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Images for 2011 Christchurch earthquake; more images...

Audio, Radio New Zealand

Rocket Lab's Electron rocket launch today on the Mahia Peninsula has been scrubbed again, sadly. A power fault this time. Kaikoura residents and businesses are celebrating the re-opening of State Highway 1 north following a year of earthquake repairs. The coastal highway link between Picton and Christchurch was badly damaged during the November 2016 quake but will now re-open during the day from 7am. It will close at 8:30 each night so more repairs and assesments can be done. Kaikoura Top Ten Holiday Park co-owner Ed Nolan tells us what this means for his business and others in the town. The Prime Minister Jainda Ardern says the Government's new families package will reduce child poverty in the country by 48 per cent. We ask the panellists whether this is realistic or if there are other, more entrenched imprediments to lowering poverty in New Zealand. The panellists also discuss the state of the books, and discuss if they worry about national debt iincreasing, as the opposition has warned. The Prime Minister says wealthy New Zealanders can opt out of the Government's Winter Energy Payment, which will see those on a benefit, NZ Superannuation or a Veterans Pension get an extra boost due the winter season. Many are doubtful that will happen though. The panellists discuss why some wealthy people have missed out on tax cuts only to be able to reap the reward of this package. We also ask if they suspect this money will be used for heating purposes. The University of Otago has a new degree which brings science and art together, the BaSc. It aims to break down barriers between the two disciplines. Two students are graduating the degree this week. We talk to Eirenie Taua'i who has been studying Pacific Studies and Neuroscience. We aslk her what careers she is considering now and what it was like to study to very different courses. The families of those who died in the CTV building collapse in Christchurch's 2011 earthquake say they will continue to fight for justice. Police announced earlier this month they won't be prosecuting the engineers of the building after a three-year long investigation. The families met with police to ask and why say they aren't convinced all has been done. We ask panellist, barrister Jonathan Krebs, if other charges could and should be laid.

Research papers, University of Canterbury Library

Several concrete cladding panels were damaged during the 2011 Christchurch Earthquakes in New Zealand. Damage included partial collapse of panels, rupture of joint sealants, cracking and corner crushing. Installation errors, faulty connections and inadequate detailing were also contributing factors to the damage. In New Zealand, two main issues are considered in order to accommodate story drifts in the design of precast cladding panels: 1) drift compatibility of tieback or push-pull connections and 2) drift compatibility of corner joints. Tieback connections restrain the panels in the out-of-plane direction while allowing in-plane translation with respect to the building frame. Tieback connections are either in the form of slots or oversized holes or ductile rods usually located at the top of the panels. Bearing connections are also provided at the bottom of panels to transfer gravity loads. At the corners of a building, a vertical joint gap, usually filled with sealants, is provided between the two panels on the two orthogonal sides to accommodate the relative movement. In cases where the joint gap is not sufficient to accommodate the relative movements, panels can collide, generating large forces and the likely failure of the connections. On the other hand, large gaps are aesthetically unpleasing. The current design standards appear to recognize these issues but then leave most of the design and detailing to the discretion of the designers. In the installation phase, the alignment of panels is one of the main challenges faced by installers (and/or contractors). Many prefer temporary props to guide, adjust and hold the panels in place whilst the bearing connections are welded. Moreover, heat generated from extensive welding can twist the steel components inducing undesirable local stresses in the panels. Therefore, the installation phase itself is time-consuming, costly and prone to errors. This paper investigates the performance of a novel panel system that is designed to accommodate lateral inter-story drift through a ‘rocking’ motion. In order to gauge the feasibility of the system, six 2m high precast concrete panels within a single-story steel frame structure have been tested under increasing levels of lateral cyclic drift at the University of Canterbury, New Zealand. Three different panel configurations are tested: 1) a panel with return cover and a flat panel at a corner under unidirectional loading, 2) Two adjacent flat panels under unidirectional loading, and 3) Two flat panels at another oblique corner under bidirectional loading. A vertical seismic joint of 25 mm, filled with one-stage joint sealant, is provided between two of the panels. The test results show the ability of the panels with ‘rocking’ connection details to accommodate larger lateral drifts whilst allowing for smaller vertical joints between panels at corners, quick alignment and easy placement of panels without involving extensive welding on site.

Research papers, Victoria University of Wellington

Architecture and music have a long intertwining history.These respective creative forces many times have collaborated into monumental place, harboured rich occasion, been catalyst for cultural movement and defined generations. Together they transcend their respective identities. From dinky local church to monstrous national stadia, together they are an intense concentration, a powerfully addictive dosage where architecture is the place, music is the faith, and people are the reason.  Music is a programme that architecture often celebrates in poetic and grand fashion; a superficial excuse to symbolise their creative parallels. But their relationship is much richer and holds more value than just the opportunity to attempt architectural metaphor.While music will always overshadow the architecture in the sense of a singular event, architecture is like the soundman behind the mixing desk. It’s not the star front and centre grabbing your attention, but is responsible for framing the star. It is the foundational backdrop, a critical pillar. Great architecture can help make great music. In this sense music is a communication of architecture, it is the ultimate creative function.  Christchurch, New Zealand, is a city whose story changed in an instant. The seismic events of 2010 and 2011 have become the overriding subject of its historical narrative, as it will be for years to come. Disaster redefines place (the town of Napier, struck by an earthquake in 1931, exemplifies this). There is no quantifiable justification for an exploration of architecture and music within the context of Christchurch. The Town Hall, one of New Zealand’s most architecturally significant buildings, is under repair. The Christ Church Cathedral will more than likely be rebuilt to some degree of its former self. But these are echoes of the city that Christchurch was.They are saved because they are artefact. Evidence of history.This thesis makes the argument for the new, the better than before, and for the making of opportunity from disaster, by proposing a ‘new’ town hall, conceived from the sound of old.

Research papers, The University of Auckland Library

This research is a creative exploration of transmedia’s ability to offer up a model of distribution and audience engagement for political documentary. Transmedia, as is well known, is a fluid concept. It is not restricted to the activities of the entertainment industry and its principles also reverberate in the practice of political and activist documentary projects. This practice-led research draws on data derived from the production and circulation of Obrero, an independent transmedia documentary. The project explores the conditions and context of the Filipino rebuild workers who migrated to Christchurch, New Zealand after the earthquake in 2011. Obrero began as a film festival documentary that co-exists with two other new media iterations, each reaching its respective target audience: a web documentary, and a Facebook-native documentary. This study argues that relocating the documentary across new media spaces not only expands the narrative but also extends the fieldwork and investigation, forms like-minded publics, and affords the creation of an organised hub of information for researchers, academics and the general public. Treating documentary as research can represent a novel pathway to knowledge generation and the present case study, overall, provides an innovative model for future scholarship.

