A member of the University of Canterbury's E-Learning team in their new office in the James Hight building.
One of Gap Filler's painted pianos painted by students at the University of Canterbury. Multicolour handprints have been placed on the piano as well as a painted sign reading, "Play Me".
A student from the Student Volunteer Army transporting gravel in a wheelbarrow. He is one of the students from the University of Canterbury helping to build Gap Filler's Community Chess Board.
Broken picture frame and fallen ornaments in an office in the Locke building at the University of Canterbury.
Following the September 2010 earthquake and the closure of a number of campus libraries, library staff at the University of Canterbury was forced to rethink how they connected with their users. The established virtual reference service now meant library staff could be contacted regardless of their physical location. After the February earthquake, with University library closures ranging from 3 weeks to indefinite, this service came into its own as a vital communication tool. It facilitated contact between the library and both students and academics, as well as proving invaluable as a means for library staff to locate and communicate with each other. Transcripts from our post-earthquake interactions with users were analyzed using NVivo and will be presented in poster format showing the increase in usage of the service following the earthquakes, who used the service most, and the numbers and types of questions received. Our virtual reference tool was well used in the difficult post-earthquake periods and we can see this usage continuing as university life returns to normal.
When an “I thought I was going to die quake” occurs amidst four additional major earthquakes and 15,000 aftershocks during a sixteen-month period, it challenges people’s ability to cope and recover. Residents of Canterbury, New Zealand endured this extended, chaotic state in 2010/11; and continue to deal with lingering effects on their devastated central city, Christchurch. Stress and coping theory suggests that finding meaning in such situations can help people recover, and that religion and spirituality often play a role in post-disaster resilience. Despite this, there is very little research literature examining this phenomenon and even less that considers spirituality separate from religion. This research focuses on this underrepresented area by considering the personal spiritual or meaningful experiences of people in post-earthquake Canterbury. Data from sixteen in-depth, minimally directed interviews were thematically analyzed to understand each individual’s meaning construction and coping/recovery process and identify connective themes and patterns amongst their experiences. Four core elements of acceptance, clarity and choice, connection, and transcendence emerged from the thematic analysis to conceptualize a model of transcendent coping. Transcendent coping represents an additional type of coping in the transactional model of stress and coping, which serves to support the previous denoted problem-, emotion-, and meaning-focused coping approaches. Transcendent coping offers openness, empowerment, comfort and expansion not necessarily reliant upon theistic or religious beliefs and practices. Rather, this secular spiritual coping is inherent in everyday, mundane practices such as being in the moment, aligning to and acting from personal values, connecting to that and those who bring comfort, and experiencing transcendence in moments of awe and expansion. This research contributes to the growing interest in spirituality as an important facet of human nature that can support wellbeing in the face of stress.
Memorial design in the West has been explored in depth (Stevens and Franck, 2016; Williams, 2007), and for landscape architects it presents opportunities and challenges. However, there is little in the English language literature about memorial design in China. How have Chinese designers responded to the commemorative settings of war and disaster? This study will adopt the method of case study to analyse two of the most representative memorials in China: Nanjing Massacre Memorial Hall (war) and Tangshan Earthquake Memorial Hall (disaster). Both landscapes have undergone three or four renovations and extensions in the last four decades, demonstrating the practical effects of the Chinese landscape theory. These examples of responses to trauma through memorial landscape interventions are testimonies to the witnesses, victims, abusers, ordinary people, youth and the place where the tragedy took place. This study will explore the reconstruction and expansion of the two memorials under the background of China's policies on memorial landscapes in different periods, as well as their functions of each stage. The research will examine how existing Chinese memorial theories exhibit unique responses at different times in response to the sadness and needs experienced by different users. Key Words:memorial landscape; memorial language; victims; descriptive; architecture; experence; disaster; memorial hall; landscape development; Chinese memorial; war.
A photograph of administrators and technicians from the Department of Civil and Natural Resources Engineering at the University of Canterbury enjoying a barbeque outside the Avonhead Baptist Church. The students and staff from this department used the church as a base after the 22 February 2011 earthquake, until their building on campus was deemed safe to enter.
A photograph of administrators and technicians from the Department of Civil and Natural Resources Engineering at the University of Canterbury enjoying a barbeque outside the Avonhead Baptist Church. The students and staff from this department used the church as a base after the 22 February 2011 earthquake, until their building on campus was deemed safe to enter.
