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The world of insects and spiders
No full text“Insects are by far the most varied and abundant animals [on the planet] outweighing humanity by 17 times... They are essential for the functioning of all ecosytems... “so wrote journalist Damian Carrington in the Guardian newspaper in February of 2019. As the planet becomes increasingly urbanised the quantum and quality of habitable animal and particularly insect environment decreases. Buildings can have a role in mitigating this habitat loss by providing conditions supportive of insect life. This was the proposition put to first year MARCP students at the Unitec School of Architecture in the second semester of 2019. While the logic of making buildings supportive of other life forms seemed obvious to the staff, the proposition was greeted with considerable skepticism by the student body. The experience highlighted the issue of empathy for other forms of life as a critical factor in the pedagogy of architectural learning. This paper examines the initial phases of the project and the attempts by staff to engage the students. The complexities around the development of architectural projects that could accomodate insect life are discussed. The paper concludes by suggesting principles and strategies for further development of an empathetic architectural pedagogy
My history is not mine : a speculative allegorical approach to experiential architecture
No full textThis design-led research investigation focuses on architecture as a representation of cultural loss. Globalisation has spread Eurocentric modernist architectural principles across most cultures. In a very real sense, many Eastern cultures are having their own unique architectural histories rewritten, even erased, and are in danger of becoming lost. This investigation tests the methodology of using oral narrative (in this case, a series of superstitious Burmese tales from childhood) as a framing device to establish an architectural narrative about cultural loss in architecture. The research investigation reflects on the structure and semiotics derived from the abstraction of superstitions for challenging speculative architecture to give a voice to its own story about critical cultural loss. It reinterprets some of the most ‘ordinary’ Western elements of modern architecture – room, wall, ceiling, floor, threshold, window, etc. – through an Eastern lens, with the goal of obviating or reducing Western precepts. Eastern stories in the form of ‘oral narrative superstitions’ are used as provocateurs, starting points that help the project explicitly move away from traditional modernist architectural forms and relationships. The three design stages of the methodology progress iteratively: from physical analogue models derived from the abstraction of oral narrative superstitions; to digital animations as a narrative tool for reinterpreting these design ideas as shifts in spatial conditions over time; and finally, to the virtual gaming environment to enable agency in which the participants can construct their own experiential narrative outcomes
No hem: Handling deviance in inhabited worlds
No full textRESEARCH QUESTION:
How can figurative painting promote a sense of stillness in a contemporary context of institutional uncertainty and accelerated social change?”
INTRODUCTION:
Tugging tribulations are described in the paintings in No Hem: Handling deviance in inhabited worlds. Figures inhabiting interior spaces are still, while the presence of the other is felt, the figures remain de-socialised from one another. The works hold pestering forces and dubious future conditions. When the content is mismatched or environs are made to continuously transform, “horror” or distress is likely to occur. “Horror,” an intense bodily feeling and aesthetic category are considered as that which exhibit “deviant” proportion, harmony and composition. No Hem researches the use of this deviant visual information in a contemporary painting practice. The research asks how deviance can gesture towards contextual conditions concerning the societal loss of knowledge spaces.
Operating within the painting strata of figure in interior, the research finds formal resonance for individualisation, architecture, dread and silence. Comaroff & Ong’s Horror in Architecture (2013) becomes a framework through which to explore horror and its deviant properties. Contextual research and practical application in a painting specific language negotiate the horrible characteristics of our built environments and contemporary and historic painting practices. The project discussed in this exegesis scrutinises how painting deviant bodies, spaces, and other horrors may offer new approaches to forms, composition and hierarchy.
The catalyst for the research is the condition of uncertainty in social organisations brought about by consolidation and expansion. Locally, examples of closures to libraries, privatisation of services and expulsion of cultural disciplines and their staffage have echoed global and historical negligence of cultural institutions. The attack on humanities practice-based education recall the expulsion of critique in colonising campaigns. The relentlessly hasty mutations speak to a worrisome standardisation of individual prospects
A systematic analysis of SAP enterprise resource planning (ERP) software implementation as accounting software in New Zealand organisations
No full textIn this era of information technology, computerisation, and automation, Accounting Information Systems (AIS) have become the foundation of every organisation. Previous studies explain that AIS is an integrated system providing financial and non-financial services. Thus, companies use the larger versions of enterprise resource planning system (ERP) software packages to integrate AIS into one application. The leading global AIS in the market are System Application and Product in Processing (SAP), Oracle, and Microsoft. This study focuses on SAP as an AIS because it is the market leader and owns more than fifty percent of the global market, as reported by various studies. SAP as an provides benefits to organisations. It helps in the transfer of data across organisations, despite the challenges confronted during the implementation of SAP. Therefore, this study's primary focus is on understanding potential benefits, and challenges New Zealand (NZ) companies faced in SAP implementation, and the subsequent strategies to overcome those challenges.
