I want to share: Balancing collective and individual needs in New Zealand urban housing architecture

10.26686/wgtn.17072648 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

◽

Genevieve Walshe

Keyword(s):

New Zealand ◽

Home Ownership ◽

Sharing Economy ◽

Urban Housing ◽

Housing Affordability ◽

The Common ◽

Individual Needs ◽

The Rich ◽

Over Time ◽

New Zealanders

In 2016 I visited Sargfabrik cohousing in Vienna and was intrigued and captivated by the rich, diverse and friendly atmosphere within the semi-public spatial and architectural realm, which I thought would never happen in New Zealand. Sargfabrik led me to realise that the common realm of New Zealand urban housing architecture is impoverished. It can, and should, be better. In the 1950s and 1960s, the Kiwi dream was focused on the acquisition of a standalone dwelling; New Zealand prided itself on being an egalitarian, property owning-democracy, supported by innovative housing policies. Today the ‘Kiwi dream is changing as home ownership is no longer a rite of passage for all New Zealanders. Despite rising income inequality and decreasing housing affordability, the contemporary Kiwi dream remains focused on ownership, due to the stability and security associated with this tenure type. If New Zealand is to address the housing equality issue it should investigate the potential of international models of tenure and ownership, such as co-operatives or the Baugruppe (building group) and Baugemeinschaft (building community) models, to allow increased accessibility to stable home occupation and ownership for all New Zealanders through diversity and flexibility of tenure type over time. Today the contemporary Kiwi dream acknowledges the advantages and benefits of higher density housing models, such as increased security, lack of maintenance, centralised management, ability to ‘lock and leave’ allowing travel, and proximity to town centres. A New Zealand collective urban housing model can represent the contemporary Kiwi dream through a balance between collective and individual needs. Solutions to the New Zealand housing crisis must follow a movement towards flexibility, to accommodate demographic change over time and the DIY spirit of New Zealanders, add community connectedness, challenge loneliness and embrace the sharing economy. This design-led research proposes that the common spatial and architectural realm can facilitate potential formation of community in New Zealand urban housing architecture. It argues that the Sargfabrik cohousing model can be translated and adapted for a New Zealand urban context. The differences in housing context between Vienna and New Zealand, and the architectural implications of these differences for New Zealand urban housing architecture, are extracted from the research. It argues that a new collective urban housing model can achieve the design diversity and flexibility of New Zealand’s preferred suburban housing and the rich atmosphere of Sargfabrik’s common realm. This occurs through questioning and defining the contemporary Kiwi dream. The ways international flexible tenure and ownership models could work in a New Zealand context are also considered.

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Family Provision in New Zealand and Australia

Comparative Succession Law ◽

10.1093/oso/9780198850397.003.0015 ◽

2020 ◽

pp. 450-476

Author(s):

Nicola Peart ◽

Prue Vines

Keyword(s):

New Zealand ◽

Common Law ◽

Customary Law ◽

Indigenous Populations ◽

Sex Partners ◽

Same Sex ◽

Her Family ◽

Reproductive Techniques ◽

The Common ◽

Over Time

New Zealand and Australia are named in that order in the title because New Zealand was the first to develop the discretionary family provision jurisdiction, in 1900, that now applies in New Zealand, Australia, and much of the common law world. This allows courts to make awards to family members from the estate of the deceased. Originally benefitting only the surviving spouse and children, family provision has extended the rules of eligibility in line with changes in the meaning of ‘family’. So as well as spouses, claims can also, in many of the Australasian jurisdictions, be made by civil partners, cohabitants, and same-sex partners. Most jurisdictions have also broadened the class of eligible children to include grandchildren and stepchildren who were being maintained by the deceased as well as children born of new reproductive techniques. Both New Zealand and Australia have significant indigenous populations and their eligibility to claim family provision is modified to accord with their customary law. Over time, the courts have adopted a much broader view of a deceased’s ‘moral duty’ to his or her family, particularly in regard to claims by adult children. The size of awards has increased correspondingly. The chapter discusses this development, as well as the increasing relevance of Indigenous customary law and how the courts deal with disentitling conduct. In view of the greatly expanded scope of family provision in New Zealand and Australia, testamentary freedom may be only an illusion in these jurisdictions.

