title: Assessing the viability of foldable-expandable container homes for post-disaster housing in New Zealand

authors: Babu, Gayathry

subjects: container homes

abstract: Natural disasters frequently demolish New Zealand, with its diverse landscapes. It is particularly susceptible to various natural disasters due to its unique geological position on the edge of the Pacific Ring of Fire (McKinnon, Scott, and Margaret Cook, 2020). This makes it prone to earthquakes, volcanic activity, tsunamis, and extreme weather events. A notable example of such a disaster is Cyclone Gabrielle, which struck the Hawke's Bay region in New Zealand. It creates wide damage in housing properties, leaving damaged bridges and culverts, buried roads, significant dropouts, and isolated communities in its wake. One of the major difficulties for government authorities and policymakers is to build houses for the victims of such natural disasters within as short a period as possible. The rapid provision of safe, durable, and affordable shelters is essential to restore a sense of normalcy for affected populations. Traditional reconstruction methods are often slow, expensive, and complex, particularly in regions with limited resources or logistical challenges. This has led to the exploration of alternative housing solutions, such as the use of modified shipping containers.

In New Zealand, as it is a reality, expeditious and resilient housing options are crucial for recovery after a natural disaster. Therefore, strategic solutions should be introduced to assist the responsible entities and agencies in providing shelters to the disaster victims within a short duration.

Container homes offer a unique combination of structural integrity, portability, and affordability, making them an attractive option for post-disaster housing. Their inherent durability allows them to withstand harsh environmental conditions, and their modular nature facilitates quick assembly and scalability. Additionally, container homes can be prefabricated and easily transported to disaster sites, reducing the time required for construction and enabling immediate relief efforts. This thesis explores the feasibility of using double-wing expandable foldable container homes as an innovative post-disaster housing solution in New Zealand, focusing on the aftermath of Cyclone Gabrielle in Hawke's Bay.

Findings indicate that container homes offer significant advantages, including reduced construction timelines, cost savings, and the adaptability needed for fast recovery in disaster-affected regions. However, challenges remain in achieving compliance with New Zealand’s stringent building codes and in adapting the homes to withstand several factors such as seismic/ wind resistance, waterproofing, etc. which are prevalent in many disaster-prone areas. Regulatory requirements, such as PS1 and PS4 design approvals and local council consents, emerge as pivotal considerations that can delay deployment if not streamlined.

text: Assessing the viability of foldable-expandable container homes for post-disaster housing in New Zealand Natural disasters frequently demolish New Zealand, with its diverse landscapes. It is particularly susceptible to various natural disasters due to its unique geological position on the edge of the Pacific Ring of Fire (McKinnon, Scott, and Margaret Cook, 2020). This makes it prone to earthquakes, volcanic activity, tsunamis, and extreme weather events. A notable example of such a disaster is Cyclone Gabrielle, which struck the Hawke's Bay region in New Zealand. It creates wide damage in housing properties, leaving damaged bridges and culverts, buried roads, significant dropouts, and isolated communities in its wake. One of the major difficulties for government authorities and policymakers is to build houses for the victims of such natural disasters within as short a period as possible. The rapid provision of safe, durable, and affordable shelters is essential to restore a sense of normalcy for affected populations. Traditional reconstruction methods are often slow, expensive, and complex, particularly in regions with limited resources or logistical challenges. This has led to the exploration of alternative housing solutions, such as the use of modified shipping containers.

In New Zealand, as it is a reality, expeditious and resilient housing options are crucial for recovery after a natural disaster. Therefore, strategic solutions should be introduced to assist the responsible entities and agencies in providing shelters to the disaster victims within a short duration.

Container homes offer a unique combination of structural integrity, portability, and affordability, making them an attractive option for post-disaster housing. Their inherent durability allows them to withstand harsh environmental conditions, and their modular nature facilitates quick assembly and scalability. Additionally, container homes can be prefabricated and easily transported to disaster sites, reducing the time required for construction and enabling immediate relief efforts. This thesis explores the feasibility of using double-wing expandable foldable container homes as an innovative post-disaster housing solution in New Zealand, focusing on the aftermath of Cyclone Gabrielle in Hawke's Bay.

Findings indicate that container homes offer significant advantages, including reduced construction timelines, cost savings, and the adaptability needed for fast recovery in disaster-affected regions. However, challenges remain in achieving compliance with New Zealand’s stringent building codes and in adapting the homes to withstand several factors such as seismic/ wind resistance, waterproofing, etc. which are prevalent in many disaster-prone areas. Regulatory requirements, such as PS1 and PS4 design approvals and local council consents, emerge as pivotal considerations that can delay deployment if not streamlined.

year: 2025-06-13

title: Soil carbon loss under pasture and pine: Responses to urine addition

authors: Lambie, Suzanne Margaret

subjects: Urine

abstract: There have been reports of losses of soil carbon (C) in New Zealand pastures under dairy grazing.  Acceleration of mineralisation or leaching of soil C following urine deposition may decrease soil C.  However, little research of the effect of cow urine on soil C has been conducted.  The overall objective of this thesis was to investigate the potential for dairy cow urine to solubilise soil C, which can then be lost through mineralisation or leaching.  Soils from both grazed pasture and Pinus radiata plantations (termed pasture and pine soils) were investigated.

