Geography

Much of the research in the department is of a collaborative nature involving staff or groups of staff working with postgraduate students, senior fellows and research associates within and outside the Department. There is significant external collaboration with international colleagues, local and federal government agencies, and other research institutions. 

What is Geography?

Geography is the study of human behaviour, the environment we live in, and the relationship between both. It combines science and humanities, and it also has links to Law, Engineering, Computer Science and Health Sciences.

Geography focuses on finding innovative solutions to our society’s most pressing issues and debates, and the human response to these challenges, such as climate change, poverty, sustainability, health, and inequality.

Studying Geography will allow you to take an informed and analytical view of our changing world, and of your place in it. The relationship between people and their environment is a key geographical theme, as is the way in which this relationship can be made more sustainable for the future. This puts Geography at the core of many important current debates.

Geographerstake a hollistic approach to the world by looking at both the physical factors that affect the problem and also the human responses to the challenges experienced.
 

1. Physical Geography 

Physical geography explores the Earth's processes and seeks to explain the dynamic interactions and the natural and human made changes that shape landscapes. The study of the atmosphere, hydrosphere and the cryosphere form the fundamental science that is used to predict changes in landscapes and how we can adapt to natural hazards and climate change impacts. Physical geography methods include field-based experiments, numerical modelling and data science that quantifies and explores physical processes over scales we can see, observe and interact with. 

2. Human Geography
 

Human geography is the study of human societies in relation to their places and environments. It investigates cities, towns, neighbourhoods, homes, regions and nations, and considers phenomena such as urbanisation, migration, globalisation, colonisation, inclusion/exclusion, poverty and inequality that affect them.  

A range of qualitative and quantitative research methods are used in human geography, including interviewing, documentary and archival research, videography, geographic information science, remote sensing and spatial analysis (e.g. of census and mobile phone data). These methods are used to understand the dynamics and patterning of human-environment interactions at multiple scales, from the local to the global. 

Human geography research and teaching at UC has a focus on three interlinked areas: health and wellbeing, sustainable cities and communities, and living with environmental disruption. 

• Health, wellbeing and environment. We investigate the complex intersections between health, wellbeing and environment, using both quantitative and qualitative research methodologies. Activity in this area is closely connected to the externally funded GeoHealth Laboratory, which has national and international recognition, and to a series of grants on other health and wellbeing topics such as urban greenspace, bluespace and therapeutic landscapes. 

• Sustainable cities and communities. We are involved in numerous projects that examine aspects of sustainability and liveability, in cities and communities within and beyond Aotearoa New Zealand.  This activity has a strong connection to policy and practice, as exemplified in the community partnerships at the heart of our third-year capstone service-learning course. Understanding sustainable cities and urban place making is a key route to graduate employment for geographers in Aotearoa New Zealand (and this is reflected in the large numbers of our students who have been appointed to roles in city councils, regional councils, consultancies, central government departments and planning firms).

• Living with environmental disruption. We have expertise in the social and political dimensions of living with environmental disruption, including climate change and other slow and fast disasters. Environmental disruption is a highly topical issue for many places in Aotearoa New Zealand, as Cyclone Gabrielle has again demonstrated, and it is also an important topic for international research, policy and practice. We have investigated post-disaster cities, with attention to issues such as community wellbeing, insurance difficulties, educational impacts and creativity. 

3. Geospatial Data Science 
 

The field of Geospatial Data Science develops methodologies to collect, evaluate, model and visualise location-based data and spatial interactions. It is situated in geography and draws on the fields of computer and information sciences, remote sensing and imagery sciences, cartography, and statistics. We build scientific knowledge through methodical consideration of critical issues of how space is represented to inform on accuracy, uncertainty, scale, fitness for use, usability and influence on human spatial cognition. We apply these considerations to spatial data from satellite, airborne, drone, and field collection as well as novel social and environmental data through GPS-enabled devices (i.e., mobile phone and social media data) and other applications. 

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The School of Earth and Environment | Te Kura Aronukurangi, tackles a range of geospatial research questions to model social patterns, physical processes, and human-environment interactions. 

