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Community actions to revitalize urban blue and green capitals: learnings from Abberley Park, Ōtautahi Christchurch, Aotearoa, New Zealand
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Understanding The Impacts Of Community Renewable Energy Projects Using A System Dynamics Modelling Approach: The Case Of Aotearoa New Zealand
No full textLocal actors, such as cities and communities, are looking to play a role in reducing their carbon footprint and help meet global climate change targets. The number of community energy projects has grown significantly in the northern hemisphere since the turn of the century, and several countries and regions are looking to support the growth of their community energy sector. These projects often have a wide range of impacts, other than reducing carbon emissions, such as local economic development, energy sector, low-cost energy access, building community capacity to develop sustainable energy initiatives, improved resilience to adverse weather conditions and an increase acceptance of sustainable energy. With this range of potential impacts, however, there is no indication as to what impacts these projects must be achieving in a country or region’s energy system. Furthermore, there is a lack of tools that can predict the impacts derived from community energy projects, and support measures that can enhance positive impacts and mitigate negative ones. New methods of impact forecasting that can both capture the range of impacts leading from community energy projects are needed to help adequately understand the impacts of community energy projects and assist policy makers when shaping energy systems. This research fills this gap by (1) building an impact framework for community renewable energy projects, and (2) using system dynamics modelling to forecast the impacts of a community energy projects. The case study of Aotearoa New Zealand was used for the development of a national impact framework for the community renewable energy sector. Several projects are showcased, identifying the range of motivations for starting community energy projects and the unique environments within which these projects are started. Key impact areas for community energy, and respective indicators that can describe these impacts, were identified. A community energy project developed by Energise Ōtaki, in partnership with the Kāpiti Coast District Council, was used to develop two system dynamics models to assess the viability of the tool in forecasting impacts from community energy systems. The first model developed was based on the project, and showed that an increase in the feed-in-tariff to market rates led to a sharp rise in the impact of all the key variables analysed. This model also explored the potential effect of increased energy literacy in the community through the establishment of the community energy project. The second model developed was a community energy programme model that explored finance options for Energise Ōtaki to add an additional project, based on revenues from the current project. The scenarios run using this second model showed that using 80% of the revenue of the current project, and investing in another project after 10 years, was the most suitable option over the period analysed. The research showed system dynamics is a useful tool in forecasting impacts of community renewable energy projects, identifying suitable support measures, and building a portfolio of community energy projects. Lack of data at the community level is a challenge when developing a model, and the results could be greater enhanced by qualitative methods such as case studies or storytelling.</p
Painting Architecture
No full textThis thesis explores the intersection of painting and architecture, using Napier as a site for inquiry. Despite a foundational influence, painting has been largely abandoned by contemporary architects. Art Deco, a style influenced partly by Cubism, with its geometric forms, traces one of its roots to painting. In this sense, Napier is a city shaped by many arts. This research uses Napier’s roots in painting as a vehicle to examine the role of painting within my creative processes and the potential painting has to enrich architecture.Where might my painting practice lead me? How might it play out in the design of a new combined museum, theatre, and gallery? What could it mean for the city? I have used painting as a generator to merge the creative freedom I find in painting with architecture’s function through three design phases. Through site-responsive paintings, I distilled some of Napier’s architectural gestures into a language of abstract forms that informed my design process, drawing on approaches from modernist architects such as Le Corbusier and Barragán. Building on this, I explored this visual language through elemental arrangements and bold blocks of colour, expanding my approach to include collage, sketching, and digital modelling as complementary methods.I found my use of space and colour are not separate but part of the same creative gesture, able to be formed into a unified expression. This project reveals colour as inherently spatial, not merely decorative. This transformed my perception of Napier from a city rooted in heritage to a place where creative disciplines can intersect, exploring the potential of cross-disciplinary practices to shape its future.</p
