Researcher Summary
My research is concerned with social and community well-being in stressed and disrupted environments. I examine the processes that contribute to stress and disruption in particular places, and I seek to identify the collaborations, policies, and practices that can support and enhance well-being within them.
My early work considered rural and urban places affected by economic restructuring and neoliberal welfare reform, while more recent studies have focused on places impacted by disasters. In examining a range of stressed and disrupted environments, I have given close attention to the nature and relational constitution of settings within them that are sometimes experienced as supportive, enabling and therapeutic. Empirical investigations in this regard have encompassed community drop-in centres, retreat centres, respite care agencies, residential care facilities, and urban community farms. On the basis of these investigations, I have made a number of theoretical interventions with respect to spaces of care, therapeutic landscapes and transnational mobility.
I am currently the managing Editor of the New Zealand Geographer. I am also a member of the editorial board for Social and Cultural Geography and a previous member of the editorial advisory board for Social Science and Medicine. I previously served on the University of Canterbury Human Ethics Committee.
Current and recent research projects:
• Shaping Places / Future Neighbourhoods (NSC11 Building Better Homes, Towns and Cities)
• Transforming geographical education: learning for Earth futures
• Living in the colour-coded city: understanding and building community resilience
• Stories of movement: experiences of disruption and adjustment in a post-quake city
