Janet Stephenson

People and Place

The planning field gives surprisingly little consideration to the non-tangible qualities of place. Given the key role of planning practices in mediating change, it would appear self-evident that a central thread of planning theory and methodology should be concerned with people–place connections, and associated meanings and significance. But, as shown in some New Zealand examples, much planning activity is still largely focused on the physicality of place rather than its embedded qualities. Other social science disciplines have much to offer in understanding the nature of these relationships, and in developing a range of assessment tools to evaluate them. The planning field needs to draw inspiration from other disciplinary theories, and to develop or adopt a conceptual framework that accounts for both the rational and intangible qualities of space and place. This could assist planners to “design with culture” as well as with nature, and to better incorporate place identity into the decision-making mix.

Cross‐cultural environmental research and management: Challenges and progress

INTRODUCING THIS FORUM The Royal Society of New Zealand encouraged this Forum on cross-cultural environmental research and management following the publication of a special issue of the New Zealand Journal of Zoology in September 2009 called “Mātauranga Māori, science and seabirds” (Moller 2009). Mātauranga Māori (Māori knowledge) is concerned with all aspects of Te Ao Māori (the Māori world view), including their version of what overseas scholars have variously termed Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK), Traditional Knowledge, Local Knowledge, Ethnoscience or Ethnobiology. The most widely used definition of TEK is “a cumulative body of knowledge, practice, and belief, evolving by adaptive processes and handed down through generations by cultural transmission, about the relationship of living beings (including humans) with one another and the environment” (Berkes 2008: 7). Mātauranga Māori, and especially its interface with science, is a particularly important issue for New Zealand because of its colonial history, the partnership principles derived from the Treaty of Waitangi, and the government’s Vision Mātauranga to ‘unlock the innovation potential of Māori Knowledge, Resources and People’ (MoRST 2005). The Mātauranga Māori, science and seabirds special issue of New Zealand Journal of Zoology featured 10 papers from the Kia Mau Te Tītī Mo Ake Tonu Atu (“Keep the Tītī Forever”) research project. Tītī is the Māori term for ‘muttonbirds’, the chicks of sooty shearwater (Puffinus griseus). The ‘tītī project’ was a 14-year collaboration of Rakiura Māori kaitiaki (environmental guardians) and their mātauranga with University of Otago ecologists and mathematicians (Moller et al. 2009c). Its main aim was to assess the sustainability of the current harvest of tītī and identify ways that the tītī can remain plentiful enough for the Rakiura mokopuna (grandchildren) to be able to continue their cultural heritage of muttonbirding. However, another aim of the project was compare science and mātauranga (or TEK in its international context) as ways of knowing and guiding ecological management. As the tītī project is a long-running and detailed example of a cross-cultural science-mātauranga partnership, the Royal Society of New Zealand enabled us to invite a range of researchers to comment on the lessons from the tītī project, and more generally to explore challenges and enablers of partnerships between knowledge systems of different cultures.

The Dimensional Landscape Model: Exploring Differences in Expressing and Locating Landscape Qualities

Abstract Landscape quality assessments provide information for developers, decision-makers and designers as to what is significant about a given landscape. However, assessment methods that rely on disciplinary expertise can fail to identify the qualities of landscapes that are important to those communities for whom landscape is a lived-in experience, particularly indigenous communities. While theories of landscape provide ample scope for understanding the intangible and temporal qualities that might be important to these communities, assessment methodologies still largely focus on landscapes tangible and geographic attributes. Using a New Zealand example to illustrate the problem, and examining a range of approaches across landscape disciplines and indigenous groups, underlying differences are identified in how landscape qualities are expressed and located. The resulting Dimensional Landscape Model offers a set of conceptual structures around which the variety of qualities expressed may have a better fit. It differentiates between static and dynamic expressions of landscape qualities, and in locating those qualities in spatial, temporal or spatio-temporal dimensions. It reveals a tendency for Western disciplines to use static spatial approaches and indigenous groups to use dynamic spatio-temporal approaches. These fundamental differences may help explain why the latter qualities tend to be given less prominence or credibility in formal landscape assessments. The Dimensional Landscape Model offers concepts around which it might be possible to develop more sophisticated and inclusive methods of conveying the multiple qualities of landscapes.

