Building resilience in transient rural communities – a post-earthquake regional study: Fieldwork report Jude Wilson David Simmons November 2018 RNC Report: RNC032:04:01:03 1 Report prepared as part of RNC Rural Partnership Project RNC32:04:01 DISCLAIMER: While every effort has been made to ensure that the information herein is accurate, neither the authors nor Lincoln University accept any liability for error or fact or opinion which may be present, or for the consequences of any decision based on this information. Cover page Photo credit: Jude Wilson 2 Table of contents 1 INTRODUCTION .....................................................................................................................................................9 2 METHODOLOGY .................................................................................................................................................. 10 2.1 CASE STUDY SELECTION ............................................................................................................................................ 10 2.2 SELECTION OF INTERVIEWEES .................................................................................................................................... 10 2.3 INTERVIEW METHODOLOGY ...................................................................................................................................... 12 3 RESILIENT COMMUNITIES .................................................................................................................................... 14 3.1 A COMPLEX CONCEPT .............................................................................................................................................. 15 3.2 AN INDIVIDUAL ATTRIBUTE ....................................................................................................................................... 16 3.3 COMMUNITY RESILIENCE .......................................................................................................................................... 17 3.4 UNDERSTANDING PLACE .......................................................................................................................................... 18 3.5 RESILIENCE THROUGH ADVERSITY ............................................................................................................................... 20 3.6 THE ‘4PS’ OF RESILIENCE ......................................................................................................................................... 20 4 FOUR COMMUNITIES .......................................................................................................................................... 22 4.1 BLENHEIM............................................................................................................................................................. 22 4.1.1 A service town ............................................................................................................................................... 23 4.2 KAIKOURA ............................................................................................................................................................. 26 4.2.1 A tourist town ............................................................................................................................................... 26 4.3 WAIAU ................................................................................................................................................................. 34 4.3.1 A (traditional) farming centre ....................................................................................................................... 35 4.4 ST ARNAUD ........................................................................................................................................................... 46 4.4.1 A national park village .................................................................................................................................. 46 4.5 COMMUNITY CHALLENGES........................................................................................................................................ 54 5 THE POPULATION TRANSIENCE CONTINUUM ...................................................................................................... 56 5.1 PERMANENT RESIDENTS ........................................................................................................................................... 56 5.1.1 The (rural) farming community ..................................................................................................................... 57 5.1.2 New residents ................................................................................................................................................ 58 5.1.3 New migrants ................................................................................................................................................ 59 5.2 SEMI-PERMANENT RESIDENTS ................................................................................................................................... 64 5.2.1 RSE workers ................................................................................................................................................... 64 5.2.2 Earthquake rebuild workers .......................................................................................................................... 69 5.2.3 Holiday home (bach) owners ........................................................................................................................ 73 5.3 TEMPORARY RESIDENTS ........................................................................................................................................... 76 5.3.1 Seasonal workers .......................................................................................................................................... 76 5.3.2 Working Holiday Makers (WHM) .................................................................................................................. 78 5.4 TRANSIENT POPULATIONS ........................................................................................................................................ 84 5.4.1 Tourists .......................................................................................................................................................... 84 5.4.2 Experiential visitors ....................................................................................................................................... 86 5.5 POPULATION CHALLENGES ........................................................................................................................................ 89 6 GOVERNANCE AND COMMUNITY........................................................................................................................ 91 6.1 GOVERNANCE AND CIVIC STRUCTURE .......................................................................................................................... 91 6.2 IMMIGRATION ....................................................................................................................................................... 94 6.3 CIVIL DEFENCE IN THE COMMUNITY ............................................................................................................................ 97 6.4 SOCIAL NETWORKS AND COMMUNITY GROUPS ........................................................................................................... 100 6.5 GOVERNANCE CHALLENGES .................................................................................................................................... 103 7 RESILIENCE IN TRANSIENT RURAL COMMUNITIES ............................................................................................. 105 7.1 RURAL COMMUNITIES ........................................................................................................................................... 105 3 7.1.1 Community identity ..................................................................................................................................... 105 7.1.2 The ‘boundaries’ of community................................................................................................................... 107 7.1.3 The significance of a connected community ............................................................................................... 110 7.2 RESILIENCE TO NATURE’S CHALLENGES ...................................................................................................................... 115 7.2.1 The earthquake experience and resilience .................................................................................................. 116 7.2.2 A focus on transient population groups ...................................................................................................... 119 7.3 BUILDING RESILIENCE IN TRANSIENT RURAL COMMUNITIES ............................................................................................ 122 8 CONCLUSION ..................................................................................................................................................... 125 9 REFERENCES ...................................................................................................................................................... 127 10 APPENDIX 1 POPULATION TRANSIENCE CONTINUUM ......................................................................................