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Live Large in Small Spaces

10.26686/wgtn.17131853.v1 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

◽

Danae Bloxham

Keyword(s):

Design Research ◽

Home Ownership ◽

Positive Impact ◽

House Prices ◽

House Price ◽

Urban Housing ◽

Housing Affordability ◽

Low Density ◽

Design Strategies ◽

Great Opportunity

The ‘kiwi dream’ of home ownership has become less attainable because of increases in housing costs. Unaffordability is linked with the house price to income ratio, especially within urban environments where incomes have fallen to 50% below property prices. This not only affects access to affordable housing, but also access to quality housing. A home should be dry, warm and safe – these are the key fundamentals of quality housing and people of all ages should have access to a home in which these qualities are not compromised by their personal income. A home that is well insulated, heated, structurally sound and located close to transport nodes should be affordable for all New Zealanders. Home ownership in New Zealand plays a central role in our national identity. The design research will cater for the younger generation that are most affected by the housing crisis – first home buyers ranging between the ages of 25 and 30,wanting to get their foot on the property ladder and realise the ‘kiwi dream’ of home ownership. A key issue of New Zealand’s high house prices is the influence of land costs. An intensification strategy to reduce the amount of land per dwelling is one solution to combat house prices. Intensification of New Zealand’s cities should also be targeted at an increase in urban housing along railway corridors, transport hubs and in town centres, improving both housing affordability and transport costs – two main factors of household expenditure. When these two strategies are combined with careful design and space efficient techniques, solutions can be created within a small footprint, without compromising comfort and functionality. This thesis proposition is tested in Khandallah, one of Wellington’s wealthiest suburbs, with high access to public amenities, transport and services. The suburb already has the infrastructure needed to accommodate intensification. It’s comparatively low density housing holds great opportunity for medium density and infill development. The suburb has a large range of community facilities, schools and open spaces and dwellings are typically of low density with large sites – developed through meandering roads and col-de-sacs of single houses on single sections. With Wellingtons housing needs changing, a greater need for diverse housing throughout all of Wellington’s suburbs is necessary to cater for the growing population. Khandallah has the infrastructure to support intensification and young families should have the option of buying into a suburb of their choice. The aim of this research is to develop a model for affordable, high quality suburban housing that is responsive to New Zealand’s housing preferences, providing a solution for greater access to desirable housing that occurs through interrelated well designed small homes. This thesis argues that doubling suburban density while retaining site coverage will make housing more affordable. This is tested through planning and spatial design strategies of a range of small homes less than 80m2. These homes will be developed through examining the design of internal spaces; the limits of the small home and relationship with external spaces and the limits of the suburb. The relationship between homes will allow a development of private and common utilities, optimising open space and shared amenities within an intensification strategy for the suburb. The design research produces an argument for clusters of small homes as future housing that will have a positive impact on New Zealand’s housing affordability as ‘starter homes’ and ‘downsize homes’.

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On the Neurobiology of Meditation: Comparison of Three Organizing Strategies to Investigate Brain Patterns during Meditation Practice

Medicina ◽

10.3390/medicina56120712 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 56 (12) ◽

pp. 712

Author(s):

Frederick Travis

Keyword(s):

