Community decision-making and privatised spaces: A case study of suburban shopping malls in the Wellington Region

<p>Shopping malls are a widely disparaged urban form, particularly when these have been built in favour of traditional public spaces. Critiques have ranged from their aesthetic to the impact they have on civic life and broader democracy. However, despite being in private ownership, they have been found to play crucial community functions. This is particularly true in suburban communities which often lack alternative forms of community infrastructure. Concurrently, across the globe, a number of malls are in decline and some communities are losing the only form of community space available to them. Moreover, they are often unable to contribute to decision-making regarding these spaces due to their private ownership. This thesis examines the role that suburban shopping malls, in Aotearoa New Zealand can, and do play as community spaces. It assesses decision-making mechanisms, questioning how communities can participate in the development of what they conceive of as their community spaces. Two cases of declining malls in the Wellington Region– the Johnsonville Shopping Centre and the Wainuiomata Mall were selected and 12 semi-structured interviews and three focus groups were conducted. This research found that these malls played an important role as spaces where communities were built and members socially engaged in often ad-hoc, but significant ways. However, due to the private nature of these spaces, community members often felt powerless and unable to participate in decisions relating to this space. This thesis demonstrates the ways in which the legal binary of public and private fails to encapsulate the nature of modern spaces, which in reality, typically exist as a socially constructed hybrid of both. It challenges the existing framework of property rights based on this binary, and subsequent wider community exclusion from decision-making. In response, this thesis offers policy recommendations around community decision-making in order to stimulate vital suburban community space into the future.</p>

Community decision-making and privatised spaces: A case study of suburban shopping malls in the Wellington Region

<p>Shopping malls are a widely disparaged urban form, particularly when these have been built in favour of traditional public spaces. Critiques have ranged from their aesthetic to the impact they have on civic life and broader democracy. However, despite being in private ownership, they have been found to play crucial community functions. This is particularly true in suburban communities which often lack alternative forms of community infrastructure. Concurrently, across the globe, a number of malls are in decline and some communities are losing the only form of community space available to them. Moreover, they are often unable to contribute to decision-making regarding these spaces due to their private ownership. This thesis examines the role that suburban shopping malls, in Aotearoa New Zealand can, and do play as community spaces. It assesses decision-making mechanisms, questioning how communities can participate in the development of what they conceive of as their community spaces. Two cases of declining malls in the Wellington Region– the Johnsonville Shopping Centre and the Wainuiomata Mall were selected and 12 semi-structured interviews and three focus groups were conducted. This research found that these malls played an important role as spaces where communities were built and members socially engaged in often ad-hoc, but significant ways. However, due to the private nature of these spaces, community members often felt powerless and unable to participate in decisions relating to this space. This thesis demonstrates the ways in which the legal binary of public and private fails to encapsulate the nature of modern spaces, which in reality, typically exist as a socially constructed hybrid of both. It challenges the existing framework of property rights based on this binary, and subsequent wider community exclusion from decision-making. In response, this thesis offers policy recommendations around community decision-making in order to stimulate vital suburban community space into the future.</p>

Virtual day center for people with dementia and their caregivers during the COVID-19 pandemic

ABSTRACT The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic suspended face-to-face assistance offered by community spaces, such as day centers (DCs). People with dementia (PwD) and their families were faced with the risks posed by social detachment and suspension of treatments. Objective: This study aimed to present a virtual day center (VDC) program offered as a preventive strategy to reduce the damage caused by social isolation and interruption of treatment imposed by the pandemic. Methods: The experience report, describing the feasibility of a VDC program, offered to 26 PwD and their caregivers, during the first year of the pandemic. The VDC held individual and group meetings with PwD and their families and psychoeducational support groups for caregivers. Results: The attendance rate in group activities was 80%, and that in the caregiver group was 68%, showing a good virtual interaction. Throughout the year, three PwD interrupted the service due to difficulties of the caregivers to reconcile the schedules of the activities with their professional commitments and the absence of a support network, three others died, and two were institutionalized. PwD remained physically, socially, and cognitively active through daily virtual activities. Guidance and support for caregivers contributed to the organization of routines and adaptation to the isolation and maintenance of the bond. Family meetings made it possible to mediate conflicts and expand the support network. Conclusions: VDC is a promising modality to assist the needs and demands of PwD and their caregivers. VDC can contribute to the expansion of this intervention to individuals and families who do not have access to face-to-face treatment.

