title: Runoff, infiltration and soil erodibility studies in the Otutira catchment

authors: Selby, Michael J.

abstract: Yellow-brown pumice soils cover a large area of the central North Island of New Zealand. In the Waikato River basin these soils occupy over 7,000km². Since land development started in the mid-1930s approximately 4,000km² have been converted from the native vegetation to exotic forests (1,243km²) and pasture (2,740km²), and a further 500km² could be developed.

Since about 1959 gully erosion has become more common and widespread. The causes of this erosion were not known, although many hypotheses attempting to account for erosion have been put forward. The research reported in this thesis was undertaken in an attempt to isolate the most important causes of erosion.

Three experiments have been completed.
(1) A study of runoff from plots placed in areas of pasture grass, ungrazed grass and scrub vegetation has been made. Climatic, soil, vegetation, and slope variables were studied and as a result of statistical analysis it is concluded that surface water runoff is greater from developed land in pasture and less from areas covered by scrub and ungrazed grass vegetation. The major causes of runoff from pastures are very intense rainfall on a soil with low moisture content.

(2) Infiltration studies with an infiltrometer, designed and built for the purpose, reinforce the conclusions drawn from runoff studies. They also show that modifications of soil properties, especially compaction caused by animals and vehicles, decrease infiltration and hence promote runoff.

(3) Flume studies of the erodibility of pumice soils indicate that soil particles are easily entrained by running water, but that plant roots inhibit this process. Analysis of data from the three experiments indicates that land development should be carried out so that: (a) a close vegetation cover is kept on all soils; (b) channel development is avoided; (c) vulnerable areas such as valley floors and steep valley sides are kept as water absorption areas; (d) animals and vehicles are excluded from water absorption areas to prevent soil compaction; (e) plants with strong and dense root systems are used to protect surface soils.

text: Runoff, infiltration and soil erodibility studies in the Otutira catchment Yellow-brown pumice soils cover a large area of the central North Island of New Zealand. In the Waikato River basin these soils occupy over 7,000km². Since land development started in the mid-1930s approximately 4,000km² have been converted from the native vegetation to exotic forests (1,243km²) and pasture (2,740km²), and a further 500km² could be developed.

Since about 1959 gully erosion has become more common and widespread. The causes of this erosion were not known, although many hypotheses attempting to account for erosion have been put forward. The research reported in this thesis was undertaken in an attempt to isolate the most important causes of erosion.

Three experiments have been completed.
(1) A study of runoff from plots placed in areas of pasture grass, ungrazed grass and scrub vegetation has been made. Climatic, soil, vegetation, and slope variables were studied and as a result of statistical analysis it is concluded that surface water runoff is greater from developed land in pasture and less from areas covered by scrub and ungrazed grass vegetation. The major causes of runoff from pastures are very intense rainfall on a soil with low moisture content.

(2) Infiltration studies with an infiltrometer, designed and built for the purpose, reinforce the conclusions drawn from runoff studies. They also show that modifications of soil properties, especially compaction caused by animals and vehicles, decrease infiltration and hence promote runoff.

(3) Flume studies of the erodibility of pumice soils indicate that soil particles are easily entrained by running water, but that plant roots inhibit this process. Analysis of data from the three experiments indicates that land development should be carried out so that: (a) a close vegetation cover is kept on all soils; (b) channel development is avoided; (c) vulnerable areas such as valley floors and steep valley sides are kept as water absorption areas; (d) animals and vehicles are excluded from water absorption areas to prevent soil compaction; (e) plants with strong and dense root systems are used to protect surface soils.

year: 1971

title: Power, participation and everyday politics within state-led urban renewal in Hong Kong

authors: Sewell, Kate Emma

subjects: Urban renewal

abstract: This thesis identifies and examines the ways power, participation, and everyday politics shape urban renewal outcomes in Hong Kong. Hong Kong has a long history of state-led urban renewal, which continues to lead to displacement and change the form and function of neighbourhoods. Driven by profit, and a culture in which redevelopment represents progress, Hong Kong's urban development context is shaped by ongoing coloniality, increased integration with China, growing inequality, and a rapidly changing civil society with evolving and competing urban aspirations.

Scholarly narratives of Hong Kong and its urban development practices and outcomes are ordinarily set against Eurocentric global city narratives that emphasise its rapid transition from a colonial outpost in the nineteenth century to a global financial hub. These narratives fail to capture diverse everyday aspirations, perceptions, and experiences of urban renewal in Hong Kong, including those related to the interventions of the Urban Renewal Authority (URA). This thesis demonstrates how used in conjunction, analytical optics of postcolonial and postpolitical theory can enrich understanding of outcomes of state-led urban renewal in Hong Kong. This study draws on a range of qualitative methods, including interviews, participatory stakeholder mapping, focus groups, and historical and contemporary documents, to generate rich data supporting new insights into Hong Kong's urban development context, and advances critical urban theory.