Meditation Practice ◽

Brain Wave ◽

Neural Imaging ◽

The Third ◽

Wide Range ◽

Letting Go ◽

Objective System ◽

The Common ◽

The Rich ◽

Over Time

Three broad organizing strategies have been used to study meditation practices: (1) consider meditation practices as using similar processes and so combine neural images across a wide range of practices to identify the common underlying brain patterns of meditation practice, (2) consider meditation practices as unique and so investigate individual practices, or (3) consider meditation practices as fitting into larger categories and explore brain patterns within and between categories. The first organizing strategy combines meditation practices defined as deep concentration, attention to external and internal stimuli, and letting go of thoughts. Brain patterns of different procedures would all contribute to the final averages, which may not be representative of any practice. The second organizing strategy generates a multitude of brain patterns as each practice is studied individually. The rich detail of individual differences within each practice makes it difficult to identify reliable patterns between practices. The third organizing principle has been applied in three ways: (1) grouping meditations by their origin—Indian or Buddhist practices, (2) grouping meditations by the procedures of each practice, or (3) grouping meditations by brain wave frequencies reported during each practice. Grouping meditations by their origin mixes practices whose procedures include concentration, mindfulness, or effortless awareness, again resulting in a confounded pattern. Grouping meditations by their described procedures yields defining neural imaging patterns within each category, and clear differences between categories. Grouping meditations by the EEG frequencies associated with their procedures yields an objective system to group meditations and allows practices to “move” into different categories as subjects’ meditation experiences change over time, which would be associated with different brain patterns. Exploring meditations within theoretically meaningful categories appears to yield the most reliable picture of meditation practices.

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Security of Tenure for Generation Rent: Irish and Scottish Approaches

Victoria University of Wellington Law Review ◽

10.26686/vuwlr.v47i3.4796 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 47 (3) ◽

pp. 363 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

Mark Bennett

Keyword(s):

New Zealand ◽

Home Ownership ◽

New Zealanders

As fewer people are able to make the transition into home ownership, more New Zealand households do not have adequate security of tenure due to the lack of durational protections in the Residential Tenancies Act 1986. This article shows that Ireland and Scotland are comparable jurisdictions that have moved to regimes providing durational protections to residential tenants, allowing them to choose to remain in their home for a specified number of years or indefinitely, subject to a limited set of grounds for which the landlord may terminate the tenancy. We should consider these examples and take steps to provide greater durational protections, so that more New Zealanders may have homes that provide them with stable foundations on which they may build their lives.

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Telling the Truth about People's China

10.26686/wgtn.16970761.v1 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

◽

Alistair Shaw

Keyword(s):

New Zealand ◽

Association Study ◽

Sense Of Self ◽

Truth Telling ◽

Republic Of China ◽

The People ◽

Wide Range ◽

History Of ◽

Over Time ◽

New Zealanders

This work is a discussion of the history of the construction and propagation over time (1949- 2002), by New Zealanders, of positive images of the People's Republic of China (PRC). This was done primarily through the New Zealand China Friendship Society. The thesis also looks at China-aligned communist parties, students who went on New Zealand University Students' Association study tours in the 1970s, and key interlocutors such as Rewi Alley. These other groups had cross-membership with the NZCFS but differing engagements with China. The images propagated by the New Zealanders altered over time in response to changes in the PRC, developments in New Zealand, and shifting characteristics amongst the people who were engaged in the practice of producing images of the PRC. The thesis looks at how these observers of the PRC, and the organisations which they are combined, are themselves created, and see themselves, in relation to their process of viewing the PRC. This idea of a shifting sense of China and the changing sense of self is explored using a range of ideas. These include ideology, subjectivity, concepts of truth and practices of truth-telling. The thesis is an attempt to provide a sympathetic reading of a wide range of material and trying to understand what the PRC has meant at different times, in different circumstances and to different people. Accounts of the PRC are examined contextually. This involves the re-reading of a range of texts that have 'written' the PRC for those New Zealanders who, in different circumstances, have themselves been sympathetic to projections of successes taking place in the PRC.

