The majority of platforms occur at around MHWN level, corresponding to the elevation of those flats. Where wave energy is highest, opposite the inlet's entrance and at those sites with the largest fetch, platforms develop to 0.5–1.0 m below MSL. A higher platform level is also found at MHWS elevations, however it appears to be relict with active erosion of its seaward edge occurring and therefore is most likely related to a higher mid-Holocene sea level. Apart from the location of the lowest platforms little correspondence is found between platform morphology and wave energy. Platform evolution appears to be intrinsically linked to the intertidal sediment flats which determine the degree of surface saturation of the bedrock and, hence, the number of wetting and drying cycles the platforms may undergo. As the seaward edge is buried platform development is primarily through retreat of the landward cliff. This process can, however, be complicated by the migration of intertidal water channels onto the seaward edge of the platforms or relative sea level fall which may rejuvenate landward retreat of the low-tide cliff.     

Neighbourhoods and health: A review of the New Zealand literature

Over the past two decades, there has been a resurgence of interest into place‐based influences on health. Researchers have identified that various characteristics of neighbourhoods exert an influence on the health outcomes and behaviours of local residents. Understanding the processes linking places to health provides considerable potential for a range of policy interventions. We review the New Zealand‐based neighbourhoods and health research. Consideration is given to the types of neighbourhood characteristics, as well the range of health outcomes that have been studied. Finally, we suggest some priorities for further research into the mechanisms underpinning neighbourhood influences on health in New Zealand.     

Emerging transitions in organic waste infrastructure in Aotearoa New Zealand

Aotearoa New Zealand is at a critical juncture in reducing and managing organic waste. Research has highlighted the significant proportion of organic waste sent to landfills and associated adverse effects such as greenhouse gas emissions and loss of valuable organic matter. There is current debate about what practices and infrastructure to invest in to better manage and use organic waste. We highlight the diversity of existing organic waste practices and infrastructures, focusing on Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch. We show how debates about organic waste practices and infrastructure connect across three themes: waste subjectivities, collective action in place and language.     

Competition and co-operation in the semi-periphery: closer economic partnership and sectoral transformations in Chile and New Zealand

The signing of a strategic economic partnership (the Trans-Pacific SEP or P4) between Chile, New Zealand, Singapore and Brunei Darussalam in 2005 reveals the emergence of a new generation of trade agreements that seek to promote longer-term synergies and cooperation. This is in marked contrast with a purely competitive, market-based model of agreements whereby economies are opened up to oligopsonistic capital. The orientation is clearly more neostructural and strategic in construction, emphasizing the opportunities within the global economy of improved relations with similarly positioned economies within the semi-periphery. This article analyses both the basis for and implications of the P4 for Chile and New Zealand by looking at three sectors in which both countries are competitive in export markets: dairy, wine and fisheries. By assessing similarities and differences, and the ways in which competition or co-operation might be established, the potential impacts of the agreement can be posited. Within a global context of bilateral and multilateral commercial agreements, it is this type of agreement that perhaps best fits the needs of smaller economies in the periphery that seek to establish greater competitive space for their exports in core economies without engaging in a mutually destructive war of competition in similar sectors and products.     

Grassland utopia and Silent Spring: Rereading the agrichemical revolution in New Zealand

Abstract:  This paper explores the post-World War II 'green revolution' in agricultural chemicals and its representation in Service , a New Zealand chemical industry journal. In particular, I describe how various 'texts' within the journal constructed the revolution largely in utopian terms. Critically rereading these texts reveals the extent to which chemical use in agriculture was tied to post-war discourses of unwavering optimism about science, technology and progress.     

Failure deconstructed: Histories and geographies of soldier settlement in New Zealand circa 1917–39

Abstract:  The New Zealand discharged soldier settlement scheme of the 1920s has been much criticized as being a failure. This paper draws on the existing literature and new case study research to break open 'failure' as an undifferentiated term and proposes that it was of three different types relating to what was termed the 'personal equation', to debt levels and to broader structural adjustment problems in farming. Each operated at differing scales. This is incorporated into a typology of failure and is put forward as basis for further research.     

Beyond the 'Outer Crescent': the Mackinder century in New Zealand geopolitics

This paper proposes that, although Mackinder never mentions New Zealand in his influential 1904 paper and despite the absence of a formal Kiwi geopolitical tradition, 'The geographical pivot of history' provides a useful framework with which to approach New Zealand geopolitics. The argument uses two Mackinderian ideas to suggest three phases in New Zealand's security relationships during the Mackinder century. First, New Zealand's commitment to Mackinder's 'pivot area' notion of 'imperial defence' and 'collective security' characterized its dependent security phase. Between 1973 and 1990/91 there was a transitional security phase towards Mackinder's second 'global interconnectedness' idea. Third, this shift led to a current interdependent security phase which is characterized by the recognition that New Zealand's security relationships, despite its geographic isolation, are mutually dependent on political, economic, and military events around the world. The impact of 11 September 2001 and the consequent 'war on terror' are also considered. The paper concludes by suggesting that New Zealand's post-conflict reconstruction efforts in Afghanistan and Iraq point to the continuing relevance of Mackinder's 'The geographical pivot of history' to New Zealand geopolitics.     

A test of the precursory accelerating moment release model on some recent New Zealand earthquakes

The proposal that the moment release rate increases in a systematic way in a large region around a forthcoming large earthquake is tested using three recent, large New Zealand events. The three events, 1993–1995, magnitudes 6.7–7.0, occurred in varied tectonic settings. For all three events, a circular precursory region can be found such that the moment release rate of the included seismicity is modelled significantly better by the proposed accelerating model than by a linear moment release model, although in one case the result is dubious. The 'best' such regions have radii from 122 to 167 km, roughly in accord with previous observations world-wide, but are offset by 50–60 km from the associated main shock epicentre. A grid-search procedure is used to test whether these three earthquakes could have been forecast using the accelerating moment release model. For two of the earthquakes the result is positive in terms of location, but the main shock times are only loosely constrained.