Perceptions of Antarctic tourism: A question of tolerance

Perceptions of tourism held by a sample of New Zealand's Antarctic community are explored, and the small, mixed group of scientists and support workers that populate Scott Base (New Zealand's research base in the Ross Dependency, Antarctica) are treated as proxy for a 'host' community. This exploration is part of a wider study that set out to investigate the nature and meanings of Antarctic heritage. Although the research did not explicitly set out to survey perceptions of tourism, approximately one-half of those interviewed in the wider study gave an insight into this topic. The qualitative data reported were gathered during two visits to Scott Base in 1999. From the responses a three-fold classification was derived, indicating degrees of tolerance toward tourism: cautious, complex and comfortable tolerance.     

Thinking about Antarctic Heritage: kaleidoscopes and filters

The preliminary results of a project that is currently investigating the nature and range of meanings of Antarctic heritage are explored. The project involves two visits to Scott Base, and the subjects of the qualitative research are the members of the New Zealand Antarctic community. Work so far suggests that different meanings do exist, and a four-fold typology of meanings is suggested which needs to be considered in decisions affecting the future of Antarctica.     

Thinking about Antarctic Heritage: Kaleidoscopes and filters

The preliminary results of a project that is currently investigating the nature and range of meanings of Antarctic heritage are explored. The project involves two visits to Scott Base, and the subjects of the qualitative research are the members of the New Zealand Antarctic community. Work so far suggests that different meanings do exist, and a four-fold typology of meanings is suggested which needs to be considered in decisions affecting the future of Antarctica.     

Streamlining urban housing development: Are there environmental sustainability impacts?

New Zealand's largest city, Auckland, is currently facing a housing affordability crisis. Policy makers have attempted to address housing supply issues by creating Special Housing Areas (SHAs), intended to streamline consent processes and fast-track development. SHAs are predicted to accommodate around 40,000 additional dwellings over 10 or more years.This study evaluates the impact of the SHAs on measures of environmental sustainability. Using a variety of datasets we estimate the impacts of SHA development on four indicators; weighted population density, carbon emissions from commuting, active transport share, and zinc and copper pollution from storm water runoff.The research finds that SHAs' location results in marginally higher population density and lower commute emissions (given business-as-usual transport behaviour) overall. However, the small projected emissions' saving is well short of the goals for emission reduction set out by Auckland Council and New Zealand's central government. The SHAs' location is likely to mean that a smaller proportion of their commuters will be active compared to the Auckland average. The average impact per dwelling of the SHAs on stormwater pollution (zinc and copper) is lower for high density and infill developments than for greenfield developments and overall the SHAs will contribute to a higher average level of stormwater pollution. These findings are placed in the context of key policy documents, and emphasise the importance of coordinating land use, transport and infrastructure planning in order to address health, environmental and climate change concerns, while also addressing housing needs.     

A Strategic Approach to Conservation Planning for Coastal New Zealand Landscapes

In New Zealand's lowland production landscapes less than 5% of the land comprises native vegetation. The continuing loss of lowland habitats remains, as the New Zealand Biodiversity Strategy (2000) recognized, one of the most intractable of New Zealand's conservation problems. The reasons behind this loss are explored and possible approaches to arresting this decline are considered. Field research was undertaken in two coastal plains landscapes. The purpose of the research was to examine the extent and character of native habitats remaining on the plains. A database comprising data on 744 sites with predominantly native habitats was created. The majority of these sites were not included on existing conservation databases and as such fall outside the remit of existing conservation planning and management processes. The study indicates that if the decline of native habitats on the plains is to be halted and reversed, a new approach to conservation planning is needed. A strategic planning approach to conservation is required, based on ecological regions where the focus is on co-ordinated planning of natural areas at the landscape scale.     

Planning For Community Care Facilities In New Zealand

This paper considers the planning context for the siting of community care homes in New Zealand. The objective of our analysis is to clarify the sociocultural context for local planning bodies concerning the siting of community care homes, and thus provide a better understanding of the implications of the Resource Management Act 1991 for addressing locational conflict. The paper also discusses planning issues that arise from New Zealand's increasingly complex social make up (particularly its biculturalism) which may increase the potential for conflicts in siting community care facilities.     

Auckland'S Regional Growth Policy: Developments During The Last Two Decades

Introduction

The issues and planning practices now being experienced and used to plan the outward growth of Auckland, New Zealand, are discussed as part of a series reviewing planning the outward growth of Australia's metropolitan areas. While in the Australian context the largest metropolitan areas are also State capitals, in Auckland's case it can only lay claim to being New Zealand's largest and fastest growing metropolitan area. In settlement hierarchy terms Auckland is on a comparable level to Adelaide, Brisbane and Perth.     