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The performance of the New Zealand economy: Savings and housing

10.26686/wgtn.17139713 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

◽

David Law

Keyword(s):

New Zealand ◽

Home Ownership ◽

Sample Selection ◽

House Price ◽

Target Population ◽

Housing Affordability ◽

Retirement Income ◽

Cross Sectional ◽

Net Worth ◽

Regression Techniques

Recent policy changes and looming pressures in New Zealand have the potential to significantly impact the living standards of those who will enter retirement in the coming decades. In particular, a voluntary subsidised savings scheme known as KiwiSaver was introduced in 2007. Population ageing will increase the costs associated with New Zealand Superannuation (NZS), a universal government-funded pension paid for out of general taxation. In addition, rapid house price growth has made home ownership difficult for many, yet home ownership is likely to improve the living standards of retirees. These developments raise a number of important policy questions, which this thesis addresses. A variety of empirical approaches are employed, ranging from descriptive analysis to the application of regression techniques, including those designed to address specific econometric problems such as sample selection bias and unobserved heterogeneity. Data is primarily sourced from longitudinal and cross-sectional surveys. However, when required this is supplemented with house price, life expectancy and administrative data. Chapters 2 and 3 of the thesis provide an evaluation of the performance of KiwiSaver, a subsidised voluntary savings scheme aimed at increasing the retirement wealth of a target population. The first of these chapters uses data from a cross-sectional survey conducted in 2010 and designed specifically for the purpose of evaluating KiwiSaver. Four key dimensions of performance are assessed using a variety of empirical techniques. Results suggest that only one-third of contributions to KiwiSaver represent additional savings. Regression analysis, designed to account for sample selection bias due to survey routing, finds no relationship between KiwiSaver membership and expected retirement income outcomes. Measures of target effectiveness and leakage suggest that KiwiSaver has been only modestly successful in reaching its target population and that leakage to the non-target population was high, at 93%. Finally, the scheme’s possible effect on national saving was examined, accounting for its costs, membership projections, government behaviour and additional savings by members. KiwiSaver’s effect on net national saving appears limited at best. Chapter 3 analysis the extent to which membership of KiwiSaver has been associated with greater accumulations of net worth. The chapter uses two linked sources of data, Statistics New Zealand’s longitudinal Survey of Family, Income and Employment (SoFIE) and administrative data from the Inland Revenue Department on KiwiSaver membership. These data cover the period 2002 to 2010. Two approaches are employed to measure KiwiSaver’s impact, difference-in-differences (where the outcomes of interest are changes in net worth) and various panel regression techniques. Results appear consistent with those of Chapter 2. That is, neither approach suggests KiwiSaver membership has been associated with any positive effect on the accumulation of net worth. Chapter 4 examines the implications for national savings of three retirement income policy options designed to improve the fiscal sustainability of NZS. These options include lifting the age of eligibility for NZS by two years, lowering the rate of indexation of NZS payments and making private saving compulsory then using those accumulations to reduce NZS entitlements. A model is developed that employs population and longevity projections allowing estimation of the contributions that many overlapping age cohorts might make to national savings in response to policy change. Government contributions to national savings, resulting primarily from reduced NZS payments, are also considered. Results suggest that even seemingly modest changes to retirement income policies could lead to substantial cumulative changes in national savings by 2061. However, lifting the age of eligibility for NZS appears able to generate superior improvements in the government’s fiscal position compared to the other two policy options over the medium term. Chapter 5 examines patterns of home ownership and housing affordability across groups and over time, as well as various factors associated with the likelihood of each. The analysis draws on two surveys, the Household Economic Survey (HES) and SoFIE, and covers a period when the median house price in New Zealand increased by over 50%. A model which may be suggestive of whether or not an individual or couple is likely to find home-ownership affordable is applied. This model incorporates information relating to four important influences on affordability, in particular, income, net worth, house prices, and the structure of mortgage contracts (including the interest rate and mortgage term). While housing affordability was high for some groups during at least part of the period of analysis, for other groups affordability was persistently low, such as for singles and those on relatively low incomes. However, for nearly all groups examined housing affordability declined substantially over the period. The final analytical chapter of the thesis extends the analysis of Chapter 5 to examine the potential benefits to housing affordability of the introduction of price level adjusted mortgages (PLAMs). These require lower repayments during the early years of a mortgage and higher repayments during latter years as compared to conventional mortgages. The analysis uses SoFIE and the model of housing affordability from Chapter 5, but with one important difference, a price level adjusted mortgage is assumed under various rates of inflation. Results are then compared to those derived from the housing affordability model under the assumption of a conventional mortgage. Findings suggest that PLAMs could indeed significantly improve housing affordability for prospective homeowners if they were available.

