Journal Articles
Permanent URI for this collectionhttps://mro.massey.ac.nz/handle/10179/7915
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Item Overcoming barriers to delivering active travel infrastructure: inter-agency collaboration in a state-led neighbourhood redevelopment(Elsevier Ltd on behalf of World Conference on Transport Research Society, 2025-12) Opit SL; Witten KThis research investigates the challenges to collaboration government agencies face in delivering active travel infrastructure as part of neighbourhood regeneration projects. Through a sociotechnical systems lens, we examine the influence of governance structures, decision-making processes, and institutional norms on inter-agency collaboration. Drawing on document analysis and key informant interviews, we identify opportunities and challenges faced by housing and transport agencies in coordinating the design and delivery of active travel infrastructure. Challenges include a disconnect between strategic objectives and funding mechanisms, bureaucratic inertia and complexity, and a reliance on informal networks within a complex regulatory structure. Despite these challenges, the research highlights the value of forums for knowledge exchange and relational approaches to collaboration, as well as the potential for pragmatic solutions such as collaborative working groups to overcome structural barriers within sociotechnical regimes. Achieving mode shift towards healthier and more sustainable forms of transport requires formalised effective mechanisms for integration of land use and transport planning. Our findings have implications for policymakers, practitioners, and stakeholders involved in shaping urban environments and promoting active mobility as a viable transportation option.Item Placemaking for tenant wellbeing: Exploring the decision-making of public and community housing providers in Aotearoa New Zealand(Elsevier Ltd, 2025-06) Witten K; Olin CV; Logan A; Chisholm E; Randal E; Howden-Chapman P; Leigh LIn addition to housing tenants, many public and community housing providers engage in placemaking to foster tenants’ connections to people and place. This paper reports on the placemaking practices of four community housing providers and two urban regeneration programmes in Aotearoa New Zealand. Twenty-four semi-structured interviews were conducted with provider staff – including those leading strategy, community development, tenancy management, planning and design efforts – to investigate the placemaking strategies adopted by providers and the values, priorities and investment tensions that underpin their decision-making. Common placemaking strategies included site selection to secure tenants’ locational access to community services and amenities, and designing shared ‘bump spaces’ into housing complexes to encourage neighbourly encounters between tenants. Efforts to foster a sense of community through increased stability and diversity of households were hindered by a predominance of single-person units in older housing developments, and by funding and regulatory constraints. Māori, the Indigenous people of Aotearoa New Zealand, comprise approximately half of all public housing tenants and many have deep intergenerational connections to place. Where providers were engaging with Māori, early steps had been taken to incorporate cultural landscapes and values into placemaking initiatives; such practices were more evident in urban regeneration than community housing provider developments, enabled by longer-term planning horizons, broader development mandates and partnerships with iwi (Māori tribes) and local government. Nonetheless, placemaking aspirations of all providers were tethered to resource constraints and investment trade-offs, with any social infrastructure provision weighed up against the value of providing one more home instead.Item Challenging the inequities of ebike access: An investigation of a community-led intervention in a lower-income neighbourhood in Aotearoa - New Zealand(Elsevier B.V., 2024-09) Witten K; Opit S; Mackie H; Raja AIntroduction Ebiking offers positive physical and mental health benefits for riders. However, inequitable access to bike share schemes and purchase cost barriers limit ebike availability and uptake in lower-income communities. Furthermore, as bike culture differs from place to place, incentive schemes responsive to the local culture are needed to improve access to ebikes as a healthy mobility choice. Methods Three trials of ebike access were co-designed sequentially between 2021 and 2023. Give-it-a go, Ebikes in daily life, Pathway to Permanence were all designed by a community bike organisation working in tandem with a research team. Trial delivery was community-led. Trial participants’ experiences of ebike use were gathered through group and individual interviews, and the research also included a brief before and after survey of trip destination and mode use. Results Trial participants valued their ebiking experience, including the skills training and group rides, new knowledge of