Rebuilding Christchurch’s Infrastructure: an analysis of political mismanagement

Byrd, Hugh and Matthewman, Steve (2019) Rebuilding Christchurch’s Infrastructure: an analysis of political mismanagement. International Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences, 13 (3). pp. 63-69. ISSN 2220-8488

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Rebuilding Christchurch’s Infrastructure: an analysis of political mismanagement
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Item Type:Article
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Abstract

The devastation of the city centre of Christchurch, New Zealand, after the 2010 and 2011 earthquakes presented an opportunity to rebuild infrastructure in a coordinated and efficient manner to allow for a city that was energy efficient, low carbon, resilient and provided both energy security and justice. The research described in this paper records the processes taken to attempt to rebuild the energy infrastructure. The story is one of political decisions overriding appropriate technology and ultimately is a lesson in how not to handle the implementation of post-disaster energy infrastructure. Lack of clarity in decision making by central government and then not pursuing consultant’s recommendations led to a scheme that was effectively abandoned in 2016 and described as ‘a total failure’. The paper records the critical events that occurred and explains why the proposed energy infrastructure was both politically and technologically inappropriate.

Keywords:energy infrastructure, policy and governance, post-disaster rebuilding
Subjects:K Architecture, Building and Planning > K421 Urban Planning
H Engineering > H220 Environmental Engineering
J Technologies > J910 Energy Technologies
L Social studies > L200 Politics
Divisions:College of Arts > School of Architecture & Design > School of Architecture & Design (Architecture)
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ID Code:35263
Deposited On:11 Apr 2019 10:40

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