Papers by Steve Matthewman
International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction
Disaster Risk, Resilience, Reconstruction and Recovery
A video of a presentation to Greenpeace New Zealand that summarises research carried out on energ... more A video of a presentation to Greenpeace New Zealand that summarises research carried out on energy policy in NZ and proposes policy change that was submitted to the Productivity Commission in 2019 with subsequent changes in legislation
Disobedience of thought is the scholaris duty Obowiązkiem uczonego jest nieposłuszeństwo myślenia... more Disobedience of thought is the scholaris duty Obowiązkiem uczonego jest nieposłuszeństwo myślenia Stanisław Ossowski
Disobedience of thought is the scholaris duty Obowiązkiem uczonego jest nieposłuszeństwo myślenia... more Disobedience of thought is the scholaris duty Obowiązkiem uczonego jest nieposłuszeństwo myślenia Stanisław Ossowski nr 2/2012 (4)półrocznik semi-annual
Contemporary Sociology: A Journal of Reviews, 2016
The evidence that global warming stems from human origins is overwhelming. It is often said that ... more The evidence that global warming stems from human origins is overwhelming. It is often said that the only scientific statements to find greater professional assent are Newton’s laws of motion. Scientists have outlined the complex physical processes that create our anthropogenically adjusted climate. They routinely warn of the dire consequences of failing to act before it’s too late. Some have announced the Anthropocene, a new age in which our species has effects akin to geological agents. This gives rise to the prospect that humans are ushering in the Sixth Mass Extinction Event. Unlike all previous mass extinctions, this one—should it happen—will be on us. The scientific consensus is that the time to act is now. As Philip Smith and Nicolas Howe note, ‘‘the window of opportunity for dealing with the problem is limited’’ (p. 1). Enter one of the great paradoxes of our time: this moment of pressing existential threat is met with wholesale public apathy. The standard story is inclined ...
Disasters, 2020
Social capital discourse occupies an important place in disaster studies. Scholars have adopted v... more Social capital discourse occupies an important place in disaster studies. Scholars have adopted various inflections of social capital to explain how those with greater social capital are generally more resilient to disasters and experience speedier recoveries. Disaster scholars have also discovered that people typically display altruistic tendencies in the wake of disasters and develop novel networks of mutual support - known as "communitas" which is also seen to built resilience and boost recovery. In this article, we use the work of Pierre Bourdieu to synthesize these literatures, conceptualizing communitas as "disaster social capital". We offer a fleshed-out definition of disaster social capital to distinguish it from regular social capital and discuss the barriers to, and enablers of, its formation. While primarily a conceptual discussion, we hope that it has practical and policy implications for disaster scholars and practitioners interested in inclusive disaster risk reduction as well as full and just recoveries. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.
New Zealand faces a range of challenges in reorienting its energy infrastructure to address both ... more New Zealand faces a range of challenges in reorienting its energy infrastructure to address both climate mitigation and adaptation goals. These include ensuring that the shift to a decarbonised, distributed energy system is economically efficient, meets energy security needs and is socially just. Despite recent interest in low emission scenarios and mass participation of consumers, few studies have addressed questions around socio-economic, political and environmental impacts of more or less inclusive energy scenarios, how to co-ordinate, encourage or regulate participation of different energy consumers, or questions around appropriate governance or leadership.
Buildings and Cities, 2022
Policies, codes, standards and voluntary 'green' assessments have exacerbated cooling demand in N... more Policies, codes, standards and voluntary 'green' assessments have exacerbated cooling demand in New Zealand's commercial buildings. Building codes allow designs to use single glazing on the facade, voluntary 'green' criteria are not higher than the legal minimum in the code and inexpensive energy for commercial buildings all contribute to an increasing use of airconditioning. Legal standards for the energy efficiency of the building envelope of commercial buildings have not significantly changed in over a quarter of a century and, over much of the same time, the cost of electricity (the predominant form of energy in New Zealand used to heat and cool buildings) has decreased for commercial buildings. These factors have led to an increased dependency on airconditioning in commercial buildings. This increase in energy demand is unnecessary and can be reduced through policies, codes, and standards that reduce solar gain and use mixed-mode ventilation. The reduction in airconditioning demand will improve energy security and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
The devastation of the city centre of Christchurch, New Zealand, after the 2010 and 2011 earthqua... more The devastation of the city centre of Christchurch, New Zealand, after the 2010 and 2011 earthquakes presented an opportunity to rebuild infrastructure in a coordinated and efficient manner to allow for a city that was energy efficient, low carbon, resilient and provided both energy security and justice. The research described in this paper records the processes taken to attempt to rebuild the energy infrastructure. The story is one of political decisions overriding appropriate technology and ultimately is a lesson in how not to handle the implementation of post-disaster energy infrastructure. Lack of clarity in decision making by central government and then not pursuing consultant’s recommendations led to a scheme that was effectively abandoned in 2016 and described as ‘a total failure’. The paper records the critical events that occurred and explains why the proposed energy infrastructure was both politically and technologically inappropriate.