Analysing urban renewal outcomes in Hong Kong through postcolonial urban and postpolitics optics highlights three critical insights. Firstly, urban renewal outcomes in Hong Kong are shaped by competing and entangled urban aspirations. The URA elite utilises the inter-referenced urbanisms of other Asian cities to articulate and legitimise their urban aspirations. Notably, other competing interest groups also inter-reference other Asian cities to challenge the form and function of the URA, and this challenges and reinforces its taken-for-granted authority. Secondly, the URA, which functions as a corporation, uses various strategies to displace politics surrounding its aspirational profit-driven urban renewal practices. Paradoxically, this includes incorporating democratic principles and authoritarian-style disciplining tactics that strengthen the state's authority and creates a fertile ground for resistance, repoliticisation, and the enactment of everyday politics. Lastly, paying attention to urban informality and contrary to postpolitical scholarship that places 'proper politics' at a distance from the state (Etherington & Jones, 2018; Swyngedouw, 2014b), everyday politics is enacted and reconfigures state-society relations from between the state and non-state groups, and as already emphasised by postpolitical scholars, at a distance from the state. Moreover, these everyday acts of politics include the mobility of neighbourhood politics across the city and everyday acts of survival.

Critical insights developed in this thesis highlight the relational and situated nature of tensions between normalised and entrenched inequality on the one hand and everyday acts of politics on the other. Significantly, broadening our understanding of how power, participation, and everyday politics shape urban renewal outcomes also broadens possibilities for imagining and acting out alternative, more equitable urban development trajectories in Hong Kong.

text: Power, participation and everyday politics within state-led urban renewal in Hong Kong This thesis identifies and examines the ways power, participation, and everyday politics shape urban renewal outcomes in Hong Kong. Hong Kong has a long history of state-led urban renewal, which continues to lead to displacement and change the form and function of neighbourhoods. Driven by profit, and a culture in which redevelopment represents progress, Hong Kong's urban development context is shaped by ongoing coloniality, increased integration with China, growing inequality, and a rapidly changing civil society with evolving and competing urban aspirations.

Scholarly narratives of Hong Kong and its urban development practices and outcomes are ordinarily set against Eurocentric global city narratives that emphasise its rapid transition from a colonial outpost in the nineteenth century to a global financial hub. These narratives fail to capture diverse everyday aspirations, perceptions, and experiences of urban renewal in Hong Kong, including those related to the interventions of the Urban Renewal Authority (URA). This thesis demonstrates how used in conjunction, analytical optics of postcolonial and postpolitical theory can enrich understanding of outcomes of state-led urban renewal in Hong Kong. This study draws on a range of qualitative methods, including interviews, participatory stakeholder mapping, focus groups, and historical and contemporary documents, to generate rich data supporting new insights into Hong Kong's urban development context, and advances critical urban theory.

Analysing urban renewal outcomes in Hong Kong through postcolonial urban and postpolitics optics highlights three critical insights. Firstly, urban renewal outcomes in Hong Kong are shaped by competing and entangled urban aspirations. The URA elite utilises the inter-referenced urbanisms of other Asian cities to articulate and legitimise their urban aspirations. Notably, other competing interest groups also inter-reference other Asian cities to challenge the form and function of the URA, and this challenges and reinforces its taken-for-granted authority. Secondly, the URA, which functions as a corporation, uses various strategies to displace politics surrounding its aspirational profit-driven urban renewal practices. Paradoxically, this includes incorporating democratic principles and authoritarian-style disciplining tactics that strengthen the state's authority and creates a fertile ground for resistance, repoliticisation, and the enactment of everyday politics. Lastly, paying attention to urban informality and contrary to postpolitical scholarship that places 'proper politics' at a distance from the state (Etherington & Jones, 2018; Swyngedouw, 2014b), everyday politics is enacted and reconfigures state-society relations from between the state and non-state groups, and as already emphasised by postpolitical scholars, at a distance from the state. Moreover, these everyday acts of politics include the mobility of neighbourhood politics across the city and everyday acts of survival.

Critical insights developed in this thesis highlight the relational and situated nature of tensions between normalised and entrenched inequality on the one hand and everyday acts of politics on the other. Significantly, broadening our understanding of how power, participation, and everyday politics shape urban renewal outcomes also broadens possibilities for imagining and acting out alternative, more equitable urban development trajectories in Hong Kong.

year: 2022

title: Transformative pedagogy and language learning in Maori and Irish contexts

authors: Glynn, Ted

subjects: transformative pedagogy

abstract: Establishing positive learning communities in classrooms where pedagogies are socially and culturally responsive and centred on shared life experiences is critical for the revitalisation of minoritised languages such as Irish and Māori, which lack the dominance and power of the wider languages of government and communication. Transformative pedagogy and pedagogical re-positioning of teachers are essential to legitimising and affirming minoritised languages in the classroom. Three small-scale New Zealand studies of emerging literacy in Māori are introduced, exemplifying a responsive and transformative pedagogy that enables teachers to position themselves as socially and culturally responsive participants within classroom contexts. These studies offer strategies that might facilitate the development of similar transformative pedagogy in Irish contexts also.

text: Transformative pedagogy and language learning in Maori and Irish contexts Establishing positive learning communities in classrooms where pedagogies are socially and culturally responsive and centred on shared life experiences is critical for the revitalisation of minoritised languages such as Irish and Māori, which lack the dominance and power of the wider languages of government and communication. Transformative pedagogy and pedagogical re-positioning of teachers are essential to legitimising and affirming minoritised languages in the classroom. Three small-scale New Zealand studies of emerging literacy in Māori are introduced, exemplifying a responsive and transformative pedagogy that enables teachers to position themselves as socially and culturally responsive participants within classroom contexts. These studies offer strategies that might facilitate the development of similar transformative pedagogy in Irish contexts also.

year: 2009