Research papers, University of Canterbury Library

While some scholarship on refugee youth has focussed on leaving a place that is typically considered ‘home,’ there has been little attention to what ‘home’ means to them and how this is negotiated in the country of (re)settlement. This is particularly the case for girls and women. New Zealand research on refugee settlement has largely focussed on the economic integration of refugees. Although this research is essential, it runs the risk of overlooking the socio-cultural aspects of the resettlement experiences and renders partial our understanding of how particular generations and ethnic groups develop a sense of belonging to their adopted homeland. In order to address these research gaps, this thesis explores the experiences of 12 Afghan women, aged 19-29 years, of refugee background who relocated to Christchurch, New Zealand, during their childhood and early teenage years. This study employed semi-structured, one-to-one, in-depth interviews and photo-elicitation to encourage talk about participants’ experiences of leaving Afghanistan, often living in countries of protracted displacement (Iran and/or Pakistan) and making- and being-at-home in New Zealand. In this thesis, I explore the ways in which they frame Afghanistan, and the ways in which their experiences in Iran and Pakistan disrupt the dichotomisation of belonging in terms of ‘here’ (ancestral land) and ‘there’ (country of residence). Furthermore, I use affect theorising to analyse the participants’ expressions of resettlement and home in New Zealand. Feeling at home is as much about negotiating cultural and gendered identities in Western secular societies as it is about belonging to a particular community. Through their experiences of ‘living in two worlds’, the participants are able to strategically challenge cultural expectations without undermining their reputations as Muslims and as Afghan women. The participants discussed their emotional responses to double-displacement: one as a result of war and the other as a result of 2011 Canterbury earthquakes. Therefore, I suggest that for young Afghan women, Afghanistan was among several markers of home in a long embodied journey of (re)settlement.

Research papers, Victoria University of Wellington

Heritage buildings are an important element of our urban environments, representing the hope and aspirations of a generation gone, reminding us of our achievements and our identity.  When heritage buildings suffer damage, or fall into disrepair they are either met by one of two extremes; a bulldozer or painstaking repair. If the decision to conserve defeats the bulldozer, current heritage practice favours restoration into a mausoleum-type monument to yesteryear. But what if, rather than becoming a museum, these heritage buildings could live on and become a palimpsest of history? What if the damage was embraced and embodied in the repair?  The Cathedral of the Blessed Sacrament on Barbadoes Street, Christchurch is the case study building for this thesis. Suffering damage in the Canterbury earthquakes of 2010 and 2011, the Cathedral sits in ruin waiting for decisions to be made around how it can be retained for future generations.  This thesis will propose a reconstruction for the Cathedral through the analysis of precedent examples of reconstructing damaged heritage buildings and guided by a heritage framework proposed in this thesis. The employed process will be documented as an alternative method for reconstructing other damaged heritage buildings.

Audio, Radio New Zealand

There have been dramatic scenes at the America's cup in Bermuda with Team New Zealand capsizing at the start of its second race of the day against the Bristish team Ben Ainslie Racing. Our America's Cup correspondent Todd Niall was at the Team New Zealand base. Transport Minister Simon Bridges has been caught trying to block an Official Information request for details about a proposed new 50 million dollar Auckland railway line. Kiwirail argued it was legally required to release the information, but the idea of releasing that information was making Mr Bridges 'extremely uncomfortable.' A man believed to be an Algerian student has attacked a police officer with a hammer outside Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris. Our correspondent Peter Allen says there is still a heavy police presence. The Labour Party says the government is short changing the health sector to the tune of $2.3 billion. The party's leader Andrew Little says funding hasn't kept up with the growing population and changing demographic. The United States secretary of state Rex Tillerson used a fleeting visit to Wellington yesterday to emphasise the importance of the Asia Pacific region and denying the US is stepping back from involvement here. Foreign affairs minister Gerry Brownlee says the US pulling out of the TPP doesn't prove anything. The immediate aftermath of the devastating 2011 Christchurch earthquake and its ongoing impact on residents' mental health is being described as a recovery of two halves. The latest wellbeing survey from the Canterbury District Health Board shows that one in five people, predominantly those living in the eastern suburbs, say they experience stress most or all of the time. Nicky Wagner, the Minister supporting Greater Christchurch Regeneration, says the city has a good quality of life when compared to the rest of the country, despite a new survey showing one in five people say they experience stress most or all of the time. Ms Wagner, says 82 per cent have a good or very good quality of life in Christchurch, which compares with 81 percent nationwide. She says the east side of the city is very low lying and suffered the most damage and work is still being down in that area.

Research papers, University of Canterbury Library

This thesis documents the development and demonstration of an assessment method for analysing earthquake-related damage to concrete waste water gravity pipes in Christchurch, New Zealand, following the 2010-2011 Canterbury Earthquake Sequence (CES). The method is intended to be internationally adaptable to assist territorial local authorities with improving lifelines infrastructure disaster impact assessment and improvements in resilience. This is achieved through the provision of high-resolution, localised damage data, which demonstrate earthquake impacts along the pipe length. The insights gained will assist decision making and the prioritisation of resources following earthquake events to quickly and efficiently restore network function and reduce community impacts. The method involved obtaining a selection of 55 reinforced concrete gravity waste water pipes with available Closed-Circuit Television (CCTV) inspection footage filmed before and after the CES. The pipes were assessed by reviewing the recordings, and damage was mapped to the nearest metre along the pipe length using Geographic Information Systems. An established, systematic coding process was used for reporting the nature and severity of the observed damage, and to differentiate between pre-existing and new damage resulting from the CES. The damage items were overlaid with geospatial data such as Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR)-derived ground deformation data, Liquefaction Resistance Index data and seismic ground motion data (Peak Ground acceleration and Peak Ground Velocity) to identify potential relationships between these parameters and pipe performance. Initial assessment outcomes for the pipe selection revealed that main pipe joints and lateral connections were more vulnerable than the pipe body during a seismic event. Smaller diameter pipes may also be more vulnerable than larger pipes during a seismic event. Obvious differential ground movement resulted in increased local damage observations in many cases, however this was not obvious for all pipes. Pipes with older installation ages exhibited more overall damage prior to a seismic event, which is likely attributable to increased chemical and biological deterioration. However, no evidence was found relating pipe age to performance during a seismic event. No evidence was found linking levels of pre-CES damage in a pipe with subsequent seismic performance, and seismic performance with liquefaction resistance or magnitude of seismic ground motion. The results reported are of limited application due to the small demonstration sample size, but reveal the additional level of detail and insight possible using the method presented in this thesis over existing assessment methods, especially in relation to high resolution variations along the length of the pipe such as localised ground deformations evidenced by LiDAR. The results may be improved by studying a larger and more diverse sample pool, automating data collection and input processes in order to improve efficiency and consider additional input such as pipe dip and cumulative damage over a large distance. The method is dependent on comprehensive and accurate pre-event CCTV assessments and LIDAR data so that post-event data could be compared. It is proposed that local territorial authorities should prioritise acquiring this information as a first important step towards improving the seismic resilience of a gravity waste water pipe network.

