Contested coasts: The production of space at Aotearoa New Zealand’s coastline

Abstract

This dissertation investigates conflicts around infrastructural developments at Aotearoa New Zealand's coast. The coast is subject to a number of different uses, as well as ideas and imaginaries. In this multifaceted situation, there is not just one coast. Rather, many coastal spaces exist. These spaces are produced by a variety of actors, with different practices, techniques and aims. Coasts can be framed as spaces for nature conservation, for coastal protection, as cultural landscapes, as spaces for infrastructural or residential development. In short, there is a multitude of costal spaces, both material as well as immaterial (such as meanings or interpretations) and these becomes especially visible when conflicts occur. In this dissertation, I will investigate different coastal spaces and their various meanings associated with them by different actors based on three case studies in Aotearoa New Zealand cities: Auckland, Tauranga and Wellington. In Auckland, two citizen initiatives fought against a planned wharf extension of Ports of Auckland and voiced concerns on issues such as recreational use of the harbour, access to the coastline or visual connections which would be disturbed by the extension. In Wellington, the airport planned land reclamations into Lyall Bay to extend its runway. Here, the main protest came from a citizen initiative as well, with a wide set of arguments. In this case, I focus on the perception and assessment of landscapes, as well as the relationships residents and recreational users have with the coast. In Wellington, the opposition against the dredging of shipping channels was mainly led by local Maori, which gives this case a cultural aspect the other cases do not have in this extent. My research takes a political ecology perspective, using the empirical framework of the production of space (Lefebvre, 1991/1974). I investigate my case studies by using a mix of qualitative social research methods (e.g. interviews, site visits, participants maps).