Governance Case Studies

Core research within the Governance Programme was carried out through two case studies:

Managed Retreat
Our research on managed retreat investigated and developed the function and practice of environmental planning in enabling managed retreat. Analysis of planning documents has shown that in New Zealand managed retreat is currently an umbrella term used to describe a range of approaches. We identified inconsistencies and determined that more attention needs to be given to infrastructure retreat in RMA plans, long-term plans and asset management plans.

Our work on managed retreat is continuing through our De-risking Resilience workstream, led by Prof Iain White of the University of Waikato, and our Enabling Coastal Adaptation workstream, led by Dr Judy Lawrence of Te Herenga Waka Victoria University of Wellington.

Resilient Mobility
Our research on resilient mobility looked at the challenge of governing distributed infrastructure systems such as the transport network. Using disruption to the transport network following the Kaikōura earthquake as an example, we drew a ‘map’ of the key players involved in the system: investors, operators, and users, who they are and how they interact across regions, organisations and modes. We found a strong appetite amongst transport practitioners to consider players across the mobility system in order identify drivers of effective disaster risk reduction.