Place-making Through Time: Future-proofing Tauranga Borough through the evolution of 'Place Identity'

<p>The water’s edge is a vital element in New Zealand’s natural environments and established communities. Development of industrial infrastructure along this threshold, has left many coastal settlements stagnant and slipping into demise, negatively impacting the connection with the land and people, while industries continue to thrive. This research responds to this problem by exploring the potential of a place’s identity to become a catalyst to moderate the impact of industrial infrastructure on inner city consumption, community engagement and urban use. Tauranga City provides appropriate testing grounds for this research. It has an under-utilized and uninspiring city centre, that suffers from the impact of industrial domination. The lack of diversity in civic and community spaces and opportunity for community engagement and interaction with Tauranga’s water’s edge has encouraged its community to move out of the city into more vibrant neighbouring suburbs and cities. This situation is contributing to the gradual demise of Tauranga City. This investigation considers the studies of Tauranga’s original settlement and evolution to its current condition, before turning to literature on place-making and resiliency for both people and environments. Appropriate and relevant cases from architectural practice, which address these urban issues, have been selected. Applying these studies, a speculative design has been developed which also sources other literature for guidance and idea generation. This has resulted in a process of pro-grammatically representing place identity for spatial use, along with iteratively testing the organization and prioritisation of people and infrastructure within a city centre in a coastal context. Exploring the potential for prioritizing people over infrastructure, has resulted in the realization that we must engage, involve and consult with people to mediate the displaced developments of community and the impact of growth of industrial activity.</p>

Place-making Through Time: Future-proofing Tauranga Borough through the evolution of 'Place Identity'

<p>The water’s edge is a vital element in New Zealand’s natural environments and established communities. Development of industrial infrastructure along this threshold, has left many coastal settlements stagnant and slipping into demise, negatively impacting the connection with the land and people, while industries continue to thrive. This research responds to this problem by exploring the potential of a place’s identity to become a catalyst to moderate the impact of industrial infrastructure on inner city consumption, community engagement and urban use. Tauranga City provides appropriate testing grounds for this research. It has an under-utilized and uninspiring city centre, that suffers from the impact of industrial domination. The lack of diversity in civic and community spaces and opportunity for community engagement and interaction with Tauranga’s water’s edge has encouraged its community to move out of the city into more vibrant neighbouring suburbs and cities. This situation is contributing to the gradual demise of Tauranga City. This investigation considers the studies of Tauranga’s original settlement and evolution to its current condition, before turning to literature on place-making and resiliency for both people and environments. Appropriate and relevant cases from architectural practice, which address these urban issues, have been selected. Applying these studies, a speculative design has been developed which also sources other literature for guidance and idea generation. This has resulted in a process of pro-grammatically representing place identity for spatial use, along with iteratively testing the organization and prioritisation of people and infrastructure within a city centre in a coastal context. Exploring the potential for prioritizing people over infrastructure, has resulted in the realization that we must engage, involve and consult with people to mediate the displaced developments of community and the impact of growth of industrial activity.</p>

The Cambridge Handbook of Lifespan Development of Creativity

This handbook focuses on the development and nurturance of creativity across the lifespan, from early childhood to adolescence, adulthood, and later life. It answers the question: how can we help individuals turn their creative potential into achievement? Each chapter examines various contexts in which creativity exists, including school, workplace, community spaces, and family life. It covers various modalities for fostering creativity such as play, storytelling, explicit training procedures, shifting of attitudes about creative capacity, and many others. The authors review research findings across disciplines, encompassing the work of psychologists, educators, neuroscientists, and creators themselves, to describe the best practices for fostering creativity at each stage of development.

Information Seeking Needs of Mothers Who Bottle-Feed Their Young Infants: How the Information Seeking Process Affects Them and What Libraries Can Do to Help Them