Research papers, University of Canterbury Library

This thesis documents the development and demonstration of an assessment method for analysing earthquake-related damage to concrete waste water gravity pipes in Christchurch, New Zealand, following the 2010-2011 Canterbury Earthquake Sequence (CES). The method is intended to be internationally adaptable to assist territorial local authorities with improving lifelines infrastructure disaster impact assessment and improvements in resilience. This is achieved through the provision of high-resolution, localised damage data, which demonstrate earthquake impacts along the pipe length. The insights gained will assist decision making and the prioritisation of resources following earthquake events to quickly and efficiently restore network function and reduce community impacts. The method involved obtaining a selection of 55 reinforced concrete gravity waste water pipes with available Closed-Circuit Television (CCTV) inspection footage filmed before and after the CES. The pipes were assessed by reviewing the recordings, and damage was mapped to the nearest metre along the pipe length using Geographic Information Systems. An established, systematic coding process was used for reporting the nature and severity of the observed damage, and to differentiate between pre-existing and new damage resulting from the CES. The damage items were overlaid with geospatial data such as Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR)-derived ground deformation data, Liquefaction Resistance Index data and seismic ground motion data (Peak Ground acceleration and Peak Ground Velocity) to identify potential relationships between these parameters and pipe performance. Initial assessment outcomes for the pipe selection revealed that main pipe joints and lateral connections were more vulnerable than the pipe body during a seismic event. Smaller diameter pipes may also be more vulnerable than larger pipes during a seismic event. Obvious differential ground movement resulted in increased local damage observations in many cases, however this was not obvious for all pipes. Pipes with older installation ages exhibited more overall damage prior to a seismic event, which is likely attributable to increased chemical and biological deterioration. However, no evidence was found relating pipe age to performance during a seismic event. No evidence was found linking levels of pre-CES damage in a pipe with subsequent seismic performance, and seismic performance with liquefaction resistance or magnitude of seismic ground motion. The results reported are of limited application due to the small demonstration sample size, but reveal the additional level of detail and insight possible using the method presented in this thesis over existing assessment methods, especially in relation to high resolution variations along the length of the pipe such as localised ground deformations evidenced by LiDAR. The results may be improved by studying a larger and more diverse sample pool, automating data collection and input processes in order to improve efficiency and consider additional input such as pipe dip and cumulative damage over a large distance. The method is dependent on comprehensive and accurate pre-event CCTV assessments and LIDAR data so that post-event data could be compared. It is proposed that local territorial authorities should prioritise acquiring this information as a first important step towards improving the seismic resilience of a gravity waste water pipe network.

Research papers, University of Canterbury Library

This thesis investigates the relationship between the apocalyptic narrative and the postmodern novel. It explores and builds on Patricia Waugh‟s hypothesis in Practising Postmodernism: Reading Modernism (1992) which suggests that that the postmodern is characterised by an apocalyptic sense of crisis, and argues that there is in fact a strong relationship between the apocalyptic and the postmodern. It does so through an exploration of apocalyptic narratives and themes in five postmodern novels. It also draws on additional supporting material which includes literary and cultural theory and criticism, as well as historical theory. In using the novel as a medium through which to explore apocalyptic narratives, this thesis both assumes and affirms the novel‟s importance as a cultural artefact which reflects the concerns of the age in which it is written. I suggest that each of the novels discussed in this thesis demonstrates the close relationship between the apocalyptic and the postmodern through society‟s concern over the direction of history, the validity of meta-narratives, and other cultural phenomenon, such as war, the development of nuclear weaponry, and terrorism. Although the scope of this thesis is largely confined to the historical-cultural epoch known as postmodernity, it also draws on literature and cultural criticism from earlier periods so as to provide a more comprehensive framework for investigating apocalyptic ideas and their importance inside the postmodern novel. A number of modernist writers are therefore referred to or quoted throughout this thesis, as are other important thinkers from preceding periods whose ideas are especially pertinent. The present thesis was researched and written between March 2010 and August 2011 and is dedicated to all of those people who lost their lives in the apocalyptic events of the February 22nd Christchurch earthquake.

Research papers, University of Canterbury Library

One of the most controversial issues highlighted by the 2010-2011 Christchurch earthquake series and more recently the 2016 Kaikoura earthquake, has been the evident difficulty and lack of knowledge and guidelines for: a) evaluation of the residual capacity damaged buildings to sustain future aftershocks; b) selection and implementation of a series of reliable repairing techniques to bring back the structure to a condition substantially the same as prior to the earthquake; and c) predicting the cost (or cost-effectiveness) of such repair intervention, when compared to fully replacement costs while accounting for potential aftershocks in the near future. As a result of such complexity and uncertainty (i.e., risk), in combination with the possibility (unique in New Zealand when compared to most of the seismic-prone countries) to rely on financial support from the insurance companies, many modern buildings, in a number exceeding typical expectations from past experiences at an international level, have ended up being demolished. This has resulted in additional time and indirect losses prior to the full reconstruction, as well as in an increase in uncertainty on the actual relocation of the investment. This research project provides the main end-users and stakeholders (practitioner engineers, owners, local and government authorities, insurers, and regulatory agencies) with comprehensive evidence-based information to assess the residual capacity of damage reinforced concrete buildings, and to evaluate the feasibility of repairing techniques, in order to support their delicate decision-making process of repair vs. demolition or replacement. Literature review on effectiveness of epoxy injection repairs, as well as experimental tests on full-scale beam-column joints shows that repaired specimens have a reduced initial stiffness compared with the undamaged specimen, with no apparent strength reduction, sometimes exhibiting higher displacement ductility capacities. Although the bond between the steel and concrete is only partially restored, it still allows the repaired specimen to dissipate at least the same amount of hysteretic energy. Experimental tests on buildings subjected to earthquake loading demonstrate that even for severe damage levels, the ability of the epoxy injection to restore the initial stiffness of the structure is significant. Literature review on damage assessment and repair guidelines suggests that there is consensus within the international community that concrete elements with cracks less than 0.2 mm wide only require cosmetic repairs; epoxy injection repairs of cracks less and 2.0 mm wide and concrete patching of spalled cover concrete (i.e., minor to moderate damage) is an appropiate repair strategy; and for severe damaged components (e.g., cracks greater than 2.0 mm wide, crushing of the concrete core, buckling of the longitudinal reinforcement) local replacement of steel and/or concrete in addition to epoxy crack injection is more appropriate. In terms of expected cracking patterns, non-linear finite element investigations on well-designed reinforced concrete beam-to-column joints, have shown that lower number of cracks but with wider openings are expected to occur for larger compressive concrete strength, f’c, and lower reinforcement content, ρs. It was also observed that the tensile concrete strength, ft, strongly affects the expected cracking pattern in the beam-column joints, the latter being more uniformly distributed for lower ft values. Strain rate effects do not seem to play an important role on the cracking pattern. However, small variations in the cracking pattern were observed for low reinforcement content as it approaches to the minimum required as per NZS 3101:2006. Simple equations are proposed in this research project to relate the maximum and residual crack widths with the steel strain at peak displacement, with or without axial load. A literature review on fracture of reinforcing steel due to low-cycle fatigue, including recent research using steel manufactured per New Zealand standards is also presented. Experimental results describing the influence of the cyclic effect on the ultimate strain capacity of the steel are also discussed, and preliminary equations to account for that effect are proposed. A literature review on the current practice to assess the seismic residual capacity of structures is also presented. The various factors affecting the residual fatigue life at a component level (i.e., plastic hinge) of well-designed reinforced concrete frames are discussed, and equations to quantify each of them are proposed, as well as a methodology to incorporate them into a full displacement-based procedure for pre-earthquake and post-earthquake seismic assessment.

Audio, Radio New Zealand

Artist and landscape architect Bridget Allen wouldn't have known how appropriate the name of her gardening business was to be when she set it up, out of Ilam art school and working at the Christchurch Botanic Gardens.  The name Regenerative Gardening Maintenance was prophetic given her city and its landscape was about to start regenerating.  The 2010-2011 Canterbury earthquakes saw not only buildings turned to rubble, large tracts of land, including an area around Ōtākaro Avon River the size of two New York Central Parks, started to turn from suburbia back to nature. The red zone has been turning green ever since.  In the wake of tragedy artists and gardeners came together to innovate and create new public spaces, with an eye on sustainability and community connection. Allen cofounded New Brighton sewing charity Stitch-o-Mat and retrained as a landscape architect.  Since 2023 she has been the director of The Green Lab, which began after the quakes as Greening the Rubble, creating urban green spaces and events for connection, while also working with residents to make their own backyards more sustainable.     Ever busy with working and planting bees, workshops to build habitats for plants and nature, and consultations to help people make their backyards more sustainable, on August 16 Bridget is running with The Green Lab Birds of Brighton printmaking workshops. It's at the Make Station in New Brighton Mall at 11am and 1pm. No experience is needed.  She joined Culture 101's Mark Amery.

