Rotimi, J O B and Wilkinson, S (2014) Improving environmental management legislation to facilitate post-disaster reconstruction. International Journal of Disaster Resilience in the Built Environment, 5(1), pp. 23-37. ISSN 1759-5916
Abstract
Purpose: The study aims to explore improvements to environmental management legislation that will enable the implementation of post-disaster reconstruction activities after the built environment has been affected by a natural disaster. Design/methodology/approach: The study programme collates opinions from building and development control officers and other disaster practitioners based in New Zealand. The objective was to determine the practical implication of implementing reconstruction arrangements under the Resource Management Act (RMA). The survey was administered online, and a data set of 80 responses was used for the analyses. Findings: The survey results show that the current reconstruction framework in New Zealand may cause procedural constraints and become burdensome to property owners who desire early recovery from a disaster event. Therefore, improvements are suggested to certain aspects of the RMA reconstruction provisions, so that it facilitates early recovery from natural disasters. Originality/value: The paper is one aspect of a doctoral study that reviewed the implications of implementing reconstruction under existing legislative framework. It highlights the need for improvements to environmental management legislation to enable effective reconstruction after natural disasters in New Zealand. These have wider implications to other countries to revise their legislation before any disaster, thus reducing the problems that may be experienced while implementing environmental and developmental legislation.
| Item Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | New Zealand; post-disaster reconstruction; resource management act |
| Index terms: | New Zealand, reconstruction, recovery, environmental management, resource management, implementation, post-disaster reconstruction, built environment, programme, survey, legislation, natural disaster, practitioner, methodology, property owner |
| Subjects: | control systems, practitioner, data collection methods, legal systems, contractual arrangements, operations management, Geography, sustainability assessment, research methods, post-disaster and reconstruction, infrastructure and transport systems, environmental hazards, project controls, building construction, sociology |
| Topics: | Stakeholder Management, Roles and Professions, Procurement, Sustainability, Geographical Context, Project Management, Research Practice, Engineering Principles, Time Control, Legal Issues, Urban Studies |
| Descriptive scope: | 4 PCTE |
N.B. Descriptive scope is a count of how many of the five facets of empirical research are indicated by the words used in title, abstract and keywords. It is not intended as a judgement on the research; merely a count of the kind of word we would expect to indicate Phenomenon, Concepts, Theoretical framing, Empirical techniques, Analytical techniques. If all five are present, then a code of “5 PCTEA” will indicate this. If you feel the coding for this record is questionable, we welcome discussion around the terms we matched or the way we categorized them. The facet you would expect may not be coded, or a facet may be coded inappropriately. This can also bear on a larger question, of which facets should be treated as defining in construction management research. Please get in touch, and we will look at it. More details here