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Telling the Truth about People's China

10.26686/wgtn.16970761 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

◽

Alistair Shaw

Keyword(s):

New Zealand ◽

Association Study ◽

Sense Of Self ◽

Truth Telling ◽

Republic Of China ◽

The People ◽

Wide Range ◽

History Of ◽

Over Time ◽

New Zealanders

This work is a discussion of the history of the construction and propagation over time (1949- 2002), by New Zealanders, of positive images of the People's Republic of China (PRC). This was done primarily through the New Zealand China Friendship Society. The thesis also looks at China-aligned communist parties, students who went on New Zealand University Students' Association study tours in the 1970s, and key interlocutors such as Rewi Alley. These other groups had cross-membership with the NZCFS but differing engagements with China. The images propagated by the New Zealanders altered over time in response to changes in the PRC, developments in New Zealand, and shifting characteristics amongst the people who were engaged in the practice of producing images of the PRC. The thesis looks at how these observers of the PRC, and the organisations which they are combined, are themselves created, and see themselves, in relation to their process of viewing the PRC. This idea of a shifting sense of China and the changing sense of self is explored using a range of ideas. These include ideology, subjectivity, concepts of truth and practices of truth-telling. The thesis is an attempt to provide a sympathetic reading of a wide range of material and trying to understand what the PRC has meant at different times, in different circumstances and to different people. Accounts of the PRC are examined contextually. This involves the re-reading of a range of texts that have 'written' the PRC for those New Zealanders who, in different circumstances, have themselves been sympathetic to projections of successes taking place in the PRC.

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Re-socialising Aotearoa New Zealand Housing

Counterfutures ◽

10.26686/cf.v9.6774 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 9 ◽

pp. 47-75

Author(s):

Mark Southcombe

Keyword(s):

New Zealand ◽

Affordable Housing ◽

Production Systems ◽

Home Ownership ◽

Urban Housing ◽

Social Contexts ◽

Sustainable Housing ◽

Common Space ◽

Cooperative Housing ◽

Aotearoa New Zealand

Urban housing in Aotearoa New Zealand is predominantly unit-titled, individualised dwellings whether the housing is owner-occupied or a rental investment. As housing increases in density, the provision and management of common space becomes necessary. In Aotearoa New Zealand, when this occurs, the extent of privately owned housing space is typically privileged, and shared common space minimised. In contrast, cooperative housing integrates housing, economic factors, and social contexts to create long-term socially and economically sustainable housing. Since the 19th century, cooperative housing has provided evidence of internationally awarded and recognised, self-help, community-generated housing that includes shared components. Cooperative housing offers a third way of achieving affordable housing security, one that lies between home ownership and renting. Legislatively mandated and protected cooperative housing is needed in Aotearoa New Zealand to augment our existing housing production systems and types, and to help address the need for enduring, affordable, and socially sustainable housing.

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The performance of the New Zealand economy: Savings and housing

10.26686/wgtn.17139713.v1 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

◽

David Law

Keyword(s):

