Re-Imagining Relationships with Space, Place, and Property: The Story of Mainstreaming Managed Retreats in Aotearoa-New Zealand

Abstract

As a nation rapidly progressing managed retreat legislation, we take a historical perspective to identify how the imaginary of retreat evolved in Aotearoa-New Zealand to become mainstream. Tracing the history along a layered reactive-passive-proactive timeline, we reveal how policy experiments and technical advocacy coalitions have advanced different imaginaries of retreat, creating new political spaces for change. We identify the importance of understanding retreat as less of a “policy” and more an attempt to unmake and remake space that has implications for justice and the permanence of land-use and property in an era of dynamic risks.

Keywords:

• Managed retreat
• planned relocation
• imaginaries
• climate change adaptation
• land use planning

Acknowledgement

We would like to thank the editors and two reviewers of this paper for their insightful feedback and suggestions, whilst absolving them of responsibility for any problems that remain.

Disclosure Statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Data Availability  Statement

The data that supports the findings of this study are available in the Supplementary Material of this article.

Additional information

Funding

This research was undertaken with funding from theAotearoa New Zealand Government National Science Challenge: Resilience to Nature’s Challenges – Kia manawaroa – Ngā Ākina o Te Ao Tūroa.

Notes on contributors

Christina Hanna

Dr Christina Hanna is social scientist and Lecturer at the University of Waikato. Her research examines the governance of risk reduction and climate change adaptation, with a focus on the role of environmental planning. Among publications on resilience planning, an important research theme is the application of managed retreats to reduce risks to human lives, taonga, assets, and ecosystems. Christina’s research on managed retreats is part of the Resilience to Nature’s Challenges National Science Challenge.

Raven Cretney

Dr Raven Cretney is a social scientist working as a Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Waikato. Her research focuses on the role of community participation in policy change and decision-making in relation to environmental issues. She has published widely on the politics of resilience, environmental activism, and disaster recovery.

Iain White

Iain White is Professor of Environmental Planning and the Associate Dean Research for Arts, Law, Psychology and Social Science at the University of Waikato, New Zealand. He is also an Honorary Senior Research Fellow at the University of Manchester, UK, and an Adjunct Professor at the University of the Sunshine Coast, Australia.