safe routes, health benefits of exercise, and fuel savings. During the trial, a third of weekly trips were made by ebike, while trips made by motor vehicle reduced by 25%. Cost emerged as a substantial barrier to ebike ownership. Conclusions Effective models to support ebike uptake in lower-income communities will be characterised by: adequate funding of community organisations to grow local bike culture; safe and secure bike infrastructure; community ownership of an ebike fleet to support skill acquisition and social connection; and a pathway to low-cost ebike access.Item Street redesign, active mobility and well-being for Pacific elders(Taylor and Francis Group, 2024-08-08) Garden E; Sa’u Lilo L; ‘Ofanoa M; Field A; Witten K; So’onalole TN; Tupou SThis qualitative study uses Talanoa methodologies to explore the everyday experiences of Pacific elders travelling around Māngere Central, Aotearoa New Zealand. A suite of street infrastructure changes for walking and cycling took place in the area between 2015 and 2017. While the evidence linking attributes of urban street design to physical activity behaviour is strong, there is little research on the impact of the built environment on Pacific elders’ active mobility. The study seeks to address this knowledge gap by focusing on the impacts of streetscape changes on the active travel and social connectivity of this group of residents. Findings indicate that post-intervention, elders feel significantly safer while walking, with active travel increasing for some. All elders in the study feel that important amenities are now more accessible, with some of significant cultural and social importance. As such, opportunities for social connection appear to have increased. Furthermore, the enhanced look and feel of the local environment is important to the elders interviewed, enhancing feelings of community pride and well-being for some. Further desired changes to support active mobility are discussed, and a logic model highlighting factors theorised to be particularly important for achieving mode shift among Pacific elders is proposed.Item Community use of school grounds outside of school hours(Taylor and Francis Group, 2024-07-13) Lin E-Y; Witten K; Carroll P; Parker KPhysical activity in childhood is essential for healthy development and wellbeing and school grounds can provide neighbourhood access to safe play spaces. This study examines the relationship between school demographics (school size, school decile, ethnicity of students and population density) and whether school grounds are open or closed for community use outside school hours. Data were gathered from 391 primary and intermediate schools across Tāmaki Makaurau (Auckland), Aotearoa New Zealand (84% of Auckland schools) with 250 schools participating in the full survey. The results indicate that higher school decile and lower population density are associated with school grounds being available for community use. This result is concerning. With closed school grounds more likely to be in lower socio-economic and higher population density areas, the children most affected are the same group who have fewer opportunities and less spaces for active play. The main reason schools closed their grounds was ‘vandalism /graffiti/theft concerns’. Low decile schools whose grounds were open outside of school hours shared a similar commitment to involve their communities widely in school activities and found doing so decreased the levels of vandalism. Their approach may offer useful insights to schools that are currently closed.Item Placemaking and public housing: the state of knowledge and research priorities(Taylor and Francis Group, 2023-05-08) Chisholm E; Olin C; Randal E; Witten K; Howden-Chapman PThis article examines the international literature on placemaking–practices or initiatives that encourage a sense of place–in public housing communities. Placemaking is likely to be particularly beneficial to public housing tenants, and is a current priority for public housing providers; yet reviews of placemaking research have failed to consider public housing. Our systematic quantitative review of 63 English-language journal articles reveals that the field is dominated by qualitative cross-sectional studies conducted in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia, in the context of regeneration, and published in social science journals. Our thematic analysis of this literature shows that placemaking is supported by forming relationships and participating in community activities, by access to quality public space and amenities, and by spending time and forming memories in a place. The review therefore provides guidance to public housing providers and reveals the need for particular research, including longitudinal studies, and studies conducted in both redeveloped and existing communities.Item Toward a Framework for Resilience Assessments: Working Across Cultures, Disciplines, and Scales in Aotearoa/New Zealand(Frontiers Media S.A., 2020-05-14) Coulson G; Moores J; Waa A; Kearns R; Witten K; Batstone