Audio, Radio New Zealand

Questions to Ministers 1. GARETH HUGHES to the Minister for Primary Industries: Will he extend the Taranaki set net ban after the recent death of a Maui's dolphin in a fishing net? 2. DAVID BENNETT to the Minister for Economic Development: What actions is the Government taking to boost economic linkages with China? 3. GRANT ROBERTSON to the Prime Minister: Does he stand by his statement that his hour-long show on Radio Live on 30 September 2011 was an "election free zone"? 4. Dr PAUL HUTCHISON to the Minister of Health: What improvements, if any, have been made to the Government's national health targets? 5. Hon LIANNE DALZIEL to the Minister for Canterbury Earthquake Recovery: Did he discuss with the Christchurch City Mayor reported claims that there had been overtures from within The Treasury that there was scope for the city's rates to be increased or for assets to be sold to pay for the quake recovery, and that this could be done under the Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Act before he called him a clown; if not, why not? 6. JACQUI DEAN to the Minister of Local Government: What reports has he received on increases in local government council debt since the Local Government Act 2002 was enacted? 7. DARIEN FENTON to the Minister of Labour: Does she stand by her statement that the new minimum wage announced yesterday "strikes the right balance between protecting low paid workers and ensuring that jobs are not lost."? 8. PESETA SAM LOTU-IIGA to the Minister of Consumer Affairs: What recent announcements has the Government made on protecting consumers from loan sharks? 9. CLARE CURRAN to the Minister of Broadcasting: Is he aware that Stephen McElrea is part of a working group within NZ On Air, which includes a representative of MediaWorks, and which is determining details of a documentary about Whānau Ora? 10. TIM MACINDOE to the Minister for the Community and Voluntary Sector: What recent announcement has she made in her portfolio that will benefit communities? 11. HOLLY WALKER to the Minister for Social Development: Does she consider low family incomes to be a major contributor to childhood vulnerability? 12. Rt Hon WINSTON PETERS to the Prime Minister: Does he still have confidence in all his Ministers?

Research papers, The University of Auckland Library

Industrial steel storage pallet racking systems are used extensively worldwide to store goods. Forty percent of all goods are stored on storage racks at some time during their manufactureto- consumption life. In 2017, goods worth USD 16.5 billion were carried on cold-formed steel racking systems in seismically active regions worldwide. Historically, these racks are particularly vulnerable to collapse in severe earthquakes. In the 2010/2011 Christchurch earthquakes, around NZD 100 million of pallet racking stored goods were lost, with much greater associated economic losses due to disruptions to the national supply chain. A novel component, the friction slipper baseplate, has been designed and developed to very significantly improve the seismic performance of a selective pallet racking system in both the cross-aisle and the down-aisle directions. This thesis documents the whole progress of the development of the friction slipper baseplate from the design concept development to experimental verification and incorporation into the seismic design procedure for selective pallet racking systems. The test results on the component joint tests, full-scale pull-over and snap-back tests and fullscale shaking table tests of a steel storage racking system are presented. The extensive experimental observations show that the friction slipper baseplate exhibits the best seismic performance in both the cross-aisle and the down-aisle directions compared with all the other base-connections tested. It protects the rack frame and concrete floor from damage, reduces the risk of overturning in the cross-aisle direction, and minimises the damage at beam-end connectors in the down-aisle direction, without sustaining damage to the connection itself. Moreover, this high level of seismic performance can be delivered by a simple and costeffective baseplate with almost no additional cost. The significantly reduced internal force and frame acceleration response enable the more cost-effective and safer design of the pallet racking system with minimal extra cost for the baseplate. The friction slipper baseplate also provides enhanced protection to the column base from operational impact damage compared with other seismic resisting and standard baseplates.

Research papers, University of Canterbury Library

This chapter will draw on recent literature and practice experience to discuss the nature of field education in Aotearoa New Zealand. Social work education in this country is provided by academic institutions that are approved by the Social Workers Registration Board. The field education curriculum is therefore shaped by both the regulatory body and the tertiary institutions. Significant numbers of students undertake field education annually which places pressure on industry and raises concerns as to the quality of student experience. Although the importance of field education is undisputed it remains poised in a liminal space between the tertiary education and social service sectors where it is not sufficiently resourced by either. This affects the provision of practice placements as well as the establishment of long-term cross-sector partnerships. Significant events such as the 2010 and 2011 Christchurch earthquakes and recent terrorist attacks have exposed students to different field education experiences signalling the need for programmes to be responsive. Examples of creative learning opportunities in diverse environments, including in indigenous contexts, will be described. Drawing upon recent research, we comment on student and field educator experiences of supervision in the field. Recommendations to further develop social work field education in Aotearoa New Zealand relate to resourcing, infrastructure and quality, support for field educators, and assessment.

Research papers, Victoria University of Wellington

New Zealand has a housing crisis. High land prices and high construction costs have all contributed to unaffordable housing. Additionally, the New Zealand dream of the "quarter acre section" lifestyle that has encouraged urban sprawl throughout our major cities with increasingly unsustainable services, transport and road costs. New and exciting housing options need to be explored for urban areas. Christchurch is a city in New Zealand where urban sprawl has always been prevalent. In the wake of the 2010/2011 earthquakes sprawl increased further, relocating large suburban areas yet further away from the city centre. This has caused a greater reliance on cars, and a slower revival to the city. Historically there is an aversion to higher density living. Perceived desirability is a large factor. The medium to high density solutions produced thus far have little regard for the concept of "home", with the use of substandard materials, and monotonous and repetitive design, and essentially falling short of addressing the needs of New Zealand's increasing population. "A Home with a View" looks to address the needs of New Zealanders and Christchurch, through the individual tower-house within an overarching tower-housing neighbourhood development. The design as research thesis develops a medium density tower-housing neighbourhood as a mini city-scape, through the exploration of the tower-house as an intimate space to live and observe from. Tower-housing has the potential to create a delightful, lively neighbourhood environment that contributes to quirky, new, and exciting housing options for New Zealand. The tower-house creates desire through unconventional lifestyle and highlights engaging solutions to an individual vertical housing type.

