Francis, T R; Wilkinson, S; Mannakkara, S and Chang-Richards, A (2018) Post-disaster reconstruction in Christchurch: A "build back better" perspective. International Journal of Disaster Resilience in the Built Environment, 9(3), pp. 239-248. ISSN 1759-5916
Abstract
Purpose: The 2010/2011 Canterbury earthquakes were one of the most devastating events in New Zealand’s history. Due to the large scale of disruption and losses, the central government created a separate body, the Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Authority (CERA), to manage and oversee recovery activities. Working with local authorities and stakeholders, CERA plays a major role in driving the recovery in Christchurch. This paper aims to analyse CERA’s decision-making process and the effects of some of its critical decisions on the recovery outcomes. The paper takes a “build back better” (BBB) perspective to understand the decisions taken and processes used. Design/methodology/approach: The case study adopted a mixed-methods research design (Creswell, 2013) and was conducted by reviewing official CERA documents and publications related to its recovery assessments and by conducting interviews with key officials from CERA. Collecting data from both qualitative and quantitative data sources enabled the process of triangulation. Findings: Lessons learned from the Canterbury experience in terms of recovery best practices are reported. CERA’s recovery policy aimed to give confidence to the community and renew and revitalise the damaged city. Compared with the BBB theory, the community-driven recovery strategy and the multi-stakeholder approach worked well. Other critical decisions aligned with the BBB theory include land zoning, empowering community and integration with existing developmental plans. Originality/value: BBB can be used as a tool for the implementation of recovery and restoration measures following a large disaster. However, a set of practical indicators to measure the level of BBB is needed.
| Item Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | best practice; build back better; post-disaster reconstruction; rebuild; reconstruction; recovery; resilience |
| Index terms: | local authority, strategy, Christchurch, interview, publication, triangulation, lessons learned, history, restoration, documents, zoning, methodology, integration, decision-making process, research design, case study, New Zealand, reconstruction, recovery, implementation, land, post-disaster reconstruction, best practice, earthquake |
| Subjects: | management, renovation and retrofit, post-disaster and reconstruction, research methods, Geography, professional development, organizational analysis, sociology, decision analysis, building construction, environmental hazards, research dissemination and communication, data collection methods, research design and methodology, business, urban planning, real estate economics, operations management, contractual arrangements, architectural and construction history |
| Topics: | Business Strategy, Geographical Context, Project Management, Research Practice, Information Management, Engineering Principles, Stakeholder Management, Risk Management, Procurement, Governance, Sustainability, Urban Studies, Organizational Design |
| Descriptive scope: | 5 PCTEA |
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