Beyond Home Ownership. Housing,Welfare and Society

This article explores the new directions that have emerged in New Zealand's urban planning and policy since 1999. In particular it looks at some consequences of the move from sustainable management to sustainable development for urban areas. It also identifies and explores constraints that may limit the production of sound research on which to base those new urban planning and policy directions.     

Conservation of Riparian Forest Remnants,West Coast,New Zealand

Riparian forest is a priority for protection in New Zealand. Data are provided on the spatial extent and distribution of riparian forest and forest remnants within the West Coast region of New Zealand. Despite the West Coast having the bulk of New Zealand's riparian forest, such forests are under-represented in many of the region's Ecological Districts. Lack of other suitable soils meant that, where possible, floodplains were extensively developed for agriculture. Consequently riparian forest remnants within farmland are small and isolated. The implications of ecological processes and land-management practices for the conservation management of the riparian forest remnants are discussed, and three conservation priorities are identified.     

New Zealand's Housing Reforms and Accommodation Supplement Experience

This paper sets out details of New Zealand's recent housing reforms and examines some of the criticisms levelled at the changes that have occurred. It is argued that the introduction of an Accommodation Supplement has the potential to promote fiscal ‘blowout’ in government expenditure, may contribute to housing affordability problems and, combined with the changes in the management of public housing, increase socio-spatial polarisation within urban areas.     

Auckland: Rescaled governance and post-suburban politics

The nature and politics of urban development in Auckland have undergone rapid transformation following amalgamation of eight separate authorities in 2010. Institutions governing metropolitan planning and infrastructure provision were rescaled to form the Auckland ‘Super City’ Council in 2010, with an ambitious vision to become the world's most liveable city and ongoing political contestation between the local and central government. Amalgamation of Auckland's governance was conceived and imposed by the central government as part of a broader economic strategy for “competitive cities”. However, Auckland Council's first strategic plan adopted a contrasting agenda, centred around the goal of “liveability”. Auckland's recent developments illustrate the challenges of a distinctly post-suburban polity. The majority of employment is located in suburban areas and the city has variegated and overlapping patterns in spatial form generated through inconsistent infrastructure interventions across local and national authorities. Conflicting urban policy agenda at national and local scales shows a tension between the pursuit of economic development and provision for collective needs. The politics of post-suburban development create specific challenges for Auckland's governance. Liveability and economic competitiveness are treated as complementary terms in political rhetoric, however trade-offs emerge at a smaller spatial scales. Public concern over housing affordability and risks to the financial stability of New Zealand's economy have led to central government intervention and renegotiation of authority between different tiers of government for land use and infrastructure provision. Auckland's position as New Zealand's largest city and economic centre frequently blurs the distinction between issues of local and national significance. Auckland's governance challenges are not unique, however the current tensions are exacerbated by its dominance in a small and geographically-isolated nation.     

Intertwining histories of building professionals

New Zealand's devastating Canterbury earthquakes provided an opportunity to examine the efficacy of existing regulations and policies relevant to seismic strengthening of vulnerable buildings. The mixed-methods approach adopted, comprising both qualitative and quantitative approaches, revealed that some of the provisions in these regulations pose as constraints to appropriate strengthening of earthquake-prone buildings. Those provisions include the current seismic design philosophy, lack of mandatory disclosure of seismic risks and ineffective timeframes for strengthening vulnerable buildings. Recommendations arising from these research findings and implications for pre-disaster mitigation for future earthquake and Canterbury's post-disaster reconstruction suggest: (1) a reappraisal of the requirements for earthquake engineering design and construction, (2) a review and realignment of all regulatory frameworks relevant to earthquake risk mitigation, and (3) the need to develop a national programme necessary to achieve consistent mitigation efforts across the country. These recommendations are important in order to present a robust framework where New Zealand communities such as Christchurch can gradually recover after a major earthquake disaster, while planning for pre-disaster mitigation against future earthquakes.     

New Zealand housing policy: Continuities and changes

The article reviews the development of New Zealand's housing policy from the early years of the present century when the foundations were laid for an interventionist social democratic‐style housing policy. This policy has increasingly come under pressure through changes within New Zealand's internal and external economy particularly during the 70s. In this decade and in the early 80s changes took place in the pattern of house building, the costs of construction, land and finance; leading to rapid escalations in prices and a growing problem of affordability. The change of Government in 1984 and the initiation of new policies by the Labour administration have produced a radical restructuring of the housing sector removing many of its protections through the de‐regulation of the financial market. The initial results have been rapidly rising interest rates together with shifts in patterns of building and in investments within financial institutions. These changes have led to a sharpening of divisions between those who are already owner occupiers and other householders and have exacerbated further the problem of housing affordability. The article concludes with some speculation as to the likely social and political consequences of these changes in macro‐economic policy.     