An Exploration of Performance Versions and Points of Chaminade’s Piano Works: Poèmes provençaux, Op. 127, and 6 Romances sans paroles, Op. 76
No full textCécile Louise Stéphanie Chaminade was a nineteenth-century French composer and pianist. She composed many works in different genres throughout her life, and most of them were published during her lifetime. While most musicians have heard of her, she is not considered a representative romantic composer. Many historians and critics hold that although her piano works have beautiful melodies and various romantic sonic effects, these works do not have depth.I argue that Chaminade’s piano works contain diverse music content and require sophisticated performance skills. I analyse two sets of piano works, namely Poèmes provençaux, Op. 127, and 6 Romances sans paroles, Op. 76, in order to reveal her unique charm as rooted in aspects of Romantic traditions of her time.Firstly, I briefly introduce Chaminade’s life, career and the basic information of the works to be analysed. Secondly, I discuss the creative elements of other composers in Chaminade’s works and analysed the musical characteristics of her works.Thirdly, I analyse the performance recordings of different pianists in order to obtain velocity-intensity curves. These diagrams provide a visual representation of the tempo, intensity and rhythm employed by different pianists. Through these diagrams, I explore different understandings, interpretations and approaches to Chaminade’s works by different pianists, and find commonalities between them.Finally, drawing on my own performance practice, I analyse the performance points in these works and explore how to solve them during performance, so as to show the variety and richness of the performance points in Chaminade’s works and perform these works with technical and expressive clarity.</p
First revision of karoro Larus dominicanus antipodum (Bruch, 1853)
No full textThis paper makes available the name Larus dominicanus antipodum (Bruch, 1853), through clarifying the priority and by serving as the paper of a First Revisor decision according to the ICZN Code. </p
Bona–Smith-Type systems in Bounded Domains with Slip-Wall Boundary Conditions: Theoretical Justification and a Conservative Numerical Scheme
No full textConsidered herein is a class of Boussinesq systems of Bona–Smith type that describe the propagation of long surface water waves of small amplitude in bounded two-dimensional domains with slip-wall boundary conditions and variable bottom topography. Such boundary conditions are necessary in situations involving water waves in channels, ports, and generally in basins with solid boundaries. We prove that, given appropriate initial conditions, the corresponding initial-boundary value problems have unique solutions locally in time, which is a fundamental property of deterministic mathematical modeling. Moreover, we demonstrate that the systems under consideration adhere to three basic conservation laws for water waves: mass, vorticity, and energy conservation. The theoretical analysis of these specific Boussinesq systems leads to a conservative mixed finite element formulation. Using explicit, relaxation Runge–Kutta methods for the discretization in time, we devise a fully discrete scheme for the numerical solution of initial-boundary value problems with slip-wall conditions, preserving mass, vorticity, and energy. Finally, we present a series of challenging numerical experiments to assess the applicability of the new numerical model
Considerations for determining warm-water coral reef tipping points
No full textWarm-water coral reefs are facing unprecedented human-driven threats to their continued existence as biodiverse functional ecosystems upon which hundreds of millions of people rely. These impacts may drive coral ecosystems past critical thresholds, beyond which the system reorganises, often abruptly and potentially irreversibly; this is what the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC, 2022) define as a tipping point. Determining tipping point thresholds for coral reef ecosystems requires a robust assessment of multiple stressors and their interactive effects. In this perspective piece, we draw upon the recent global tipping point revision initiative (Lenton et al., 2023a) and a literature search to identify and summarise the diverse range of interacting stressors that need to be considered for determining tipping point thresholds for warm-water coral reef ecosystems. Considering observed and projected stressor impacts, we endorse the global tipping point revision's conclusion of a global mean surface temperature (relative to pre-industrial) tipping point threshold of 1.2 °C (range 1-1.5 °C) and the long-term impacts of atmospheric CO2 concentrations above 350 ppm, while acknowledging that comprehensive assessment of stressors, including ocean warming response dynamics, overshoot, and cascading impacts, have yet to be sufficiently realised. These tipping point thresholds have already been exceeded, and therefore these systems are in an overshoot state and are reliant on policy actions to bring stressor levels back within tipping point limits. A fuller assessment of interacting stressors is likely to further lower the tipping point thresholds in most cases. Uncertainties around tipping points for such crucially important ecosystems underline the imperative of robust assessment and, in the case of knowledge gaps, employing a precautionary principle favouring lower-range tipping point values
