Journals@Lincoln (Lincoln University)
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Fields of potential: recovering hidden Chains of Ponds in a rapidly urbanising landscape
No full textA Chain of Ponds is an ancient, mostly underground and almost forgotten riparian system that once sustained abundant, biodiverse life in many of the warm and dry regions of Australia. Unlike incised water courses, it forms swampy meadows that detain water and encourage infiltration, which cleans water and mitigates flooding and erosion. It also cools the atmosphere. This critical landscape system was once an extensive and prolific network of slow water movement in the Cumberland Plain in Western Sydney, Australia. It has now, unfortunately, been heavily degraded by colonising agricultural practices and Sydney’s inexorable urban sprawl. Drawing on the link between groundwater and a cool environment, this paper looks into the potential for regenerating Chains of Ponds where, due to urbanisation, hard, water-excluding surfaces and the heat island effect are proliferating. The research reassembled a Chain of Ponds history of the Plain from nineteenth-century parish maps and mid-twentieth-century aerial photos, supported by ground truthing and heat analysis. The findings form the basis of a discussion on the potential of this endemic landscape system, with its intrinsic adaptability, to address the vulnerabilities that urbanisation creates for both fragile landscape systems and the increasing population of residents and workers
Regenerating Small Settlements - One Small Pier at a Time
No full textBased on a study of three small piers on Banks Peninsula, New Zealand, this research describes the processes of their community-led restoration. The study is based on in-depth interviews with community members in Ōtoromiro/Governors Bay; Kaioruru/Church Bay in Whakaraupō/Lyttelton Harbour, and Takamatua in Akaroa Harbour (n=18). These projects saw the establishment of a new model for small settlement facility restoration and have spurred multiple longer-term legacies for communities. We identify three key relationships that contributed to the successful jetty restoration, involving the biophysical marine space, community and council. The regenerative processes are similar to but significantly differ from pier restoration occurring in comparable international cases
Research Centres as evidence-providing resources for planners and policy makers
No full textUniversities feature a mix of rigid structures and fluid relationships which can make accessing them and finding relevant research somewhat difficult for those in planning and policy roles. There have been many attempts to bridge those gaps, often through professional or disciplinary organisations and publications, like Planning Quarterly, Policy Quarterly and Impact Connector. Indeed, the Lincoln Planning Review is an attempt to provide a two-way bridge between academia and practitioner. These tend to be one-way delivery mechanisms and used by relatively few academics. University research centres may provide an alternative mechanism.
Research centres usually represent areas of internationally recognised research strength and capability and are used by universities to enhance recognition and the impact of those strengths in innovative research. This focus on research, however, raises questions as to their utility to address the more mundane research needs of planners and policy makers – practitioners who usually have to address problems as they arise based on existing knowledge and research rather than have the time to seek robustly researched evidence on which to base decisions. For planners, these are often place-based issues for which generalised models may be less important than local empirical evidence and data.
In this field note, I look at three of the 17 research centres at Lincoln University. These three could be providing evidence to inform planners and related policy makers. Two of these centres, the Centre for Land Environment and People (LEaP) and the Waterways Centre, were established more than a decade ago. The other, the Sustainable Property Research Centre (SPRC) is very new. Each is quite different in character and activity.
This note is essentially a critical reflection, based on being a researching member of all three centres, but viewing them from my planning and policy analyst practitioner perspective. My intention is to draw these centres to the attention of planners and policy-makers and encourage them to consider how they might best utilise such centres, while at the same time taking a critical look at the nature of the centre activities and what they may need to do to be more relevant
Routledge Handbook of Seabed Mining and the Law of the Sea Edited by Virginie Tassin Campanella and reviewed by Hamish G. Rennie
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The Future of a cemetery in a warming climate
No full texthis paper utilises the complex physical and cultural landscape of an inner urban cemetery in Melbourne to position microclimate materiality as a crucial contemporary design framework. Beginning with key concepts from design literature on the design potentials of heat, air and atmosphere, this theory-led framing suggests that small-scale fluctuations in temperature over time can offer insight into spatial and temporal diversity as qualities that can be leveraged through design. This position is further explored in the specific social and environmental context of the Melbourne General Cemetery. This case illustrates the relevance of microclimate materiality for landscape design in navigating urban pressures in our time of climate change – especially in complex sites where cultural, social and environmental values overla
Weeds, War, and reconceptualising nature in Aotearoa, New Zealand: A provocation to theorists from a practitioner at the coalface
No full textWarning: This essay contains disturbing ecological forecasts and challenges to mainstream cultural attitudes towards weeds, our idea of nature, and the future management of native forests in Aotearoa, New Zealand. It will argue we need to dismantle popular but inadequate environmental dogmas, which will be galling to many. However – spoiler alert – it concludes, optimistically, that environmental weeds will ultimately force us to create more adequate conceptions of nature, and pragmatic management approaches. In short, it will be good for us, even if we hate this prospect at present. And no, the word hate is not too strong (I predict the strongest reactions will be from those who love native forests the most. And I sympathise completely).Let’s cut straight to the nub. There is an insurmountable environmental weed problem coming to rural New Zealand. It won’t be beaten by chemical or biological warfare, updating noxious pest plant lists, mobilising the unemployed, volunteers, high-tech drones, or by planting native trees. This apprehension is based on observations and decades of professional experience and has led to my premise that it’s a battle that can really only be won in our minds; we need a change of mindset. Environmental weeds will eventually force us to reconceptualise ‘nature’ in Aotearoa, New Zealand.