Reading the Phone Book: Cultural landscape myths in public art

Representations provide an accessible and challenging means of investigating the cultural landscape. While on the one hand images can be read as simple depictions or denotations of landscape, on the other they are rich in meaning, encapsulating a community's idealized vision of itself. The way in which a particular body of popular art—New Zealand's telephone book covers—conveys both 'real' and 'imagined' views of landscape is explored. These images privilege certain ideas about identity, with the selective visual language expressing a range of myths about the relationships between culture and landscape. The populist nature of these works holds a mirror up to society's values, and at the same time projects these ideals onto society, through the high public profile of the images.     

Housing Experience and Settlement Satisfaction: Recent Chinese,Indian and South African Skilled Immigrants to New Zealand

Relatively little work has been done on the housing experience of recent migrants from cultural backgrounds different to that of their host society. This absence is particularly marked for relatively high socio-economic status skilled migrants, many of whom have to negotiate housing markets significantly different from those in their countries of origin. Data obtained from a panel study of recent immigrants from three separate sources—China, India and South Africa—to New Zealand's main cities (primarily Auckland) are used to explore the nature of their housing experiences. Over a four-year period these migrants moved towards the New Zealand norm of owner occupied, detached dwellings, although more rapidly in some cases than others; the pace of movement reflected not only cultural differences among the three groups, relative to the New Zealand norms, but also experiences in the labour market. These differences are reflected in levels of satisfaction with the decision to move to New Zealand.     

POLICY REVIEW Housing Policy in the 1990s-New Zealand a Decade of Change

The paper examines the 1990s as a decade of change within New Zealand's housing policies. The decade has seen a radical restructuring of both the public institutions and instruments designed to deliver housing assistance. The paper discusses both the nature of the reforms and their impact upon the housing opportunities of low income households. It also assesses whether they have created greater choice for low income households and increased or decreased housing-related poverty.     

COMMUNITY INPUT AND THE CITY BUDGET: GEOGRAPHICALLY BASED BUDGETING IN NEW YORK CITY

This article examines decentralization in New York City by analyzing that city's recent experiences with community based budgeting. Specifically, using budgetary data from fiscal years 1982 through 1985, the research addresses the spatial a location of capital budget projects among New York's fifty-nine community districts each of which is represented by a community board. Borrowing from the literature on intra-city variations in the distribution of public services, we examine whether “success rates” in having local budget priorities accepted for inclusion in the city's capital budget are functions of the racial and/or economic characteristics of the community districts. Alternatively, borrowing from organizational theory, we address the same issue from the perspective of community boards' interorganizational relationships. The findings indicate that although each emphasis…social area and interorganizational…contributes independently to our understanding of spatial variations concerning local budget priorities, the latter is a more important factor than the former.     

Reform and efficiency of New Zealand's airports

The paper analyses the efficiency performance of New Zealand's airports in the context of structural reform. This study is in two parts using two separate databases. In the first part a Malmquist Data Envelopment Analysis approach is used to estimate the productivity change over the longer term of the country's three largest airports between 1991/92 and 2011/12. Partial productivity indicators are used to supplement and reinforce this analysis. In the second part, a separate database is used with Data Envelopment Analysis in a two-stage process to determine the impact of scale economies and ownership type on levels of efficiency. The first part of the study found that the efficiency and productivity of the three airports improved over the years, although this was influenced to some degree by locational factors. The second part of the study found that the larger airports were more efficient than the smaller ones, and jointly owned airports are somewhat less efficient. Productivity gains appear to enable airport expansion, rather than price reductions.     

1941 Institute Roster

New your Plans for the Future. By Cleveland Rodgers. Harper &; Brothers, New York. 1943. 293 Pages. $3.00.

New Zealand's Experience with Land-Value Taxation, By the Honorable Walter Nash. Citizens' Housing Council of New York, 470 Fourth Avenue, New York City. 1943. 22 pages. Single copies, 20 cents; ten or more copies to one address, 10 cents each.

Security, Work, and Relief Policies. National Resources Development—Report for 1943. National Resources Planning Board, Washington, D. C.     

Myths and Reality: Anti-social Behaviour in Scotland

There has been widespread debate in Britain about the problems caused by 'anti-social' neighbours. This paper considers the definitions of anti-social behaviour and possible causal factors before going on to investigate the basis for some of the most commonly held views about the issue. It concludes that it is more useful to consider the problem as comprising three distinct but related phenomena of neighbour disputes, neighbourhood problems and crime. Although the causal factors link to the wider debate about residualisation, solutions have focused on tightening legal sanctions rather than on wider societal problems. The limited research evidence does not support views that problems only occur in public sector estates, or that drugs, community care policies, lifestyle differences and lack of tolerance are major factors. In addition, landlords were not developing preventive measures or using existing legal sanctions effectively.