This study adopted interpretive research with an inductive approach. It was qualitative and was based on primary data collection through semi-structured interviews. The collected data was analysed using thematic analysis. The SAP potential benefits, and challenges in implementation, and coping mechanisms were reflected through themes using thematic analysis.
The research findings disclosed potential benefits from implementing SAP software for NZ companies, namely, productivity of organisations, benefits to the users, real-time data, and stable and secured system. Additionally, findings unveil various SAP implementation challenges, including change management challenges, inadequate project management, technical challenges, knowledge challenges, and organisational challenges. Lastly, the results suggest the coping mechanisms to overcome SAP implementation challenges include training and education, legacy systems, top management support, allocation of adequate resources, and expert implementation team. This study provides a rich insight into the complex and challenging nature of the implementation process and the potential benefits the company might receive from implementing SAP in NZ.
The research adds to the existing body of knowledge regarding SAP implementation in NZ companies; and contributes to the ability to assist organisations in their implementation efforts; and empowers project managers, SAP end-users, support-users, and implementers for better management of the inherent intricacy of the implementation process.
Insights into the New Zealand prefabrication industry
No full textPrefabricated building methods have recently undergone profound development and have been effectively used in easing housing shortages globally. However, prefabrication is a relatively new concept for New Zealand and is surrounded with significant uncertainty around its potential in the construction industry. The purpose of this research is to gain a deeper insight into the realities of using prefabricated construction methods, analyse the government initiatives and regulatory framework to facilitate prefabrication, and discuss the benefits and client preferences. The study employed a survey research approach focusing on prominent prefabrication residential building companies across New Zealand. Questionnaires, followed by face-to-face interviews with industry professionals were the major methods of empirical data collection. The findings revealed that prefabricated construction is a viable option to supply mass affordable homes to the New Zealand residential housing market. The research also highlighted many benefits of using prefabrication over conventional building methods including better quality homes through controlled building methods and use of superior materials, and most importantly the associated time savings during construction. The study concludes that the growth of the prefabrication industry is impacted by negative stigmas still prevalent amongst New Zealand consumers
Hope for an informal settlement
No full textRESEARCH QUESTION
How can the slums of Dharavi be re-developed to maintain the current population density and social and cultural values of the community without a mass displacement of the dwellers?
ABSTRACT
With minimal means of survival in many Indian villages, rural people have migrated to urban areas in search of new opportunities. From the architectural perspective migration can be explained as a complex and urgent spatial challenge. Cities and their promise of a better life and more opportunities attract migrants, but also force them to take any odd jobs for their survival. Mumbai is being cursed by its development. Migration has forced compactness and high density on certain areas, gradually resulting in the formation of slums. Slums are a pervasive phenomenon throughout developing countries and cannot be separated from the social systems operating within urban life. Some experts claim slums are a disease that grows and multiplies. Although theoretically accepted, rural migrants experience extreme inequality in every aspect of their lives and are often treated as inferior citizens by public institutions such as schools, hospitals and social housing.
The aim of this project is to design appropriate, permanent social housing in the slums of Dharavi, a locality in Mumbai, India, near the banks of the river Mithi. This paper will investigate the reasons for urban migration and the formation of slums. The schemes and policies undertaken by the Indian government and other formal bodies will be explained to give an understanding of the legal framework. Sadly, as reported in this paper, the conditions for children living in the slums are pathetic and none of the schemes implemented have significantly improved their overall wellbeing.
A brief description of some well-known slums – past and present – provides an overview of slum living conditions and the underlying factors that drive the formation of slums around the world. A comparative investigation of precedent studies is then made to understand what methods and strategies can be used to transform slums into more liveable environments. The conventional approach to developing slums starts with the mass eviction of residents. This is inhumane as it disrupts lives and communities as well as separating people from their means of making a living. The intention of this paper is to offer a solution that does not involve mass displacement of people. The research will identify the needs and demands of rural migrants now living in Dharavi, Mumbai, and the housing solution proposed will consider the social and cultural aspects of the place – for the present and into the future
Affection change : donation giving in a zoo
No full textBiophilia
It all comes down to money
Affecting change
Proportion of audience who donated by treatment
Proportion of audience who donate 5+ by treatment
Donations per donator by treatment
Donations per audience membe
Product stewardship: Linking waste back to primary production
No full textRESEARCH QUESTIONS:
In what ways are regulated Product Stewardship schemes likely to contribute to waste reduction in New Zealand?
a. How do organisations explain and make sense of Product Stewardship?
b. How do people explain and make sense of Product Stewardship?
c. What impacts will Product Stewardship have on waste management?
ABSTRACT:
The mismanagement of waste products generated from economic activity results in environmental harm. In current globalised supply chain relationships, responsibilities for waste management become transferred. That transfer of responsibility fails to reduce waste at source, contain waste appropriately, maximise resource recovery or fund the management of products at the end of their usefulness. In response to this situation, the New Zealand Government has adopted a policy called Product Stewardship which, in principle, is intended to support the shared responsibility for the whole life of a product across the supply chains.