Research themes:  

• Health, Wellbeing and Environment 

Staff involved: Malcolm Campbell, Lindsey Conrow, Simon Kingham, David Conradson

We examine health and wellbeing issues to inform policy that contributes to more resilient and healthier places and communities. There are particular interests in community wellbeing, human mobility and inequalities.

• Transport and Urban Development

Staff involved: Lindsey Conrow, Simon Kingham, Vanessa Bastos

We investigate how people interact with urban environments, what impacts the built environment has on human behaviour and how the urban environment affects wellbeing. It includes working looking at transport with a focus on low carbon and active transport. Research also looks at how we human movement patterns to understand urban transportation.

• Urban and Movement Analytics 

Staff involved: Vanessa Bastos, Lindsey Conrow and Malcolm Campbell

This research theme looks at the development and application of novel spatio-temporal methods to extract information from underutilised passively collected geospatial data, e.g., locational data from GPS tracking, smartphone applications and transactional records. We hope that our methods will help disseminate and create data-informed approaches for understanding and planning urban environments. Data is often referred to as the new gold because it has become a critical raw material for producing products, services and informing decisions. The vast amount of geospatial data produced daily have the potential to generate insights and fuel innovation that can help face pressing societal challenges, such as poverty, inequalities, and climate change. Inspired by the principles of  DataKind and Data4Good, we envision working in close collaboration with policymakers to develop better cities and better living in Aotearoa.

• Weather and Climate Modelling and Analytics

Staff involved: Marwan Katurji, Peyman Zawar-Reza

This research theme aims at understanding weather processes at the continental, regional, and very local scale. We use observational methods such as automatic weather stations, satellite and drone based infrared imagery, and numerical modelling methods and simulations to allow us to understand complex dynamical processes happening within our troposphere. Some of our research projects involve wind turbulence for wind energy applications, air pollution dispersion modelling, climate information for environmental conservation, Antarctic meteorology and regional climate dynamics, wild-land fire weather and fire-atmospheric interactions, and machine learning applications for data analytics.

• Spatial Understanding of Environments and Navigation

Staff involved: Ioannis Delikostidis, Peyman Zawar-Reza

Ongoing work investigates human spatial cognition through mobile brain imaging with EEG (Electroencephalogram) in virtual/mixed reality and real-world situations. We aim to understand the neural correlates during various wayfinding tasks, discover methods for improving spatial skills, and when subjects experience self-transcendent moments. We assess the usability of navigation systems using immersive virtual environments and user-centred design of mobile navigation systems.

• Environmental Hazards and Management

Staff involved: Matthew Wilson, Carolynne Hultquist, Ann Brower

We draw on community engagement, earth observation and physical process modelling, and data integration techniques to understand and predict risk, vulnerability and exposure to hazards to improve decision support for humanitarian, government, community and national actors. 

• Coastal Environments

Staff involved: Deirdre Hart, Sarah McSweeney, Sophie Horton

The coastal zone is one of the most dynamic but heavily populated areas globally. With the impacts of sea level rise and climate change accelerating, it is important to understand coastal processes today and how they will change in future. Our research in this theme focuses on quantifying coastal processes across tidal to geological time scales – with a focus on coastal multi-hazards, wave-shoreline interactions, estuary/hapua entrance dynamics, estuary Holocene evolution, and shore platform processes. Our research provides tangible benefits to coastal managers and communities, being regularly used inform planning and policy making.

Wave Monitoring Network:

UC, in collaboration with Environment Canterbury, councils, and Port agencies, have developed the first open-source, real time ocean wave monitoring network in New Zealand:

www.canterburywaves.co.nz

We couple this with monitoring of shoreline change to develop a comprehensive understanding of coastal processes across Canterbury coast. 

• Mountain and Glacial Environments 

Staff involved: Heather Purdie, Peyman Zawar-Reza, Marwan Katurji, Ann Brower

This theme bridges physical and human geography to include projects such as: exploring, predicting, and managing patterns of glacier behaviour;  understanding the contribution of seasonal snow and ice to downstream water resources; seeking to understanding weather and climate processes by developing and applying models of complex dynamical environmental systems; exploring ways to manage and protect NZ’s iconic braided rivers; exploring and managing land use change in New Zealand's high country environments.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xM8c4cEsQg4