Built Environments
Ngā Taiao Waihanga
Programme Leader(s)
University of Canterbury
The University of Auckland
Vision
The resilience of Aotearoa New Zealand’s horizontal and vertical infrastructure is improved, substantially reducing the financial and human costs of natural hazard events.
Programme description
Natural hazard events cost Aotearoa New Zealand approximately $1.8 billion per year. The built environment, including homes and commercial buildings, and horizontal networks such as electricity, telecommunications and roading, plays a crucial role in our resilience to natural hazards. Following a disruptive event, the performance of infrastructure also determines how rapidly communities can recover.
We aim to improve Aotearoa New Zealand’s resilience to natural hazards such as earthquakes, tsunamis and high impact weather by developing new tools to better understand the performance of our horizontal and vertical infrastructure and how to make them more resistant to damage and easier to repair.
We worked closely with stakeholders and partners including local government, central government agencies, utilities providers, the engineering community, and iwi and hapū. To achieve our aims, we developed:
- Detailed computer models of the impact of natural hazards on infrastructure.
- Proposals for new provisions in infrastructure design and assessment standards.
- New tools to measure the performance of our vertical and horizontal infrastructure and the interaction between its different components.
We used a case study involving a major earthquake scenario in Te Whanganui-a-Tara Wellington to study combined earthquake hazards, their interactions, and their impacts on the city’s vertical and horizontal infrastructure.
Wawata
He pakari ake te manawaroa o ngā tūāhanga huapae me te poutu o Aotearoa, e kaha whakaheke ana i ngā utu ahumoni, tāngata hoki o ngā putanga mōrearea taiao.
Whakaahuatanga papatono
Tata tonu ki te $1.8 piriona i ia tau te utu o nga pānga mōrearea taiao ki Aotearoa. He mahi nui tā te taiao waihanga mō tō tātou manawaroa i ngā mōrearea taiao, tae atu ki ngā whare noho me ngā whare pakihi, ngā whatunga huapae pērā i te hiko, te whitimamao me ngā rori. I muri i tētahi pānga whakatōhenehene, mā te pai o te tūāhanga e tohu i te tere o te whakaoranga o ngā hapori.
E whai ana mātou ki te whakapai ake i te manawaroa o Aotearoa ki ngā mōrearea taiao pērā i ngā rū, ngā tai āniwhaniwha me te huarere taikaha mā te whakawhanake i ngā taputapu hou kia mārama pai ake ki te mahinga o tō tātou hanganga huapae, poutū hoki, ā, me pēhea te whakapakari ake kia kore ai e pakaru, kia māmā ake ai te whakatika.
Kei te mahi tahi mātou me te hunga whaipānga tae atu ki te kāwanatanga ā-rohe, ngā tari kāwanatanga ā-motu, ngā kaiwhakarato tūmatanui, te hapori pūhanga, ngā iwi me ngā hapū. Hei whakatutuki i ō mātou whāinga, kei te whakawhanake mātou i:
- Ngā tauira rorohiko āmiki o te pānga o ngā mōrearea taiao ki te tūāhanga.
- Ngā tono mō ngā whakaritenga hou i roto i te hoahoa tūāhanga me ngā paerewa aromatawai.
- Ngā taputapu hou hei ine i te mahinga o ā tātou tūāhanga poutū me te huapae me te pāhekohekotanga o ōna waehanga.
Kei te whakamahi mātou i tētahi rangahau whakapūaho e pā ana ki tētahi āhuatanga rū nui i Te Whanganui-a-Tara hei rangahau i ngā huinga mōrearea rū, ngā pāhekohekotanga, me ngā pānga ki te tūāhanga poutū me te huapae o te tāonenui.
Questions we’re answering
1
How vulnerable is our horizontal infrastructure to the impact of natural hazards, and how can it be improved?
Phase 22
How vulnerable is our vertical infrastructure to the impact of natural hazards, and how can it be improved?
Research Team
Liam Wotherspoon
The University of Auckland
Tim Sullivan
University of Canterbury
Brendon Bradley
University of Canterbury
Kaley Crawford-Flett
University of Canterbury
Matthew Hughes
University of Canterbury
Max Stephens
The University of Auckland
Nirmal Nair
The University of Auckland
Tom Logan
University of Canterbury
Tom Shand
The University of Auckland
Colin Whittaker
The University of Auckland
Seosamh Costello
The University of Auckland
Charlotte Toma
University of Canterbury
Conrad Zorn
The University of Auckland
Maxim Millen
University of Canterbury
Ben Popovich
NIWA
Bruce Melville
University of Canterbury
Chris McGann
University of Canterbury
Santiago Pujol
University of Canterbury
Greg Macrae
University of Canterbury
Minghao Li
University of Canterbury
Misko Cubrinovski
University of Canterbury
Pablo Higuera
The University of Auckland
Prakask Ranjitkar
The University of Auckland
Rajesh Dhakal
University of Canterbury
Reagan Chandramohan
University of Canterbury
Rick Henry
The University of Auckland
Robin Lee
University of Canterbury
Rolando Orense
The University of Auckland
Theuns Henning
The University of Auckland
The University of Auckland
Nainesh Chheda
The University of Auckland
PhD Student
Felipe Kuncar
University of Canterbury
PhD Student
Harsh S Suresh
University of Canterbury
PhD Student
Mike Dupuis
University of Canterbury
PhD Student
Hao Liang
The University of Auckland
PhD Student
Logan Brunner
University of Canterbury
PhD Student
Durga Ragupathy
The University of Auckland
PhD Student
Henry Stephan Till
The University of Auckland
PhD Student
Charles Lan
University of Auckland
PhD Student
Eric Sauvage
University of Auckland
PhD Student
Kizito Essuman
University of Auckland
PhD Student
Kenan Liu
University of Auckland
PhD Student
Patrick Curran
University of Canterbury
PhD Student
Thivanka Dharmasena
University of Auckland
PhD Student
Haukapuanui Vercoe
Te Arawa, Tūwharetoa, Te Āti Haunui-ā-Pāpārangi, Ngāti Pāhauwera, Ngāti Raukawa and Ngāi Tahu
University of Auckland
PhD Student
Sonny Vercoe
Te Arawa, Tūwharetoa, Te Āti Haunui-ā-Pāpārangi, Ngāti Pāhauwera, Ngāti Raukawa and Ngāi Tahu
University of Auckland
PhD Student
Built Environments
Latest Resource Outputs
Article
Quasi-Static Cyclic Testing of a Drift-Sensitive Sub-Assembly of Non-Structural Elements with Low-Damage Characteristics
Testing the seismic performance of a new precast concrete cladding system as a low-damage alternative to conventional systems.
Article
A Practice-Oriented Floor Response Spectrum Prediction Method for Seismic Design of Non‑Structural Elements
A refined method for predicting the behaviour of non-structural building elements during an earthquake.
Article
Development of statistical downscaling model based on Volterra series realization, principal components and ridge regression
A new statistical approach combining principal component analysis (PCA) and ridge regression provides better models of climate change impacts.
Article
Risk of isolation increases the expected burden from sea-level rise
Considering the number of people at risk of isolation, not just inundation, is critical for sea-level rise adaptation planning.
Article
Vulnerability of power distribution utility poles to tsunami bore impacts
How would utility poles underpinning power distribution in low-lying coastal areas stand up to a tsunami?
Policy Briefing
Building resilience through recovery: Investment decision making
This brief outlines the decision making process in critical infrastructure repair and recovery and the considerations necessary to inform those decisions.