Tiaki Whenua / Earth and land research, regional development

The Zero Waste Network and Manaaki Whenua teamed up to research organics processing systems in New Zealand, including conducting a national survey of operators. The report Scaling-up, scaling-out & branching-out: Understanding & procuring diverse organic materials management models in Aotearoa New Zealand - summarises the findings. The report adds to current understanding of the scale, scope and nature of organics collectors and processors across Aotearoa, with a focus on composters. It is primarily designed to support those at central and local government charged with making investment and procurement decisions in relation to the infrastructure and services for collecting and processing organic materials. The national survey of operators showed a lot of diversity in the sector so, to help decision-makers navigate the options for organics materials services, the report develops a shared language to talk about different operating models, presenting this in a simple taxonomy that distinguishes operators based on factors most relevant to procurability and scaleability. This taxonomy is then used to explore the various challenges, impacts and outcomes for each type of operator. The research was funded by Building Better Homes, Towns and Cities National Science Challenge, and the Zero Waste Network.

The Kāinga Tahi, Kāinga Rua Kaupapa Māori Research Project draws on expertise from across the Māori housing sector. The project responds to the right and aspiration of Māori researchers, in collaboration with Māori organisations and communities, to develop Māori housing solutions. The outputs of the Kaupapa Māori Research Project include a book Kāinga Tahi, Kāinga Rua: Māori Housing Realities...

In this paper, Building Better researchers Dr Nick Taylor, from Nick Taylor and Associates, and Dr Mike Mackay, from AgResearch, have developed a comprehensive practical guideline to Social Impact Assessment (SIA) to help councils and community groups learn the basics about how to conduct an SIA, contribute to an SIA, use the results of an SIA, and judge if an SIA is fit for purpose. . .

Māori Housing Providers are relatively new to social and affordable housing supply and management. As capacity and capability is now strengthening, there is a strong will for Māori agencies to respond to Māori needs. The new providers are keen to assist, recognising that to Māori a home is more than a house. Māori seek spiritual, emotional and cultural identity connections to the land...

Regional settlements experience great variation in social, cultural, environmental and economic change, and the capability and resources they have to manage change. In the Waitaki, the primary rural economy comprises agriculture, associated food processing industries, and the visitor sector. Over recent years, the demand for labour in these sectors has required an increasing workforce of overseas. . .

This research collects and curates data about Airbnb within the Waitaki District. These data relate to housing, rents, social housing waiting lists, and accommodation sharing. Where relevant, comparative data are provided for Timaru and Ashburton Districts. Airbnb listings appear high for the size of the population and they potentially remove up to 200 houses or apartments from the rental. . .

One of the main challenges facing non-metropolitan regions is the attraction and retention of highly-educated young people. A loss of the brightest can lead to reduced business creation, innovation, growth and community wellbeing in such regions. The researchers use rich longitudinal microdata from New Zealand’s integrated administrative data infrastructure to analyse the determinants and geography of the choice...

In conversational interviews, 27 Māori were asked what makes a house a home for whānau Māori and how housing supports whānau ora. The analysis is guided by the way the social and material environment is the source of self-identity. For Māori, this material environment extends beyond the four walls of a home and into the whenua, in acknowledgement of the importance of place for a sense of belonging. . .

This PhD thesis explores social (or communal) tenure - systems of rights. Social tenures are a feature of many Indigenous cultures, where land and resources are managed from a collectivist, rather than an individualist, standpoint. Māori society was traditionally based around territorial tribal living, with hapū (sub-tribes) controlling and defending particular territories. . .

Prior to the Covid-19 lockdowns, Building Better researchers assessed the impacts of the South Island’s Alps to Ocean (A2O) cycle-trail. The study focussed on the sustainability of tourist trails and how associated tourism initiatives were working together to improve the economic, social, and environmental performance of Oamaru and settlements in the Waitaki Valley...

In this report, the researchers present seven case studies looking at various initiatives for rebuilding after the Canterbury earthquake sequence of 2020-2021. They range from community-led projects through to more hybrid approaches, to state-led examples. Though many of the organisations involved were active before the earthquakes, their activities, purpose or way of operating. . .

This paper provides a preliminary insight into Oamaru’s past, present, and future regeneration initiatives and the issues associated with their integration and resourcing. It emphasises the importance of careful planning, the effective integration of multiple regeneration activities, the harnessing of local energy and creativity, and sympathetic engagement with residents to ensure that a widely acceptable. . .

This paper is a preliminary study of tourism development in Timaru, South Canterbury. Tourism is used to illustrate how local efforts are focused on making regional settlements more attractive places economically, socially, culturally, and environmentally. There are many actors on Timaru’s tourism stage, which means it has an increased need for coordination and strategic planning.

Waimakariri District Council’s Kaiapoi Town Centre Plan is part of a broader recovery - and now regeneration - process for Kaiapoi following the 2010-2011 Canterbury earthquakes. The Council employed a number of innovative and interactive tools and engagement strategies in order to facilitate public participation in the process. These tools and strategies reflect a ‘community-based’ logic. . .

In 2018, the annual meeting of the Australia and New Zealand Association of Planning Schools (ANZAPS) was hosted by Waikato University and supported by Building Better Homes, Towns and Cities National Science Challenge. Associate Professor Hamish Rennie, Lincoln University, reports on the event. Andrew Crisp, CEO of the new Ministry of Housing and Urban Development, presented. . .

Associate Professor Hamish Rennie, Lincoln University, writes the editorial for this special issue of the Lincoln Planning Review with a theme dedicated to rural towns (Oamaru, Timaru and Kaiapoi) and community development. The journal issue features three articles by members of the Building Better Homes, Towns and Cities team and students the challenge supports. . .

Models of land administration often promote a more individualised, Western-style of tenure. The dangers are that Māori values might become diluted or even lost in this transition as social responsibilities become divorced from land rights. Recognising this, planners of some Māori land development projects have sought to reintroduce key communal or socially-based tenure principles to the planning equation...

A national conversation is in progress about the strength and integrity of regional settlements in Aotearoa New Zealand. It is influenced by characterisations of small settlements as zombie towns and is framed by questions about how to reboot struggling regions. Driving the conversation is a set of mainly economic and demographic issues linked to quantitative evidence of declining and ageing populations...