Research papers, University of Canterbury Library

A series of undrained cyclic direct simple shear (DSS) tests on specimens of sandy silty soils are used to evaluate the effects of fines content, fabric and layered structure on the liquefaction response of sandy soils containing non-plastic fines. Test soils originate from shallow deposits in Christchurch, New Zealand, where severe and damaging manifestations of liquefaction occurred during the 2010-2011 Canterbury earthquakes. A procedure for reconstituting specimens by water sedimentation is employed. This specimen preparation technique involves first pluviation of soil through a water column, and then application of gentle vibrations to the mould (tapping) to prepare specimens with different initial densities. This procedure is applied to prepare uniform specimens, and layered specimens with a silt layer atop a sand layer. Cyclic DSS tests are performed on water-sedimented specimens of two sands, a silt, and sand-silt mixtures with different fines contents. Through this testing program, effects of density, time of vibration during preparation, fines content, and layered structure on cyclic behaviour and liquefaction resistance are investigated. Additional information necessary to characterise soil behaviour is provided by particle size distribution analyses, index void ratio testing, and Scanning Electronic Microscope imaging. The results of cyclic DSS tests show that, for all tested soils, specimens vibrated for longer period of time have lower void ratios, higher relative density, and greater liquefaction resistance. One of the tested sands undergoes significant increase in relative density and liquefaction resistance following prolonged vibration. The other sand exhibits lower increase in relative density and in liquefaction resistance when vibrated for the same period of time. Liquefaction resistance of sand-silt mixtures prepared using this latter sand shows a correlation with relative density irrespective of fines content. In general, however, magnitudes of changes in liquefaction resistance for given variations in vibration time, relative density, or void ratio vary depending on soils under consideration. Characterization based on maximum and minimum void ratios indicates that tested soils develop different structures as fines are added to their respective host sands. These structures influence initial specimen density, strains during consolidation, cyclic liquefaction resistance, and undrained cyclic response of each soil. The different structures are the outcome of differences in particle size distributions, average particle sizes, and particle shapes of the two host sands and of the different relationships between these properties and those of the silt. Fines content alone does not provide an effective characterization of the effects of these factors. Monotonic DSS tests are also performed on specimens prepared by water sedimentation, and on specimens prepared by moist tamping, to identify the critical state lines of tested soils. These critical state lines provide the basis for an alternative interpretation of cyclic DSS tests results within the critical state framework. It is shown that test results imply general consistency between observed cyclic and monotonic DSS soil response. The effects of specimen layering are scrutinised by comparing DSS test results for uniform and layered specimens of the same soils. In this case, only a limited number of tests is performed, and the range of densities considered for the layered specimens is also limited. Caution is therefore required in interpretation of their results. The liquefaction resistance of layered specimens appears to be influenced by the bottom sand layer, irrespective of the global fines content of the specimen. The presence of a layered structure does not result in significant differences in terms of liquefaction response with respect to uniform sand specimens. Cyclic triaxial data for Christchurch sandy silty soils available from previous studies are used to comparatively examine the behaviour observed in the tests of this study. The cyclic DSS liquefaction resistance of water-sedimented specimens is consistent with cyclic triaxial tests on undisturbed specimens performed by other investigators. The two data sets result in similar liquefaction triggering relationships for these soils. However, stress-strain response characteristics for the two types of specimens are different, and undisturbed triaxial specimen exhibit a slower rate of increase in shear strains compared to water-sedimented DSS specimens. This could be due to the greater influence of fabric of the undisturbed specimens.

Research papers, Victoria University of Wellington

Natural disasters are often unpredictable and are happening frequently. Some natural disasters cause damage to communities, resulting in displaced individuals. Due to this there is a need for shelter, however, there are many unknown factors. These include unknown demographics, a strain on time, cost, and resources, and the unknown location. This study begins by identifying a lack of identity and personality in existing post-disaster shelter designs, including the example of Linwood Park from the Christchurch 2011 earthquake. Further research shows the lack of personalisation within shelters, along with addressing key requirements needed for shelters. While providing the basic needs is essential, this thesis also addresses how personalisation can impact a space. Taking bach architecture as a driver for a basic, yet unique approach to temporary accommodation, Lake Clearwater Settlement was used as a case study. Through surveys, interviews, and a reflective design process, the importance of embracing identity emerges as a key element in fostering dignity, livelihood, and a sense of self in displaced individuals. This thesis explores innovative approaches to post-disaster shelter design with a focus on accommodating the unique needs and individuality of displaced individuals. From challenging conventional shelter concepts to embracing self-design and community involvement, the research addresses the question of how interior and exterior features can cater to the diverse requirements of those affected by natural disasters.

Research papers, The University of Auckland Library

A number of field testing techniques, such as standard penetration test (SPT), cone penetration test (CPT), and Swedish weight sounding (SWS), are popularly used for in-situ characterisation. The screw driving sounding (SDS) method, which has been recently developed in Japan, is an improved version of the SWS technique and measures more parameters, including the required torque, load, speed of penetration and rod friction; these provide more robust way of characterising soil stratigraphy. It is a cost-efficient technique which uses a machine-driven and portable device, making it ideal for testing in small-scale and confined areas. Moreover, with a testing depth of up to 10-15m, it is suitable for liquefaction assessment. Thus, the SDS method has great potential as an in-situ testing method for geotechnical site characterisation, especially for residential house construction. In this paper, the results of SDS tests performed at a variety of sites in New Zealand are presented. The soil database was employed to develop a soil classification chart based on SDS-derived parameters. Moreover, using the data obtained following the 2010-2011 Christchurch Earthquake Se-quence, a methodology was established for liquefaction potential evaluation using SDS data. http://www.isc5.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/1345-2-ORENSE.pdf

Research papers, The University of Auckland Library

Following the 2010/2011 Canterbury (New Zealand) earthquakes the seismic design of buildings with precast concrete panels has received significant attention. Although this form of construction generally performed adequately in Christchurch, there were a considerable number of precast concrete panel connection failures. This observation prompted a review of more than 4700 panel details to establish representative details used in both existing and new multi-storey and low rise industrial precast concrete buildings. The detailing and quantity of each reviewed connection type in the sampled data is reported, and advantages and potential deficiencies of each connection type are discussed. Following the Canterbury earthquakes, it was observed that brittle failure had occurred in some grouted metal duct connections used for precast concrete wall panels, resulting in recommendations for more robust detailing of this connection type. A set of experimental tests was subsequently performed to investigate the in-plane seismic behaviour of precast concrete wall panel connections. This testing comprised of seven reversed cyclic in-plane tests of fullscale precast concrete wall panels having wall-to-foundation grouted metal duct connections. Walls with existing connection detailing were found to perform adequately when carrying low axial loads, but performance was found to be less satisfactory as the axial load and wall panel length increased. The use of new recommended detailing was observed to prevent brittle connection response and to improve the robustness of the reinforcement splice. A parametric investigation was conducted using the finite element method to predict the failure mode of metal duct connections. From the results of the parametric study on metal duct connections it was identified that there were three possible failure modes, being reinforcement fracture, concrete spalling without metal duct pull out, and concrete spalling with metal duct pull-out. An alternative simple analytical method was proposed in order to determine the type of connection failure without using a time-consuming finite element method. Grouted sleeves inserts are an alternative connector that is widely used to connect wall panels to the foundations. The two full-scale wall panels were subjected to reversed cyclic in-plane demands until failure of either the connection or the wall panel. Wall panel failure was due to a combination of connection reinforcement pulling-out from the coupler and reinforcement fracture. In addition, non-embedded grouted sleeve tests filled with different quality of grout were conducted by subjecting these coupler assemblages to cyclic and monotonic forces.

