title: Ashes and allophane: Linking soil science at Meiji and Waikato Universities

authors: Lowe, David J.

abstract: In September, the Department of Earth Sciences of the University of Waikato was pleased to host a soil science group from Meiji University (Ikuta Campus), Kawasaki City, Tokyo. Lead by Professor Hiroshi Takesako, the group comprised three staff and six students (three graduates, three undergraduates). Associate Professor David Lowe, who had visited Professor Takesako's Soil Science Laboratory in the Faculty of Agriculture at Meiji University during his JSPS Fellowship trip last year, was able to repay some of the hospitality and field experience bestowed upon him by various Japanese soil science colleagues by co-leading the group on a six-day central North Island field trip from 8-13 September, 2001, as described below.

text: Ashes and allophane: Linking soil science at Meiji and Waikato Universities In September, the Department of Earth Sciences of the University of Waikato was pleased to host a soil science group from Meiji University (Ikuta Campus), Kawasaki City, Tokyo. Lead by Professor Hiroshi Takesako, the group comprised three staff and six students (three graduates, three undergraduates). Associate Professor David Lowe, who had visited Professor Takesako's Soil Science Laboratory in the Faculty of Agriculture at Meiji University during his JSPS Fellowship trip last year, was able to repay some of the hospitality and field experience bestowed upon him by various Japanese soil science colleagues by co-leading the group on a six-day central North Island field trip from 8-13 September, 2001, as described below.

year: 2001

title: When bike lanes are not enough: An exploration of the level of traffic stress framework in Aotearoa New Zealand

authors: Smith, Melissa Louise

abstract: The Level of Traffic Stress (LTS) Framework is a recently developed bicycle infrastructure classification scheme that is growing in popularity in the field of transportation planning due to its relatively simple data requirements, its intuitive description of cycling networks, and its potential to increase the uptake of cycling through application in policy and planning. However, there are a dearth of studies that aim to empirically validate the LTS Framework and its use. This thesis aims to empirically validate the LTS Framework in the context of Aotearoa New Zealand, asking: To what extent does the provision of low stress cycling infrastructure relate to cycling uptake in major cities in Aotearoa New Zealand? The Level of Traffic Stress framework is applied to seven cities across Aotearoa New Zealand that vary in population, topography, and commitment to cycling as an everyday traffic mode which results in roads being designated as either low stress or high stress. Measures of the networks formed when only considering low stress roads are tested against levels of cycling commuting across different neighbourhoods. It is found that for six of the seven studied cities, the majority of the roads are low stress, and in all seven cities, the low stress roads are poorly connected. However, there is a link between greater provision of low stress cycling infrastructure and the number of people cycling to work. The percentage of low stress infrastructure at both the city and the neighbourhood level is the only significant variable for increasing bicycle commuting levels. Further, this variable is expressed stronger at the city level than the neighbourhood level, indicating that new low stress infrastructure is likely to increase cycling uptake regardless of where it is located. Policy makers and planners can have confidence that the provision of low stress infrastructure is correlated to increased cycling uptake in Aotearoa New Zealand and beyond.

text: When bike lanes are not enough: An exploration of the level of traffic stress framework in Aotearoa New Zealand The Level of Traffic Stress (LTS) Framework is a recently developed bicycle infrastructure classification scheme that is growing in popularity in the field of transportation planning due to its relatively simple data requirements, its intuitive description of cycling networks, and its potential to increase the uptake of cycling through application in policy and planning. However, there are a dearth of studies that aim to empirically validate the LTS Framework and its use. This thesis aims to empirically validate the LTS Framework in the context of Aotearoa New Zealand, asking: To what extent does the provision of low stress cycling infrastructure relate to cycling uptake in major cities in Aotearoa New Zealand? The Level of Traffic Stress framework is applied to seven cities across Aotearoa New Zealand that vary in population, topography, and commitment to cycling as an everyday traffic mode which results in roads being designated as either low stress or high stress. Measures of the networks formed when only considering low stress roads are tested against levels of cycling commuting across different neighbourhoods. It is found that for six of the seven studied cities, the majority of the roads are low stress, and in all seven cities, the low stress roads are poorly connected. However, there is a link between greater provision of low stress cycling infrastructure and the number of people cycling to work. The percentage of low stress infrastructure at both the city and the neighbourhood level is the only significant variable for increasing bicycle commuting levels. Further, this variable is expressed stronger at the city level than the neighbourhood level, indicating that new low stress infrastructure is likely to increase cycling uptake regardless of where it is located. Policy makers and planners can have confidence that the provision of low stress infrastructure is correlated to increased cycling uptake in Aotearoa New Zealand and beyond.