“Simultaneously very liberating and terrifying”: A Qualitative Exploration of Nonbinary Identity Development in Adults in Aotearoa New Zealand
No full text“Nonbinary” is an umbrella term for diverse genders beyond the male/female binary. Nonbinary individuals experience unique challenges, including in nonbinary identity development (NID), which is typically overlooked in mainstream identity development models. Recent NID scholarship has advanced understandings, but few studies have specifically investigated identity development, included diverse or adult participants, or are nonbinary-led. The present study aimed to explore NID in a diverse group of nonbinary adults in Aotearoa New Zealand. Following community consultation, I recruited and selected participants via an online expression of interest questionnaire. I prioritised prospective participants based on diversity of age, and then a combination of gender and ethnic diversity. I utilised my “insider” nonbinary identity and conducted semi-structured interviews with 10 nonbinary adults. My reflexive thematic analysis produced three themes, which characterised NID as an ongoing conflict between improved individual, and poorer social, wellbeing. Through NID realisation, consideration, and exploration, participants were liberated from years of gender discomfort, and experienced self-fulfilment (T1). NID involved learning about nonbinary identities and language, and seeking nonbinary space in the binary world, which was often met with pushback (T2). NID did not happen in identity isolation; there were frequent interactions between participants’ intersecting identities and genders (T3.1), as well as implications of community and relational structures for NID (T3.2). Overall, my research shows the inadequacy of existing identity development models for capturing the nuances of NID, the importance of situating NID within one’s broader social context, and the unique wellbeing challenges nonbinary individuals experience in NID. Greater nonbinary visibility, for example, in media, is needed to improve nonbinary knowledge and acceptance in the binary world, and to celebrate the diversity of nonbinary identities.</p
Synthesis and Characterisation of Mono- and Bi-dentate BODIPY Based Chromophores for CdSe Containing Hybrid Nanomaterials
No full textThe discovery of new technologies is pivotal in addressing global challenges, with sustainable and versatile materials playing a foundational role. Quantum dots (QDs) have emerged as exceptionally promising materials, acknowledged with the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 2023. Their quantum size effect enables precise manipulation of optical and electronic properties, facilitating applications across diverse fields such as light-emitting diodes (LEDs), photovoltaics, bioimaging, and biosensing. Building upon QD research, the development of hybrid nanomaterials (HNs) has garnered attention, integrating organic components to stabilize and enhance their properties. Notably, HNs show promise in photovoltaics to meet renewable energy demands and in bioimaging to advance healthcare interventions. Addressing the imperative for renewable energy sources, HNs offer avenues to improve photovoltaic technology by mitigating losses and enhancing efficiency. In bioimaging, HNs offer enhanced optical properties and targeting capabilities, promising improved diagnostics and drug delivery.This project aims to synthesise and characterise novel HNs, investigating energy transfer mechanisms between QD-based HNs. In this study, two BODIPY dyes were synthesised and characterised. Each dye was complexed to a CdSe QD to make two novel HNs. The extent to which energy transfer occurred in each HN was characterised by photophysical techniques and Stern-Volmer measurements. These systems revealed Fourier Resonance Energy Transfer (FRET) with efficiencies of 55% and 92%, on par and exceeding literature values. Such pursuits contribute to advancing sustainable technologies crucial for addressing global challenges.</p
Marching to the left: Building an Integrated Process Model of ideological threat response