Research papers, University of Canterbury Library

Between 2010 and 2011, Canterbury experienced a series of four large earthquake events with associated aftershocks which caused widespread damage to residential and commercial infrastructure. Fine grained and uncompacted alluvial soils, typical to the Canterbury outwash plains, were exposed to high peak ground acceleration (PGA) during these events. This rapid increase in PGA induced cyclic strain softening and liquefaction in the saturated, near surface alluvial soils. Extensive research into understanding the response of soils in Canterbury to dynamic loading has since occurred. The Earthquake Commission (EQC), the Ministry of Business and Employment (MBIE), and the Christchurch City Council (CCC) have quantified the potential hazards associated with future seismic events. Theses bodies have tested numerous ground improvement design methods, and subsequently are at the forefront of the Canterbury recovery and rebuild process. Deep Soil Mixing (DSM) has been proven as a viable ground improvement foundation method used to enhance in situ soils by increasing stiffness and positively altering in situ soil characteristics. However, current industry practice for confirming the effectiveness of the DSM method involves specific laboratory and absolute soil test methods associated with the mixed column element itself. Currently, the response of the soil around the columns to DSM installation is poorly understood. This research aims to understand and quantify the effects of DSM columns on near surface alluvial soils between the DSM columns though the implementation of standardised empirical soil test methods. These soil strength properties and ground improvement changes have been investigated using shear wave velocity (Vs), soil behaviour and density response methods. The results of the three different empirical tests indicated a consistent improvement within the ground around the DSM columns in sandier soils. By contrast, cohesive silty soils portrayed less of a consistent response to DSM, although still recorded increases. Generally, within the tests completed 50 mm from the column edge, the soil response indicated a deterioration to DSM. This is likely to be a result of the destruction of the soil fabric as the stress and strain of DSM is applied to the un‐mixed in situ soils. The results suggest that during the installation of DSM columns, a positive ground effect occurs in a similar way to other methods of ground improvement. However, further research, including additional testing following this empirical method, laboratory testing and finite 2D and 3D modelling, would be useful to quantify, in detail, how in situ soils respond and how practitioners should consider these test results in their designs. This thesis begins to evaluate how alluvial soils tend to respond to DSM. Conducting more testing on the research site, on other sites in Christchurch, and around the world, would provide a more complete data set to confirm the results of this research and enable further evaluation. Completing this additional research could help geotechnical DSM practitioners to use standardised empirical test methods to measure and confirm ground improvement rather than using existing test methods in future DSM projects. Further, demonstrating the effectiveness of empirical test methods in a DSM context is likely to enable more cost effective and efficient testing of DSM columns in future geotechnical projects.

Research papers, University of Canterbury Library

The Canterbury Earthquake Sequence (CES) of 2010-2011 produced large seismic moments up to Mw 7.1. These large, near-to-surface (<15 km) ruptures triggered >6,000 rockfall boulders on the Port Hills of Christchurch, many of which impacted houses and affected the livelihoods of people within the impacted area. From these disastrous and unpredicted natural events a need arose to be able to assess the areas affected by rockfall events in the future, where it is known that a rockfall is possible from a specific source outcrop but the potential boulder runout and dynamics are not understood. The distribution of rockfall deposits is largely constrained by the physical properties and processes of the boulder and its motion such as block density, shape and size, block velocity, bounce height, impact and rebound angle, as well as the properties of the substrate. Numerical rockfall models go some way to accounting for all the complex factors in an algorithm, commonly parameterised in a user interface where site-specific effects can be calibrated. Calibration of these algorithms requires thorough field checks and often experimental practises. The purpose of this project, which began immediately following the most destructive rupture of the CES (February 22, 2011), is to collate data to characterise boulder falls, and to use this information, supplemented by a set of anthropogenic boulder fall data, to perform an in-depth calibration of the three-dimensional numerical rockfall model RAMMS::Rockfall. The thesis covers the following topics: • Use of field data to calibrate RAMMS. Boulder impact trails in the loess-colluvium soils at Rapaki Bay have been used to estimate ranges of boulder velocities and bounce heights. RAMMS results replicate field data closely; it is concluded that the model is appropriate for analysing the earthquake-triggered boulder trails at Rapaki Bay, and that it can be usefully applied to rockfall trajectory and hazard assessment at this and similar sites elsewhere. • Detailed analysis of dynamic rockfall processes, interpreted from recorded boulder rolling experiments, and compared to RAMMS simulated results at the same site. Recorded rotational and translational velocities of a particular boulder show that the boulder behaves logically and dynamically on impact with different substrate types. Simulations show that seasonal changes in soil moisture alter rockfall dynamics and runout predictions within RAMMS, and adjustments are made to the calibration to reflect this; suggesting that in hazard analysis a rockfall model should be calibrated to dry rather than wet soil conditions to anticipate the most serious outcome. • Verifying the model calibration for a separate site on the Port Hills. The results of the RAMMS simulations show the effectiveness of calibration against a real data set, as well as the effectiveness of vegetation as a rockfall barrier/retardant. The results of simulations are compared using hazard maps, where the maximum runouts match well the mapped CES fallen boulder maximum runouts. The results of the simulations in terms of frequency distribution of deposit locations on the slope are also compared with those of the CES data, using the shadow angle tool to apportion slope zones. These results also replicate real field data well. Results show that a maximum runout envelope can be mapped, as well as frequency distribution of deposited boulders for hazard (and thus risk) analysis purposes. The accuracy of the rockfall runout envelope and frequency distribution can be improved by comprehensive vegetation and substrate mapping. The topics above define the scope of the project, limiting the focus to rockfall processes on the Port Hills, and implications for model calibration for the wider scientific community. The results provide a useful rockfall analysis methodology with a defensible and replicable calibration process, that has the potential to be applied to other lithologies and substrates. Its applications include a method of analysis for the selection and positioning of rockfall countermeasure design; site safety assessment for scaling and demolition works; and risk analysis and land planning for future construction in Christchurch.

Research papers, University of Canterbury Library

This dissertation addresses a diverse range of applied aspects in ground motion simulation validation via the response of complex structures. In particular, the following topics are addressed: (i) the investigation of similarity between recorded and simulated ground motions using code-based 3D irregular structural response analysis, (ii) the development of a framework for ground motion simulations validation to identify the cause of differences between paired observed and simulated dataset, and (iii) the illustration of the process of using simulations for seismic performance-based assessment. The application of simulated ground motions is evaluated for utilisation in engineering practice by considering responses of 3D irregular structures. Validation is performed in a code-based context when the NZS1170.5 (NZS1170.5:2004, 2004) provisions are followed for response history analysis. Two real buildings designed by engineers and physically constructed in Christchurch before the 2010-2011 Canterbury earthquake sequence are considered. The responses are compared when the buildings are subjected to 40 scaled recorded and their subsequent simulated ground motions selected from 22 February 2011 Christchurch. The similarity of recorded and simulated responses is examined using statistical methods such as bootstrapping and hypothesis testing to determine whether the differences are statistically significant. The findings demonstrate the applicability of simulated ground motion when the code-based approach is followed in response history analysis. A conceptual framework is developed to link the differences between the structural response subjected to simulated and recorded ground motions to the differences in their corresponding intensity measures. This framework allows the variability to be partitioned into the proportion that can be “explained” by the differences in ground motion intensity measures and the remaining “unexplained” variability that can be attributed to different complexities such as dynamic phasing of multi-mode response, nonlinearity, and torsion. The application of this framework is examined through a hierarchy of structures reflecting a range of complexity from single-degree-of-freedom to 3D multi-degree-of-freedom systems with different materials, dynamic properties, and structural systems. The study results suggest the areas that ground motion simulation should focus on to improve simulations by prioritising the ground motion intensity measures that most clearly account for the discrepancies in simple to complex structural responses. Three approaches are presented to consider recorded or simulated ground motions within the seismic performance-based assessment framework. Considering the applications of ground motions in hazard and response history analyses, different pathways in utilising ground motions in both areas are explored. Recorded ground motions are drawn from a global database (i.e., NGA-West2 Ancheta et al., 2014). The NZ CyberShake dataset is used to obtain simulations. Advanced ground motion selection techniques (i.e., generalized conditional intensity measure, GCIM) are used for ground motion selection at a few intensity levels. The comparison is performed by investigating the response of an example structure (i.e., 12-storey reinforced concrete special moment frame) located in South Island, NZ. Results are compared and contrasted in terms of hazard, groundmotion selection, structural responses, demand hazard, and collapse risk, then, the probable reasons for differences are discussed. The findings from this study highlight the present opportunities and shortcomings in using simulations in risk assessment. i