year: 2024-02-14

title: Virtual hākari:  Sharing Māori culinary traditions in online communities

authors: Muru-Lanning, Charlotte

subjects: Kai Māori

abstract: For Māori, kai is a vital expression of identity, community, place and whakapapa. Traditionally, knowledge about kai is transmitted through customary community groupings and culturally embedded practices. However, with the rise of digital platforms, new spaces have emerged for Māori to gather and to share kai in virtual forms. 
This thesis observes how two Facebook groups – Kai Maori and KAI Basket NZ – operate as contemporary spaces for the transmission of Māori culinary knowledge and cultural identity. Kai Māori is considered alongside global studies of culinary traditions and understood through the notion of kai as whakapapa. The thesis addresses two core research questions: 1) How do Facebook groups contribute to an evolving concept of kai Māori? and 2) What kinds of relationships define these online kai communities? 
Guided by Māori data sovereignty (MDSov) principles, I observed interactions on both Facebook pages in two phases – one involving selective data collection over a twelve-month period from January to December 2024 the other involving systematic data collection over a four-week period from 10 December 2024 to 10 January 2025. The observation periods yielded 115 and 1293 posts respectively. A covert digital approach of ‘lurking’ was adopted as seeking prior consent may have affected the quality of the data and disrupted group dynamics. Lurking, as a method, sits uneasily alongside MDSov principles, particularly the principle of manaakitanga, requiring free, prior and informed consent. To address this I safeguarded the confidentiality of community members by seeking consent before reproducing content, removing group members’ names and excluding sensitive information. To analyse posts I used Ethnographic Content Analysis which allowed me to conduct a reflexive, iterative analysis of the posts in a way that was sensitive to the context in which the content was created.
These digital observations show that these groups serve as platforms for the transmission and innovation of kai Māori, encompassing edible components as well as the values enmeshed within these culinary traditions. Despite the mediated nature of these exchanges – where food is virtually consumed rather than physically shared, separate from traditional notions of community – these groups nurture meaningful connections among members, including those physically distant from their whenua. Through recipes, photos, stories, and commentary, the members of Kai Maori and KAI Basket NZ cultivate community identity and belonging via common cultural understandings, sharing of knowledge, a general spirit of sociality – and, importantly, a mutual love of kai.
I conceptualise these online spaces as virtual hākari, where the act of sharing virtual kai becomes an affirmation of identity and a form of cultural resistance. While online sharing may risk distancing kai practices and knowledge from traditional sites of transmission, the data suggests that these platforms may serve as conduits that encourage deeper cultural engagement offline. This thesis highlights the centrality of food in Māori cultural survival, sovereignty and resistance. In these digital spaces, kai Māori is not only celebrated but continually reimagined – reinforcing that to prepare, share and celebrate kai as Māori is to actively participate in the continuity of cultural identity.

text: Virtual hākari:  Sharing Māori culinary traditions in online communities For Māori, kai is a vital expression of identity, community, place and whakapapa. Traditionally, knowledge about kai is transmitted through customary community groupings and culturally embedded practices. However, with the rise of digital platforms, new spaces have emerged for Māori to gather and to share kai in virtual forms. 
This thesis observes how two Facebook groups – Kai Maori and KAI Basket NZ – operate as contemporary spaces for the transmission of Māori culinary knowledge and cultural identity. Kai Māori is considered alongside global studies of culinary traditions and understood through the notion of kai as whakapapa. The thesis addresses two core research questions: 1) How do Facebook groups contribute to an evolving concept of kai Māori? and 2) What kinds of relationships define these online kai communities? 
Guided by Māori data sovereignty (MDSov) principles, I observed interactions on both Facebook pages in two phases – one involving selective data collection over a twelve-month period from January to December 2024 the other involving systematic data collection over a four-week period from 10 December 2024 to 10 January 2025. The observation periods yielded 115 and 1293 posts respectively. A covert digital approach of ‘lurking’ was adopted as seeking prior consent may have affected the quality of the data and disrupted group dynamics. Lurking, as a method, sits uneasily alongside MDSov principles, particularly the principle of manaakitanga, requiring free, prior and informed consent. To address this I safeguarded the confidentiality of community members by seeking consent before reproducing content, removing group members’ names and excluding sensitive information. To analyse posts I used Ethnographic Content Analysis which allowed me to conduct a reflexive, iterative analysis of the posts in a way that was sensitive to the context in which the content was created.
These digital observations show that these groups serve as platforms for the transmission and innovation of kai Māori, encompassing edible components as well as the values enmeshed within these culinary traditions. Despite the mediated nature of these exchanges – where food is virtually consumed rather than physically shared, separate from traditional notions of community – these groups nurture meaningful connections among members, including those physically distant from their whenua. Through recipes, photos, stories, and commentary, the members of Kai Maori and KAI Basket NZ cultivate community identity and belonging via common cultural understandings, sharing of knowledge, a general spirit of sociality – and, importantly, a mutual love of kai.
I conceptualise these online spaces as virtual hākari, where the act of sharing virtual kai becomes an affirmation of identity and a form of cultural resistance. While online sharing may risk distancing kai practices and knowledge from traditional sites of transmission, the data suggests that these platforms may serve as conduits that encourage deeper cultural engagement offline. This thesis highlights the centrality of food in Māori cultural survival, sovereignty and resistance. In these digital spaces, kai Māori is not only celebrated but continually reimagined – reinforcing that to prepare, share and celebrate kai as Māori is to actively participate in the continuity of cultural identity.

year: 2025