Resilience Pivots: Stability and Identity in a Social-Ecological-Cultural

How is cultural resilience achieved in the face of significant social and ecological change? Is resilience compatible with changed structures, functions, and feedbacks as long as identity is maintained? The concept of cultural resilience has been less explored than its older siblings ecological resilience, social resilience, and social-ecological resilience. We seek to redress the balance, drawing from resilience thinking to examine how a New Zealand Māori tribal group of landowners retained strong cultural identity and connectedness to their land despite enduring significant changes in land use, economy, tenure, and governance. The landowners negotiated radical transformations in the ecology and land use of their home lands on terms that supported matters of cultural importance. The key resilience concepts of adaptation and transformation were helpful in analyzing the trajectory of change, but fell short of representing the elements of stability that supported the cultural resilience of the landowners. The concept of resilience pivots was designed to address this conceptual gap, and to offer another heuristic to resilience thinking by focusing on stability rather than change. Resilience pivots are those elements of a resilient system that remain stable despite adaptation or even transformation of other elements of that system, and in doing so support the maintenance of the systems distinctive identity.

Energy literacy and agency of New Zealand children

The development of energy literacy (knowledge, attitudes, and intended behaviour) and agency of New Zealand children (age 9–10) were investigated through thematic and exploratory statistical analyses of interviews (October 2011–April 2012) with 26 children, their parents and teachers, focus groups and photo elicitation. The children knew that electricity costs money and saw it as a finite resource. Half could name an energy source but few knew of any associated environmental issues. Most of the children had a positive attitude towards saving electricity, but did not intend to save energy to a further extent (low intended behaviour) and were not influencing their families to conserve energy (low agency). The children were learning about energy informally from a variety of sources, and acquired their attitudes mostly from talking to their parents. The results highlight the need for energy education for citizenship at school and conversations about energy both there and at home.

Recreation on private property: landowner attitudes towards allemansrätt

Swedens right of public access – allemansrätt – allows for access to almost all rural land, so long as care is taken not to damage crops or disturb farm animals, wildlife, or landowners’ privacy. Such access systems are of particular interest as an option for western governments that seek to solve the problem of increasing public demand for access. The article outlines the formal and informal aspects of Swedens public access system and presents the findings of interviews with landowners in Nynäshamn county, a rural area to the south of Stockholm. Few significant problems with allemansrätt were reported. Landowners displayed positive attitudes towards the continuation of the right of public access and were accepting of the few limitations access plays on rural land management. The lesson for other jurisdictions considering introducing a right to roam is that farming and recreational use can coexist and that whilst an informal behavioural code is important, this needs to be backed up by trespass law, proactive dispute resolution, cooperation between user groups, landowners, and the state, and an ongoing public education campaign.

Understanding Sustainable Mobility: The Potential of Electric Vehicles

Rising awareness of the environmental impacts of dominant mobility practices lead to the development of the sustainable mobility paradigm. This paradigm advocates three features of a mobility system: 1. A reduced need to travel, 2. Modal shift towards more sustainable options, and 3. Reduced vehicle kilometres travelled. In this paper, two sets of data are presented to explore the potential of electric vehicles to contribute to a more sustainable mobility system. First, data from an international Delphi of transport experts shows how a sustainable future can be characterised by different features: efficient internal combustion engine vehicles, electric vehicles, and reduced personal car ownership. Thus electric vehicles are presented as both an opportunity and a threat in relation to sustainable mobility. A second body of empirical material is drawn from interviews with electric vehicle owners, and discusses the drivers and barriers to ownership. Interestingly, participants suggest changing mobility practices associated with electric vehicle ownership, evidenced by decreasing kilometres travelled. The paper concludes by suggesting that there may be potential for electric vehicles to contribute to a sustainable mobility future through modified mobility practices and renewable energy sources in New Zealand.

New Zealand GREEN grid household electricity demand study 2014-2018

The NZ GREEN Grid project recruited a sample of 25 households in each of two regions of New Zealand (Stephenson et al. 2017). The first sample was recruited in early 2014 and the second in early 2015. Research data includes: 1 minute mean electricity power (W) data collected for each dwelling circuit using Grid Spy monitors on each power circuit (and the incoming power); dwelling & appliance surveys; occupant time-use diaries (focused on energy use).