Disasters are part of the modern condition, a source of physical anxiety and existential angst, a... more Disasters are part of the modern condition, a source of physical anxiety and existential angst, and they are increasing in frequency, cost and severity. Drawing on both disaster research and social theory, this book offers a critical examination of their causes, consequences and future avoidance.
New Zealand sociology, 2014
The Auckland sociology department came slightly later than others in the founding period rush, an... more The Auckland sociology department came slightly later than others in the founding period rush, and took an elite form of offering only postgraduate studies to begin with. When founding Professor Duncan Timms returned to the UK a group of staff at Waikato University moved north and established wildly successful undergraduate and post-graduate programmes, sustaining an interesting range of staff, several of whom had anthropology backgrounds, researching topics, including ethnicity and migration and class, pertinent to both Auckland and New Zealand. A fairly stable moderate-sized department staffed largely by New Zealanders with local research interests gradually expanded and changed as more overseas staff who tended to be more research orientated were recruited. The department's involvement with New Zealand sociology more generally was ambivalent. By the turn of the century, the cohort of staff which had sustained the department over the previous 30 or so years had begun to retire...
Acknowledgements The author would like to thank the anonymous referees for the time that they dev... more Acknowledgements The author would like to thank the anonymous referees for the time that they devoted to reviewing the article and for their helpful suggestions. They have made the finished product a more focused piece. Abstract Sociologists have been reluctant to study the military. It is peripheral to core concerns of sociology. This absence is routinely explained by going back to the discipline's conception. H. SaintSimon and A. Comte conjured sociology after the close of the Napoleonic War which ushered in a century of relative European peace. C. Wright
In the social science literature there is a strong tendency to want to write na-tionalism's o... more In the social science literature there is a strong tendency to want to write na-tionalism's obituary. The usual arguments are that because of globalisation, cosmo-politanism, neoliberalism-and their disembedding, deterritorialising effects-the nation, and by extension collective and affective bonds to it, are all but gone. It would seem that contemporary social theory exacerbates such ideas, where great stress is placed upon flows (Manuel Castells, Scott Lash, George Ritzer), nomads (Gilles Deleuze, Felix Guattari, Rosi Braidotti), mobility (Mimi Sheller, John Urry), and liquidity (Zygmunt Bauman). This book serves as an important reminder that the nation and nationalisms are very much alive. In standard sociological fare, it is common to read of the consequences of the abovementioned forces: weakening of collective bonds, the decline of the public sphere, and the increasing personalisation and privatisation of public space. Readers repeatedly see pronouncements of the diminutio...
Electricity fuels our existence. It powers water purification, waste, food, transportation and co... more Electricity fuels our existence. It powers water purification, waste, food, transportation and communication systems. Modern social life is impossible to imagine without it. This article looks at what happens when the power goes off. It scrutinises the causes and consequences of accidental electrical power cuts. It begins by identifying the reasons for power failure. In doing so, power generation systems are identified as critical infrastructures. They are more fragile than is commonly supposed, and the argument is made that they are getting frailer. Irrespective of cause, blackouts display similar effects. These social patterns are identified. They include measurable economic losses and less easily quantified social costs. Financial damage, food safety, crime, transport issues and problems caused by diesel generators are all discussed. This is more than a record of failures past. It is contended that blackouts are dress rehearsals for the future in which they will appear with great...
A Decade of Disaster Experiences in Ōtautahi Christchurch
A Decade of Disaster Experiences in Ōtautahi Christchurch
This paper reviews the historical research that has led to widespread policies on compact urban f... more This paper reviews the historical research that has led to widespread policies on compact urban form and collates evidence of research that demonstrates that dispersed urban form may be more energy efficient than compact. This is counterintuitive but is supported by both challenging the conventional modelling of energy use as well as case studies with empirical evidence. The conclusion is that policies on urban form should be driven not by existing technologies but by the disruptive technologies of the future. Energy demand and supply has not only influenced the growth and size of urban areas but has also influenced the shape of cities in New Zealand. At its most basic level, the shape of a city is characterized by the extent to which it either goes ‘up’ or goes ‘out’. Going up is associated with a compact city of relatively high density and tall buildings. Going out is associated with a dispersed city characterised by sprawl of relatively low density with detached buildings. It is ...
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Papers by Steve Matthewman