<p>Aim: The aim of the study is to examine the information seeking experiences of mothers who bottle feed young infants. What are their information needs and how do they seek to fill them? What emotional impact does the information seeking process have on this group? What role can Libraries play in helping this group find information? Methodology: This research utilises Dervin's sense-making methodology. At the heart of sensemaking is the situation-gap-outcome triangle. Kuhlthau's uncertainty principle is also used to help analyse the results and understand the connection between emotion and information seeking. Other research is also used to understand the experiences of the interviewees and place them in a wider context. Results: Mothers who bottle-feed young infants often feel guilt and anger. They are often unprepared for bottle-feeding, especially if they planned to breast-feed, and access to information on bottle-feeding is limited. Health professionals are sometimes reluctant to provide information on bottle-feeding. Informal information sources, such as family, friends and other mothers, are very important. There is little awareness that Libraries are able to provide information on bottle-feeding even among mothers who are frequent Library users. Libraries can best support bottle-feeding mothers by becoming inclusive community spaces for mothers to meet and share information.</p>

KONSEP ECOLOGICAL CITY DALAM KERANGKA KONSEP EKOLOGI KOTA DAN KOTA BERKELANJUTAN

ABSTRACTCity growth that continues to occur is unavoidable and affects the environment, so an ecological approach is needed to overcome it. One of the city concepts that has developed along with the historical perspective of urban ecology is the ecological city (ecocity). In the development of ecocity in several countries that carry the theme of sustainability city, both practice and concept do not explain the "process" to achieve the city's environmental sustainability goals. The purpose of this paper is to examine the theoretical position of the ecological city concept within the framework of urban ecology and sustainable cities. The method used is a literature review based on the development of the concept of ecocity, urban ecology and sustainable city. Based on the results of the study, it shows that in the urban ecology approach, ecocity can be concluded as a concept that balances the city's metabolism (ecology of cities) through the independence of the structure and function of the ecosystem where humans play a role in determining the process of adaptation and urban development. In the concept of a sustainable city along with the development of eco-form which represents ecological considerations in urban and community spaces, it shows that urban form is one of the elements that can be intervened in achieving sustainable city goals. Ecocity as an eco-form is in the challenge of conflict between aspects of the social environment where the conflict that occurs has shifted from development conflict to green conflict in a sustainable prism. The results of the study show that in the process of managing an environmentally sound city environment (ecocity) it is necessary to consider the integration of humans as social aspects in interaction with ecosystems (social-ecology) in city metabolism as the basis for providing ecosystem services and urban green infrastructure. Keywords: ecological city, city ecology, sustainable city, city metabolism ABSTRAKPertumbuhan kota yang terus terjadi tidak dapat dihindari dan berpengaruh terhadap lingkungan, sehingga dibutuhkan pendekatan ekologi untuk mengatasinya. Salah satu konsep kota yang berkembang seiring dengan perspektif sejarah ekologi kota (urban ecology) adalah ecological city (ecocity). Pada perkembangan ecocity di beberapa negara yang mengusung tema kota keberlanjutan baik praktek maupun konsep tidak menjelaskan “proses” untuk mencapai tujuan keberlanjutan lingkungan kota tersebut. Tujuan makalah ini adalah mengkaji kedudukan secara teoritis konsep ecological city dalam kerangka ekologi kota (urban ecology) dan kota berkelanjutan (sustainability city). Metode yang digunakan adalah review literatur berdasarkan perkembangan konsep ecocity, urban ecology dan sustainable city. Berdasarkan hasil kajian menunjukkan dalam pendekatan urban ecology, ecocity dapat disimpulkan sebagai konsep yang menyeimbangkan metabolisme kota (ecology of cities) melalui kemandirian struktur dan fungsi ekosistem dimana manusia berperan di dalam menentukan proses adaptasi dan perkembangan kota. Dalam konsep kota berkelanjutan seiring dengan perkembangan eco-form yang merepresentasikan pertimbangan ekologi di dalam ruang kota dan komunitas menunjukkan bentuk kota (urban form) merupakan salah satu unsur yang dapat diintervensi di dalam mencapai tujuan kota yang berkelanjutan. Ecocity sebagai eco-form berada di dalam tantangan konflik antara aspek lingkungan sosial dimana konflik yang terjadi mengalami pergeseran dari development conflict ke arah green conflict di dalam prisma berkelanjutan. Hasil kajian menunjukkan di dalam proses pengelolaan lingkungan kota yang berwawasan lingkungan (ecocity) perlu mempertimbangkan integrasi manusia sebagai aspek sosial dalam interaksi dengan ekosistem (sosial-ekologi) di dalam metabolisme kota sebagai dasar di dalam penyediaan ecosystem services dan infrastruktur hijau perkotaan.Kata Kunci : ecological city, ekologi kota, kota berkelanjutan, metabolisme kota