The concentration, composition, and bioavailability of urine-C were investigated.  Cow urine contained 7.5±1.2 g C L–¹, with a C:N ratio of 2:1.  About 45% of the C content of cow urine was attributed to hippuric acid, the other major contributors were urea, an unidentified amide and phenaceturic acid.  On incubation at 25°C, up to 25% of urine-C was degraded in 28 days, demonstrating that cow urine is biodegradable and could potentially act to prime C mineralisation in soils.  

Solubilisation of soil C (0-20 cm soil depth) following urine application was tested by measuring adsorption of urine-C and subsequent desorption of soil C in air-dried pine and pasture soils.  While adsorption was low at 3% of urine-C, the solubilisation of soil C by urine ranged between 11-28% of soil C concentration for 5 different soils, however, solubilisation was likely overestimated due to the use of air-dried soils.  Soil C solubilisation was also measured in field moist soils applied with artificial urine, and was less than that reported from air-dried soils.  

Priming of soil C mineralisation, solubilisation, and extracellular enzyme activity were measured using moist repacked pine and pasture soil cores (0-5 cm soil depth) treated with cow urine or radio-labelled artificial urine.  Positive priming of soil C mineralisation, where more carbon dioxide (CO₂) was produced than C added, was measured following application of cow urine in both pine and pasture soils.  The pasture soils lost 5.1±0.9%, and the pine soils 4.0±0.1%, of soil C concentration as CO₂ during a 84 day incubation.  Positive priming was attributed to increased microbial and urease activity and accelerated soil C mineralisation in urine treated soils.  The remaining extracellular enzyme activities assayed were unlikely to have contributed to soil C priming.  In contrast to the positive priming measured following cow urine application, treatment of soil with artificial urine resulted in less CO₂ produced than C added – or negative priming.  Increased soil pH following urine application may have played an important role in increasing C mineralisation as water soluble C increased with increasing soil pH.  Therefore, cow urine can cause priming of soil C mineralisation and lead to a loss of soil C.  However, artificial urine may not adequately model cow urine with respect to C cycling.

Soil C solubilisation by urine and subsequent leaching from undisturbed pasture soil (0-5 cm soil depth) was assessed by applying δ¹³C enriched urine.  Leaching resulted in a loss of 0.45±0.03% of soil C concentration, which was 10 times greater than the loss of soil C in the water control treatment (0.048±0.001%).  The leaching of soil C was small compared to the 5% loss of soil C by priming in the repacked core experiment.  Soil solubilisation in the undisturbed cores was less than both repacked cores and air-dried soils, demonstrating that soil C solubilisation increases with increasing soil disturbance.  The acid neutralising capacity (ANC) forcing potential of cow urine was 11.8 meq L–¹, which was more than 20 times greater than sodium nitrate fertiliser application (30 kg N ha-¹ year-¹), although the nitrogen loading rates of the urine were higher than the fertiliser .  ANC forcing has been linked to increasing soil pH and dissolved organic C leaching, and may have been a factor in soil C solubilisation under urine patches.  Upon assessing water stable aggregates after urine application, disaggregation of soil was not a major factor in soil C solubilisation.  
The key conclusions were that:
•	there was strong evidence to support the hypothesis that urine deposition led to soil C solubilisation and priming of soil C mineralisation, that could have contributed to the reported declines in soil C in dairy pastures;
•	priming of soil C decomposition was 10 times greater than leaching and may be the predominant mechanism of soil C loss following urine deposition; and
•	urine deposition resulted in greater losses of soil C from pasture soils than pine soils, in contrast to expectations that soil C in pasture soils would have been acclimatised to urine application.
The work in this thesis was laboratory based and requires further testing under field conditions.  Further work is also needed to establish the mechanisms of soil C solubilisation and the role of solubilised soil C in priming of soil C mineralisation.

text: Soil carbon loss under pasture and pine: Responses to urine addition There have been reports of losses of soil carbon (C) in New Zealand pastures under dairy grazing.  Acceleration of mineralisation or leaching of soil C following urine deposition may decrease soil C.  However, little research of the effect of cow urine on soil C has been conducted.  The overall objective of this thesis was to investigate the potential for dairy cow urine to solubilise soil C, which can then be lost through mineralisation or leaching.  Soils from both grazed pasture and Pinus radiata plantations (termed pasture and pine soils) were investigated.