C; Somervell E; Olivares G; Howden-Chapman PResilience appears within diverse literatures across the physical and social sciences, pervades social, and ecological systems models and has been mobilized in the quest to change environmental practices at local and international levels. Yet common language is needed to enable cross-disciplinary conversations. We discuss a novel interdisciplinary process identifying shared terminology and developing a framework to facilitate the integration of physical and social science understandings of urban infrastructure and resilience in urban systems. Drawing on bicultural knowledge traditions unique to Aotearoa/New Zealand, we reflect on resilience as a system property having ecological, social, economic and technical dimensions that influence well-being and sustainability outcomes.Item Te Ara Mua – Future Streets: Can a streetscape upgrade designed to increase active travel change residents’ perceptions of neighbourhood safety?(Elsevier Ltd, 2022) Witten K; Macmillan A; Mackie H; van der Werf B; Smith M; Field A; Woodward A; Hosking JWe aim to understand how a streetscape intervention, Te Ara Mua- Future Streets, designed to improve the ease and safety of active modes, influenced perceptions of neighbourhood safety and security in Māngere, New Zealand. In this controlled intervention study, survey, focus group and in-depth interview data on neighbourhood perceptions were gathered from adults and children in 2014 and 2017, before and after the intervention. General Linear Mixed Modelling (GLMM) was used to undertake a difference in differences analysis of the individual level survey data on traffic and neighbourhood safety perceptions. Focus group and interview data were analysed thematically. Survey data indicate improvements in neighbourhood safety but not traffic safety perceptions after the streetscape upgrade. Conversely, focus group and interview data suggest enduring fears around people and dogs, but an easing of traffic-related fears attributed to safer crossings and slower vehicle speeds. Our contrasting quantitative and qualitative findings demonstrate a complex interplay of neighbourhood people and place attributes in shaping residents’ experiences of safety and security, and therefore the importance of combining personal safety and traffic safety, as well as multiple measures, when investigating pathways between built environment change and active travel.Item Understanding children's perceptions of, and priorities for, healthy neighbourhoods in Aotearoa New Zealand: study protocol for a cross-sectional study(BMJ Publishing Group, 2021-06-21) Egli V; Mandic S; Pocock T; Narayanan A; Williams L; Clark T; Spasic L; Wilson A; Witten K; Smith MIntroduction Neighbourhood environments can have significant and enduring impacts on children’s physical, psychological and social health. Environments can impact health through promoting or hindering physical activity, active travel, and healthy eating in addition to opportunities for social interaction, cognitive development, rest and relaxation. There is a paucity of research that has examined neighbourhood and health priorities, strengths and needs from the perspectives of the community, and even less that has focused on the perspectives of children within communities. The aim of this article is to describe the research protocol for a project to gather child-identified needs and strengths-based solutions for promoting child health and well-being in urban neighbourhood environments. Methods and analysis This participatory research project is designed to partner with children in school settings in Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland and Ōtepoti Dunedin, Aotearoa New Zealand. An abundant communities approach will be used with children to identify needs and strengths related to neighbourhoods and health. Specific methods including collaborative, creative, play-based methods such as concept-mapping activities and co-creation of final dissemination material on the key messages are described. Plans for researcher reflections, data analysis and dissemination are also detailed. Ethics and dissemination This research has been approved by the University of Auckland Human Participants Ethics Committee. Results will be disseminated through child and researcher co-created output, a technical report and academic journal articles. By using evidence-based child-centred approaches to knowledge generation, we anticipate the research will generate new localised insights about children’s preferences and needs for healthy neighbourhoods which will be shared with stakeholders in planning and practice. The detailed session protocol including critical researcher reflections is shared in this manuscript for application, development and refinement in future research.Item Inclusive and collective urban home spaces: The future of housing in Aotearoa New Zealand(Elsevier Ltd, 2022) Olin CV; Berghan J; Thompson-Fawcett M; Ivory V; Witten K; Howden-Chapman P; Duncan S; Ka'ai T; Yates A; O'Sullivan KC; Keall M; Ombler J; Hinckson E