A photograph of administrators and technicians from the Department of Civil and Natural Resources Engineering at the University of Canterbury enjoying a barbeque outside the Avonhead Baptist Church. The students and staff from this department used the church as a base after the 22 February 2011 earthquake, until their building on campus was deemed safe to enter.
A photograph of administrators and technicians from the Department of Civil and Natural Resources Engineering at the University of Canterbury enjoying a barbeque outside the Avonhead Baptist Church. The students and staff from this department used the church as a base after the 22 February 2011 earthquake, until their building on campus was deemed safe to enter.
A photograph of administrators and technicians from the Department of Civil and Natural Resources Engineering at the University of Canterbury enjoying a barbeque outside the Avonhead Baptist Church. The students and staff from this department used the church as a base after the 22 February 2011 earthquake, until their building on campus was deemed safe to enter.
A photograph of administrators and technicians from the Department of Civil and Natural Resources Engineering at the University of Canterbury enjoying a barbeque outside the Avonhead Baptist Church. The students and staff from this department used the church as a base after the 22 February 2011 earthquake, until their building on campus was deemed safe to enter.
A photograph of administrators and technicians from the Department of Civil and Natural Resources Engineering at the University of Canterbury enjoying a barbeque outside the Avonhead Baptist Church. The students and staff from this department used the church as a base after the 22 February 2011 earthquake, until their building on campus was deemed safe to enter.
A photograph of administrators and technicians from the Department of Civil and Natural Resources Engineering at the University of Canterbury enjoying a barbeque outside the Avonhead Baptist Church. The students and staff from this department used the church as a base after the 22 February 2011 earthquake, until their building on campus was deemed safe to enter.
Students sit outside the InTentCity 6.3 Cafe, which was set up in a tent in the Law car park while University of Canterbury buildings were closed for structural testing. The photographer comments, "The University restarts its teaching, and the techies in e-learning move out of NZi3".
Multicolour softcover book titled "All Fall Down, Christchurch’s Lost Chimneys" by Geoffrey Rice with a title and a full colour photograph depicting a broken chimney on the spine and front cover; published by the Canterbury University Press, University of Canterbury, Christchurch, 2011. Geoffrey Rice, retired Professor of History from the Unive...
Members of the University of Canterbury's E-Learning team Susan Tull and Nick Ford in their temporary office in the James Hight building. The photographer comments, "Yet another change of workplace for our E-Learning group, as the University juggles people and buildings to carry out earthquake repairs. Susan and Nick settle in".
A scanned copy of a photograph of the garden of Di Madgin's former home in the Red Zone, taken before the earthquakes.
A scanned copy of a photograph of the garden of Di Madgin's former home in the Red Zone, taken before the earthquakes. She describes the scene in the photograph as, "This is the courtyard that we made, to have an eating place at the back of the house. The tree in the neighbours' was a tree that Pete's brother stole on a school trip up in the mountains from a national park. They planted this red beech in the garden. It became the neighbourhood bird tree and the sound was fantastic in the evenings."
A scanned copy of a photograph of a bench in the garden of Di Madgin's former home in the Red Zone, taken before the earthquakes.
A scanned copy of a photograph of the garden of Di Madgin's former home in the Red Zone, taken before the earthquakes.
A scanned copy of a photograph of the garden of Di Madgin's former home in the Red Zone, taken before the earthquakes. The Avon River is in the background.
A scanned copy of a photograph of Di Madgin's former home in the Red Zone, taken before the earthquakes.
A scanned copy of a photograph of the garden of Di Madgin's former home in the Red Zone, taken before the earthquakes. The Avon River is in flood in the background.
A scanned copy of a photograph of the garden of Di Madgin's former home in the Red Zone, taken before the earthquakes.
A photograph of Di Madgin, a participant in the Understanding Place research project, in her former garden.
A video contributed by User1600052835, a participant in the Understanding Place research project. The video has the description "User1600052835 talks about her daughter's house, which was red-zoned."
A photograph contributed by Jennifer, a participant in the Understanding Place research project. The photograph has the description "The ground is covered in little mushrooms when you start looking, but it's hard to tell which are edible". Please note that Jennifer's Red Zone Story was a test-pilot for the Understanding Place project.
A photograph contributed by Erin Harrington, a participant in the Understanding Place research project.