The concentration, composition, and bioavailability of urine-C were investigated.  Cow urine contained 7.5±1.2 g C L–¹, with a C:N ratio of 2:1.  About 45% of the C content of cow urine was attributed to hippuric acid, the other major contributors were urea, an unidentified amide and phenaceturic acid.  On incubation at 25°C, up to 25% of urine-C was degraded in 28 days, demonstrating that cow urine is biodegradable and could potentially act to prime C mineralisation in soils.  

Solubilisation of soil C (0-20 cm soil depth) following urine application was tested by measuring adsorption of urine-C and subsequent desorption of soil C in air-dried pine and pasture soils.  While adsorption was low at 3% of urine-C, the solubilisation of soil C by urine ranged between 11-28% of soil C concentration for 5 different soils, however, solubilisation was likely overestimated due to the use of air-dried soils.  Soil C solubilisation was also measured in field moist soils applied with artificial urine, and was less than that reported from air-dried soils.  

Priming of soil C mineralisation, solubilisation, and extracellular enzyme activity were measured using moist repacked pine and pasture soil cores (0-5 cm soil depth) treated with cow urine or radio-labelled artificial urine.  Positive priming of soil C mineralisation, where more carbon dioxide (CO₂) was produced than C added, was measured following application of cow urine in both pine and pasture soils.  The pasture soils lost 5.1±0.9%, and the pine soils 4.0±0.1%, of soil C concentration as CO₂ during a 84 day incubation.  Positive priming was attributed to increased microbial and urease activity and accelerated soil C mineralisation in urine treated soils.  The remaining extracellular enzyme activities assayed were unlikely to have contributed to soil C priming.  In contrast to the positive priming measured following cow urine application, treatment of soil with artificial urine resulted in less CO₂ produced than C added – or negative priming.  Increased soil pH following urine application may have played an important role in increasing C mineralisation as water soluble C increased with increasing soil pH.  Therefore, cow urine can cause priming of soil C mineralisation and lead to a loss of soil C.  However, artificial urine may not adequately model cow urine with respect to C cycling.

Soil C solubilisation by urine and subsequent leaching from undisturbed pasture soil (0-5 cm soil depth) was assessed by applying δ¹³C enriched urine.  Leaching resulted in a loss of 0.45±0.03% of soil C concentration, which was 10 times greater than the loss of soil C in the water control treatment (0.048±0.001%).  The leaching of soil C was small compared to the 5% loss of soil C by priming in the repacked core experiment.  Soil solubilisation in the undisturbed cores was less than both repacked cores and air-dried soils, demonstrating that soil C solubilisation increases with increasing soil disturbance.  The acid neutralising capacity (ANC) forcing potential of cow urine was 11.8 meq L–¹, which was more than 20 times greater than sodium nitrate fertiliser application (30 kg N ha-¹ year-¹), although the nitrogen loading rates of the urine were higher than the fertiliser .  ANC forcing has been linked to increasing soil pH and dissolved organic C leaching, and may have been a factor in soil C solubilisation under urine patches.  Upon assessing water stable aggregates after urine application, disaggregation of soil was not a major factor in soil C solubilisation.  
The key conclusions were that:
•	there was strong evidence to support the hypothesis that urine deposition led to soil C solubilisation and priming of soil C mineralisation, that could have contributed to the reported declines in soil C in dairy pastures;
•	priming of soil C decomposition was 10 times greater than leaching and may be the predominant mechanism of soil C loss following urine deposition; and
•	urine deposition resulted in greater losses of soil C from pasture soils than pine soils, in contrast to expectations that soil C in pasture soils would have been acclimatised to urine application.
The work in this thesis was laboratory based and requires further testing under field conditions.  Further work is also needed to establish the mechanisms of soil C solubilisation and the role of solubilised soil C in priming of soil C mineralisation.

year: 2012

title: Indigenous psychologies, fourth world peoples and the international literature: Finding ourselves in online abstracting and indexing databases

authors: Nikora, Linda Waimarie

subjects: indigenous psychologies

abstract: The presence and visibility of indigenous people and experience in the field of indigenous psychologies is vital to articulating existence, life, self-determination and future making. This article highlights examples of indigenous Psychology being both absent and present at the same time in OAD (online academic databases).

text: Indigenous psychologies, fourth world peoples and the international literature: Finding ourselves in online abstracting and indexing databases The presence and visibility of indigenous people and experience in the field of indigenous psychologies is vital to articulating existence, life, self-determination and future making. This article highlights examples of indigenous Psychology being both absent and present at the same time in OAD (online academic databases).

year: 2016