New Zealand ◽

Home Ownership ◽

Sample Selection ◽

House Price ◽

Target Population ◽

Housing Affordability ◽

Retirement Income ◽

Cross Sectional ◽

Net Worth ◽

Regression Techniques

Recent policy changes and looming pressures in New Zealand have the potential to significantly impact the living standards of those who will enter retirement in the coming decades. In particular, a voluntary subsidised savings scheme known as KiwiSaver was introduced in 2007. Population ageing will increase the costs associated with New Zealand Superannuation (NZS), a universal government-funded pension paid for out of general taxation. In addition, rapid house price growth has made home ownership difficult for many, yet home ownership is likely to improve the living standards of retirees. These developments raise a number of important policy questions, which this thesis addresses. A variety of empirical approaches are employed, ranging from descriptive analysis to the application of regression techniques, including those designed to address specific econometric problems such as sample selection bias and unobserved heterogeneity. Data is primarily sourced from longitudinal and cross-sectional surveys. However, when required this is supplemented with house price, life expectancy and administrative data. Chapters 2 and 3 of the thesis provide an evaluation of the performance of KiwiSaver, a subsidised voluntary savings scheme aimed at increasing the retirement wealth of a target population. The first of these chapters uses data from a cross-sectional survey conducted in 2010 and designed specifically for the purpose of evaluating KiwiSaver. Four key dimensions of performance are assessed using a variety of empirical techniques. Results suggest that only one-third of contributions to KiwiSaver represent additional savings. Regression analysis, designed to account for sample selection bias due to survey routing, finds no relationship between KiwiSaver membership and expected retirement income outcomes. Measures of target effectiveness and leakage suggest that KiwiSaver has been only modestly successful in reaching its target population and that leakage to the non-target population was high, at 93%. Finally, the scheme’s possible effect on national saving was examined, accounting for its costs, membership projections, government behaviour and additional savings by members. KiwiSaver’s effect on net national saving appears limited at best. Chapter 3 analysis the extent to which membership of KiwiSaver has been associated with greater accumulations of net worth. The chapter uses two linked sources of data, Statistics New Zealand’s longitudinal Survey of Family, Income and Employment (SoFIE) and administrative data from the Inland Revenue Department on KiwiSaver membership. These data cover the period 2002 to 2010. Two approaches are employed to measure KiwiSaver’s impact, difference-in-differences (where the outcomes of interest are changes in net worth) and various panel regression techniques. Results appear consistent with those of Chapter 2. That is, neither approach suggests KiwiSaver membership has been associated with any positive effect on the accumulation of net worth. Chapter 4 examines the implications for national savings of three retirement income policy options designed to improve the fiscal sustainability of NZS. These options include lifting the age of eligibility for NZS by two years, lowering the rate of indexation of NZS payments and making private saving compulsory then using those accumulations to reduce NZS entitlements. A model is developed that employs population and longevity projections allowing estimation of the contributions that many overlapping age cohorts might make to national savings in response to policy change. Government contributions to national savings, resulting primarily from reduced NZS payments, are also considered. Results suggest that even seemingly modest changes to retirement income policies could lead to substantial cumulative changes in national savings by 2061. However, lifting the age of eligibility for NZS appears able to generate superior improvements in the government’s fiscal position compared to the other two policy options over the medium term. Chapter 5 examines patterns of home ownership and housing affordability across groups and over time, as well as various factors associated with the likelihood of each. The analysis draws on two surveys, the Household Economic Survey (HES) and SoFIE, and covers a period when the median house price in New Zealand increased by over 50%. A model which may be suggestive of whether or not an individual or couple is likely to find home-ownership affordable is applied. This model incorporates information relating to four important influences on affordability, in particular, income, net worth, house prices, and the structure of mortgage contracts (including the interest rate and mortgage term). While housing affordability was high for some groups during at least part of the period of analysis, for other groups affordability was persistently low, such as for singles and those on relatively low incomes. However, for nearly all groups examined housing affordability declined substantially over the period. The final analytical chapter of the thesis extends the analysis of Chapter 5 to examine the potential benefits to housing affordability of the introduction of price level adjusted mortgages (PLAMs). These require lower repayments during the early years of a mortgage and higher repayments during latter years as compared to conventional mortgages. The analysis uses SoFIE and the model of housing affordability from Chapter 5, but with one important difference, a price level adjusted mortgage is assumed under various rates of inflation. Results are then compared to those derived from the housing affordability model under the assumption of a conventional mortgage. Findings suggest that PLAMs could indeed significantly improve housing affordability for prospective homeowners if they were available.

Download Full-text