No full textIntergroup conflict is one of the most powerful forces that has shaped, and continues to shape, the nature and development societies and cultures. A variety of theories have emerged that seek to uncover the psychological, societal, and/or contextual factors that drive individuals, or groups of people, into conflict with one another. Some theories have focused on group-level processes, such as group formation and normative belief systems, while others focus on individual level processes such as the biopsychological processes in threat response. My thesis is an attempt at synthesising some of these theories to develop a more holistic framework for understanding of the drivers of intergroup conflict.The first chapter of my thesis provides an overview of core concepts that underpin intergroup conflict such as the evolution and formation of social groups, the nature of intergroup threats and their perception, and an individual level model on the ideologies that drive prejudice and conflict, i.e. the Dual Process Model (DPM) of prejudice. I then provide an overview of a biopsychological model on threat response and our fundamental motivations to avoid the aversive, and approach the appetitive, i.e. the General Process Model (GPM) of approach and avoidance motivation.Chapter 2 presents my first study, which merges the DPM and GPM to propose and test an Integrated Process Model (IPM) of ideological threat response. Results supported the integration of the DPM and the GPM with meaningful relationships found between approach-avoidance motivations, threat perceptions, world beliefs, and ideology. Different ‘clusters’ of perceptions, motivations, and beliefs were also identified. Belief in a dangerous world and support for right-wing authoritarianism was linked to fear and perceptions of symbolic threats. Endorsement of social dominance, on the other hand, was associated with a belief in and perceptions of a competitive world, combined with an aggressive defensive fight mentality. This model, however, inherited biases from the precursor theories, such as the limited focus on right-wing and conservative ideologies.In Chapter 3, I discuss these limitations further, and propose additional relevant theories and concepts (e.g., System justification and Left-Wing Authoritarianism) to improve the IPM’s ability to capture a broader range of ideological threat responses. Study 2 expanded the IPM through network analysis and SEM approaches. The initial fear and aggressive fight clusters were replicated, though the aggressive fight cluster was also linked with an impulsive and generalised need for chaos. I also identified two additional clusters of threat perceptions, beliefs, and ideology. These were situated around belief in a fair or just society and perceptions of marginalisation. Those who did not feel marginalised, and felt society to be fair, also supported submission to existing authority. Those who did feel marginalised believed society to be unfair, and supported radically restructuring social hierarchies. Consequently, four subcomponents of the IPM were identified, i.e. Fearful Repression, Machiavellian Dominance, System Conservation, and System Attenuation. To further validate the IPM, Chapter 4 presents a third study which confirmed the validity of the expanded model in a new sample, as well as a fourth and final study that explored the short-term temporal relationships captured in the IPM. Both studies supported the four subcomponents but also highlighted issues, such as unaccounted for factors, that affect estimated relationships in models like the IPM and those it was derived from.I conclude my thesis with a final chapter that reflects on the overall findings and themes that emerged from the studies in lieu of the broader body of research on intergroup conflict and threat response. My doctoral journey led to an integrated model of ideological threat response that was not only generally statistically well-supported, but also made theoretical and narrative sense. The IPM of ideological threat response provides a unified framework within which to describe and understand how our evolved psychological threat responses operate and interact in relation to ideology and intergroup conflict. Approach-avoidance motivations describe the nature and functioning of our cognitive alarm systems, while ideologies and their related world beliefs describe the cognitive-affective responses resulting from these alarm systems specifically attuned to intergroup threats. The IPM blends these theories together to differentiate types of responses in terms of the evolutionary needs for ingroup cohesion and cooperation or outgroup dominance required for group survival. Specifically, fearful repression of dissidents results from perceptions of social chaos; happiness with the status quo coincides with obedience to authority; and feeling marginalised corresponds with counterdominance. It also identifies an individualistic threat response more reflective of clinical psychological phenomena. Ultimately, this thesis found that approach-avoidance motivations, perceptions of intergroup threats or marginalisation, world beliefs, system justification, social dominance orientation, right-wing and left-wing authoritarianism do all work together in understanding intergroup conflict.</p
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