Research papers, University of Canterbury Library

Abstract The original intention for the Partnership Community Worker (PCW) project in 2006 was for it to be an extension of the Pegasus Health General Practice and furthermore to be a bridge between the community and primary healthcare. It was believed that a close working relationship between the Practice Nurse and the PCW would help the target population of Māori, Pacifica and low income people to address and overcome their perceived barriers to healthcare which included: finance, transport, anxiety, cultural issues, communication, or lack of knowledge. Seven years later although the PCW project has been deemed a success in the Canterbury District Health Board annual reports (2013-14) and community and government agencies, including the Christchurch Resettlement Service (2012), many of the Pegasus Health General Practices have not utilised the project to its full extent, hence the need for this research. I was interested in finding out in the first instance if the model had changed and, if so why, and in the second instance if the promotional material currently distributed by Pegasus Health Primary Health Organisation reflected the daily practice of the PCW. A combination of methods were used including: surveys to the Pegasus Health General Practices, interviews with PCWs, interviews with managers of both the PCW host organisations and referring agencies to the PCW project. All the questions asked of all the participants in this research were focussed on their own perception of the role of the PCW. Results showed that the model has changed and although the publications were not reflecting the original intention of the project they did reflect the daily practice of the PCWs who are now struggling to meet much wider community expectations and needs. Key Results: Partnership Community Worker (PCW) interviews: Seventeen PCWs of the 19 employed were interviewed face to face. A number expressed interest in more culturally specific training and some are pursuing qualifications in social work; for many pay parity is an issue. In addition, many felt overwhelmed by the expectations around clients with mental health issues and housing issues now, post-earthquakes. Medical Practice surveys: Surveys were sent to eighty-two Pegasus Health medical practices and of these twenty five were completed. Results showed the full capacity of the PCW role was not clearly understood by all with many believing it was mostly a transport service. Those who did understand the full complexity of the role were very satisfied with the outcomes. PCW Host Community Manager Interviews: Of the ten out of twelve managers interviewed, some wished for more communication with Pegasus Health management because they felt aspects of both the PCW role and their own role as managers had become blurred over time. Referring organisations: Fifteen of the fifty referring community or government organisations participated. The overall satisfaction of the service was high and some acknowledged the continuing need for PCWs to be placed in communities where they were well known and trusted. Moreover results also showed that both the Canterbury earthquakes 2010-2011 and the amalgamation of Partnership Health PHO and Pegasus Health Charitable Limited in 2013 have contributed to the change of the model. Further future research may also be needed to examine the long term effects on the people of Canterbury involved in community work during the 2011-2014 years.  

Research papers, University of Canterbury Library

Worldwide, the numbers of people living with chronic conditions are rapidly on the rise. Chronic illnesses are enduring and often cannot be cured, requiring a strategy for long term management and intervention to prevent further exacerbation. Globally, there has been an increase in interventions using telecommunications technologies to aid patients in their home setting to manage chronic illnesses. Such interventions have often been delivered by nurses. The purpose of this research was to assess whether a particular intervention that had been successfully implemented in the United Kingdom could also be implemented in Canterbury. In particular, this research assessed the perspectives of Canterbury based practice nurses and district nurses. The findings suggest that a majority of both district and practice nurses did not view the service as compatible with their current work situation. Existing workload and concerns over funding of the proposed service were identified as potential barriers. However, the service was perceived as potentially beneficial for some, with the elderly based in rural areas, or patients with chronic mental health needs identified as more likely to benefit than others. Practice nurses expressed strong views on who should deliver such services. Given that it was identified that practice nurses already have in-depth knowledge of their patients’ health, while valuing the strong relationships established with their communities, it was suggested that patients would most benefit from locally based nurses to deliver any community based health services in the future. It was also found that teletriaging is currently widely used by practice nurses across Canterbury to meet a range of health needs, including chronic mental health needs. This suggests that the scope of teletriaging in community health and its potential and full implications are currently not well understood in New Zealand. Significant events, such as the Christchurch earthquakes indicate the potential role of teletriaging in addressing mental health issues, thereby reducing the chronic health burden in the community.

Research papers, Victoria University of Wellington

Urban Ensembles explores the way in which landscape and architecture can be employed together within the design of a steep, urban site. Lyttelton is a small port town on the border of Christchurch, settled in the foothills of a harbour formed by a major volcanic eruption. This rugged setting, with steeply sloping urban terrain, presents an interesting challenge when designing an urban development. The site was badly damaged in a series of earthquakes in 2010-2011, and many of the town’s oldest buildings, heritage structures dating back to the colonial settlement era, were destroyed. This has left a void in the heart of Lyttelton, and caused the loss of much of the tourism business that the town relies upon for its income. This thesis takes a methodological approach to the design of landscape architecture on such a challenging site. A range of techniques are explored, drawing from both landscape and architecture to explore the roles that each discipline plays in the design of urban spaces. The frequent imbalance between disciplines is addressed both through the literature review and design method, as this landscape architecture thesis draws on architectural design as a tool for generating spaces which fall somewhere in between the two ideals of interior and exterior. The final design proposal is an alternative rebuild plan for the central business area to the south of London St, and also addresses the relationships between that site and the surrounding context, both urban and environmental. The aim of this design is to create a series of interconnected spaces which have a strong relationship to the surrounding harbour setting, and also to facilitate development of the pedestrian spaces throughout the block and encouraging the development of activity at the street level, through the interface between buildings and landscape.

Research papers, Victoria University of Wellington

In the aftermath of the 2011 earthquake, a state of polycentric urbanity was thrust upon New Zealand’s second largest city. As the city-centre lay in disrepair, smaller centres started to materialise elsewhere, out of necessity. Transforming former urban peripheries and within existing suburbs into a collective, dispersed alternative to the city centre, these sub-centres prompted a range of morphological, socio-cultural and political transformations, and begged multiple questions: how to imbue these new sub-centres with gravity? How to render them a genuine alternative to the CBD? How do they operate within the wider city? How to cope with the physical and cultural transformations of this shifting urbanscape and prevent them occurring ad lib? Indeed, the success and functioning of the larger urban structure hinges upon a critical, informed response to these sub-centre urban contexts. Yet, with an unrelenting focus on the CBD rebuild - effectively a polycentric denial - little such attention has been granted.  Taking this urban condition as its premise and its provocation, this thesis investigates architecture’s role in the emergent sub-centre. It asks: what can architecture do in these urban contexts; how can architecture act upon the emergent sub-centre in a critical, catalytic fashion? Identifying this volatile condition as both an opportunity for architectural experimentation and a need for critical architectural engagement, this thesis seeks to explore the sub-centre (as an idea and actual urban context) as architecture’s project: its raison d’etre, impetus and aspiration.  These inquiries are tested through design-led research: an initial design question provoking further, broader discursive research (and indeed, seeking broader implications). The first section is a site-specific, design for Sumner, Christchurch. Titled ‘An Agora Anew’; this project - both in conception and outcome - is a speculative response to a specific sub-centre condition. The second section ‘The Sub-centre as Architecture’s Project’ explores the ideas provoked by the design project within a discursive framework. Firstly it identifies the sub-centre as a context in desperate need of architectural attention (why architecture?); secondly, it negotiates a possible agenda for architecture in this context through terms of engagement that are formal, critical and opportunistic (how architecture?): enabling it to take a position on and in the sub-centre. Lastly, a critical exegesis positions the design in regards to the broader discursive debate: critiquing it an architectural project predicated upon the idea of the sub-centre.  The implications of this design-led thesis are twofold: firstly, for architecture’s role in the sub-centre (especially to Christchurch); secondly for the possibilities of architecture’s productive engagement with the city (largely through architectural form), more generally. In a century where radical, new urban contexts (of which the sub-centre is just one) are commonplace, this type of thinking – what can architecture do in the city? - is imperative.