Product Stewardship, to date in New Zealand, has been based on an industry-led, voluntary approach. Whilst voluntary approaches have enjoyed varying levels of success over the last decade, the amount of waste sent to landfill in New Zealand and offshore for recycling, has increased significantly. Onshore, landfill is supported by engineered containment of waste and is visible to communities. Offshore, recycling processes are unsighted.
In 2017, the New Zealand Government began a review of the waste system in response to the contraction of offshore recycling markets. In 2020, the Government announced its intention to move beyond voluntary Product Stewardship in favour of a mandatory approach, by declaring six priority product waste streams. Subsequent to this change in policy emphasis, a number of co-design working groups have been established to develop mandatory Product Stewardship schemes, based on guidelines set out by the Government.
The aim of this research is to understand how Product Stewardship can contribute to the reduction of waste within New Zealand. The objectives of the research are to: understand the kinds of opportunities that mandatory Product Stewardship may present to the community of practice, to analyse existing research on Product Stewardship and other literature relevant to this field, and to provide the researcher with an opportunity to contribute to discussions on Product Stewardship from a research-based position.
A transdisciplinary research methodology has been used to reflect the diversity of the community of practice involved in the Product Stewardship space. Research data was generated through undertaking semi-structured interviews, document analysis, and participant observation. The results of this research suggests that any successful application of mandatory Product Stewardship will be reliant on a substantial paradigm shift in economic thinking to reset how waste is viewed, treated, and responded to. In the absence of such a shift, mandatory Product Stewardship runs the risk of being adopted into current market thinking, resulting in no material impact on waste reduction.
Note: All rights are reserved by the copyright owner with respect to Figure 10
An exploration into the personal and professional impact of the Bachelor of Applied Management on a small business owner
No full textINTRODUCTION
The research focused on exploring the experience of our small business owner graduates who acquired a Bachelor of Applied Management through an independent learning pathway (ILP), which is a work-based learning qualification at Otago Polytechnic/Te Pūkenga.
Graduates anecdotally report the process as transformational by enhancing their personal and professional selves. However, the impact of the learning process still requires investigation. Gaining an insight into these variables benefitted Otago Polytechnic and future learners.
METHODOLOGY / METHODS
The research methodology applied a qualitative approach utilising Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA), and the data collection used semi-structured interviews undertaken either face-to-face or via phone. Nine graduates were interviewed. Interviews were recorded, transcribed verbatim then analysed for emerging themes by the researcher.
RESULTS
The themes identified challenges small business owners face, such as feeling isolated and the effects of workplace stressors on their mental health and well-being. Sustaining self and business was a sub-theme, the participants recognising that a more holistic approach to business was required for long-term business viability.
As a result, the participants prioritise self-care practices to benefit their well-being and employees, enabling them to sustain the "whole business".
Reflective practice was identified as the tool to analyse, evaluate and lay to rest experiences of significant impact. The tools gained were described as having the ability to "self-counsel" to manage their well-being.
Last, small business owners identified an amplification of their leadership capability, which enabled them to increase their effectiveness, thus, increasing the efficiency of their business.
CONCLUSION
The findings had implications for the facilitators of work-based qualifications, identifying strategies and tools that enrich the facilitator/learner relationship. Finally, there is evidence of the value our small business owners gained from working through an ILP rather than a traditionally taught program.
The research provides evidence of the efficacy of ILP delivery through the College of Work-based learning and offers benefits to a wider sector within the business community. This research validates independent learning pathways' and encourages innovative education delivery across Te Pūkenga and other higher education institutions
Iwi and local government partnerships in biosecurity : a case study of Te Arawa Catfish Killas in response to a pest fish incursion in the Bay of Plenty, New Zealand
No full textMāori are the indigenous people of New Zealand and throughout the country, local government relationships with hapū (a group or family from a common ancestor) and iwi (a post-colonial term for groups of hapū who have common ancestral links or share a geographical location) are critical to the sustainable management of natural resources. Here we describe an initiative formed in response to an incursion of brown bullhead catfish (Ameiurus nebulosus) in Lake Rotoiti and (as of December 2018) Lake Rotorua, two of the ancestral lakes under the mana whakahaere (a self-determination and decision-making role) of Te Arawa Lakes Trust. The programme involves a full-time staff member from Te Arawa Lakes Trust working directly alongside the Bay of Plenty Regional Council to progressively contain the catfish population in Lakes Rotoiti and Rotorua. To date, this project has removed over 80,000 catfish from the lakes, generated significant research findings, engaged over 500 volunteers and delivered an educational programme to over 1500 school students across the district. This partnership approach to a biosecurity project has strengthened relationships between local government, iwi, hapū and the wider community while delivering positive environmental outcomes