• Login
    View Item 
    •   Home
    • Massey Documents by Type
    • Theses and Dissertations
    • View Item
    •   Home
    • Massey Documents by Type
    • Theses and Dissertations
    • View Item
    JavaScript is disabled for your browser. Some features of this site may not work without it.

    Planning for a night out : local governance, power and night-time in Christchurch, New Zealand : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Resource and Environmental Planning at Massey University, Turitea, Aotearoa, New Zealand

    Icon
    View/Open Full Text
    01_front.pdf (92.77Kb)
    02_whole.pdf (3.021Mb)
    Export to EndNote
    Abstract
    This research explores the changing nature of local governance and how power is exercised within Christchurch City Council’s decision-making process of its revitalisation of the Central Business District (CBD). A governmentality theoretical framework extends the scholarly debate on local government decision-making and allows for the exploration of social relations and lived realities of young people who use the night-time spaces created by the CBD revitalisation process. Three research questions structure the thesis: how is power exercised during CBD decision-making processes within Christchurch City Council?; what governmental technologies are adopted by Christchurch City Council to revitalise the CBD between 1999 and 2010?; and, what are the lived realities of the young people who use the revitalised spaces of the CBD? Christchurch, New Zealand’s second largest city, is the case study because of its recent CBD revitalisation and the significant changes to its decision-making processes. These changes impact on the way revitalisation is executed. The decision-making process of CBD revitalisation is examined through a qualitative methodology. Methods involved: document analysis; observations; individual, semi-structured interviews (with elected and non-elected local government representatives, business people, and police); and, focus-group interviews with young people who enjoy the CBD night-time entertainment spaces. There are three key research findings. First, power is simultaneously dispersed to an outside organisation and concentrated within the Council in fewer people. Particular actors have significant influence over decision-making. Second, governing at a distance occurs using technologies of a key stakeholder group followed by changes to internal Council decision-making. A post-political turn emerged where consensus is encouraged and political dissent discouraged. Third, the revitalisation project is successful in the creation of a vibrant night-time economy where young people drink and socialise. Paradoxically, these new subjects are constituted through the revitalised spaces as a problem, bringing into stark relief the conflicts between public and private interests in Christchurch’s CBD revitalisation. This research offers new possibilities for planning scholars. Governmentality allows for the critical examination of power in local governance with the explicit inclusion of the lived realities of the subjects of that governance.
    Date
    2014
    Author
    Johnston, Karen Marie
    Rights
    The Author
    Publisher
    Massey University
    URI
    http://hdl.handle.net/10179/6314
    Collections
    • Theses and Dissertations
    Metadata
    Show full item record

    Copyright © Massey University
    | Contact Us | Feedback | Copyright Take Down Request | Massey University Privacy Statement
    DSpace software copyright © Duraspace
    v5.7-2020.1-beta1
     

     

    Tweets by @Massey_Research
    Information PagesContent PolicyDepositing content to MROCopyright and Access InformationDeposit LicenseDeposit License SummaryTheses FAQFile FormatsDoctoral Thesis Deposit

    Browse

    All of MROCommunities & CollectionsBy Issue DateAuthorsTitlesSubjectsThis CollectionBy Issue DateAuthorsTitlesSubjects

    My Account

    LoginRegister

    Statistics

    View Usage Statistics

    Copyright © Massey University
    | Contact Us | Feedback | Copyright Take Down Request | Massey University Privacy Statement
    DSpace software copyright © Duraspace
    v5.7-2020.1-beta1