Research papers, University of Canterbury Library

Collective identity construction in organisations engaged in an inter-organisational collaboration (IOC), especially temporary IOCs set up in disaster situations, has received scant attention in the organisational studies literature yet collective identity is considered to be important in fostering effective IOC operations. This doctoral study was designed to add to our understanding about how collective identity is constituted throughout the entire lifespan of a particular temporary coopetitive (i.e., simultaneously collaborative and competitive) IOC formed in a post-disaster environment. To achieve this purpose, a qualitative case study of the Stronger Christchurch Infrastructure Rebuild Team (SCIRT), a time-bound coopetition formed to repair the horizontal infrastructure in Christchurch, New Zealand after the devastating 2011 Canterbury earthquakes, was undertaken. Using data from semi-structured interviews, field observations, and organisational documents and other artefacts, an inductive analytic method was employed to explore how internal stakeholders engaged with and co- constructed a collective SCIRT identity and reconciled this with their home organization identity. The analysis revealed that the SCIRT collective identity was an ongoing process, involving the interweaving of social, temporal, material and geospatial dimensions constructed through intersecting cycles of senior managers’ sensegiving and employees’ sensemaking across SCIRT’s five and a half years of existence. Senior management deliberately undertook identity work campaigns that used organisational rituals, artefacts, and spatial design to disseminate and encourage a sense of “we are all SCIRT”. However, there was no common sense of “we-ness”. Identification with SCIRT was experienced differently among different groups of employees and across time. Employees’ differing senses of collective identity were accounted for by their past, present, and anticipated future relationships with their home organisation, and also (re)shaped by the geosocial environments in which they worked. The study supports previous research claiming that collective identity is a process of recursive sensegiving and sensemaking between senior managers and employees. However, it extends the literature by revealing the imbricated nature of collective identity, how members’ sense of “who we are” can change across the entire lifetime of a temporary IOC, and how sociomateriality, temporality, and geosocial effects strongly intervene in employees’ emerging senses of collective identity. Moreover, the study demonstrates how the ongoing identity work can be embedded in a time-space frame that further accentuates the influence of temporality, especially the anticipated future, organisational rituals, artefacts, and the geosocial environment. The study’s primary contribution to theory is a processual model of collective identity that applies specifically to a temporary IOC involving coopetition. In doing so, it represents a more finely nuanced and situational model than existing models. At a practical level, this model suggests that managers need to appreciate that organisational artefacts, rituals, and the prevailing organisational geosocial environment are inextricably linked in processes that can be manipulated to enhance the construction of collective identity.

Research papers, University of Canterbury Library

Worldwide turbidity is a huge concern for the health of aquatic ecosystems. Human activities on the land such as construction, deforestation, agriculture, and mining all have impacts on the amount of particulate solids that enter the world’s waterways. These particulate solids can pose a number of risks to aquatic life, but primary among them is the turbidity that they create in the water column. The way suspended solids interact with light creates cloudiness in the water which interferes with the vision, and visually mediated behaviours of aquatic organisms, particularly fish. The Avon-Heathcote estuary of Christchurch, New Zealand, is one such body of water that is subject to tremendous variation in turbidity, no doubt exacerbated by the destruction of Christchurch in the 2010 and 2011 earthquakes, as well as the subsequent ongoing rebuild. The yellow eyed mullet, Aldrichetta Forsteri, is one species that is common with the estuary, and uses it as a habitat for breeding. Though very common throughout New Zealand, and even a part of the catch of commercial fisheries, the yellow eyed mullet is a largely unstudied organism, with virtually no published scientific enquiry based on the species. The present work assesses how several behaviours of the yellow eyed mullet are effected by acute turbidity at 10, 50, 90, 130 and 170 NTU, finding that: 1) The optomotor response of mullet to 2.5 mm stripes drops to insignificant levels between 10 and 50 NTU, 2) The swimming activity of the yellow eyed mullet is highest at 10 NTU and drops to a significantly lower level at higher turbidities, 3) The grouping behaviour of small groups of yellow eyed mullet are unchanged by increasing turbidity levels, 4) that yellow eyed mullet do not exhibit significantly different behavioural response to a simulated predator at any of the tested turbidities, and 5) that yellow eyed mullet to do significantly alter their oxygen consumption during exposure to the turbidities in an increasing series. The results presented in these studies indicate that turbidites above 50 NTU pose a significant risk to the lifestyle of the yellow eyed mullet, potentially impacting their ability to perceive their surroundings, feed, school, and avoid predation. Future work has a lot of ground to cover to more precisely determine the relationship between yellow eyed mullet behaviour and physiology, and the turbidity of their environment. In particular, future work should focus more closely on the turbidities between 10 and 50 NTU, as well as looking to field work to see what the predominant predators of the mullet are, and specifically whether turbidity increases or decreases the risk of mullet being subject to avian predation. There is also considerable scope for studies on the effects of chronic turbidity upon mullet, which will add understand to the predicament of escalating turbidity and its effects upon this common and yet mysterious native fish.

Research papers, University of Canterbury Library

The effects of soil-foundation-structure interaction (SFSI) have been a topic of discussion amongst the structural and geotechnical community for many decades. The complexity of the mechanisms, as well as the need for inter-disciplinary knowledge of geotechnical and structural dynamics has plagued the advancement and the consequent inclusion of SFSI effects in design. A rigorous performance-based design methodology should not just consider the performance of the superstructure but the supporting foundation system as well. Case studies throughout history (eg. Kobe 1995, Kocaeli 1999 and Christchurch earthquakes 2010-2011) have demonstrated that a poor performance at the foundation level can result in a full demolition of the structure and, in general terms, that the extent of damage to, and repairability of, the building system as a whole, is given by the combination of the damage to the soil, foundation and superstructure. The lack of consideration of the modifying factors of SFSI and an absence of intuitive performance levels for controlling foundation and soil behaviour under seismic loads has resulted in inadequate designs for buildings sited on soft soil. For engineers to be satisfied that their designs meet the given performance levels they must first, understand how SFSI affects the overall system performance and secondly have tools available to adequately account for it in their design/assessment. This dissertation presents an integrated performance-based design procedure for buildingfoundation systems that considers all of the major mechanisms of SFSI. A new soil-foundation macro-element model was implemented into a nonlinear finite element software and validated against several experimental tests. The numerical model was used to provide insights in to the mechanisms of SFSI and statistical analysis on the results yielded simple expressions that allow the behaviour to be quantified. Particular attention was paid to the effects of shear force on the foundation response and the quantification of the rocking mode of response. The residual deformations of the superstructure and distribution of forces up the structure were also investigated. All of the major SFSI mechanisms are discussed in detail and targeted numerical studies are used to explain and demonstrate concepts. The design procedure was validated through the design and assessment of a series of concrete buildings that were designed to account for the effects of SFSI.