Urban blue-green infrastructure (BGI) has become an increasingly common method of urban stormwater management. It has the potential to deliver multiple bio-physical and socio-cultural benefits, but BGI design teams often lack awareness of the socio-cultural dimensions of these infrastructures. These practitioners may consequently have a limited understanding of how BGI is valued amongst urban communities, and of how BGI might best be designed to provide the socio-cultural benefits most desired by these communities. Against this background, this research explores the relationship between the intended and experienced benefits of urban BGI. It does so in the context of Ōtautahi Christchurch, a city of around 400,000 in New Zealand, through an examination of four BGI sites. Our work shows that although urban BGI projects have conventionally been driven by stormwater practitioners and interests, in these sites community members primarily valued their ecological and health promoting dimensions. The communities also identified opportunities for BGI to enable other socio-cultural benefits. We argue that future BGI projects would benefit from more holistic consideration of socio-cultural outcomes, enabled by transdisciplinary design approaches and co-design with local communities and Indigenous groups.

In this paper, we investigate how infrastructure and care shape commoner subjectivities. In our research into an urban youth farm in Aotearoa New Zealand, we heard and observed profound tales of growth and transformation among youth participants. Not only were our interviewees narrating stories of individual transformation (of themselves and others), but they also spoke of transformations in the way they engaged with the world around them, including the land and garden and its many species and ecological systems, the food system more generally, the wider community and their co-workers. Such transformations were both individual and collective, having more in common with the collective caring subject homines curans than the autonomous, rational work-ready subject of homo economicus. Using postcapitalist theory on commons, commoning and subjectivity, we argue that these socio-affective encounters with more-than-human commons enabled collective, caring commoner subjectivities to emerge and to be cultivated through collective care in place. We suggest that the commons can be thought of as an infrastructure of care for the counter-city, providing the conditions for the emergence and cultivation of collective caring urban subjects.

Background: There is clear evidence that stress is having an impact on the health and wellbeing of the forest industry workforce in Aotearoa New Zealand. While this has legal ramifications under the national health and safety legislation, international research also shows that harm to mental health invariably leads to reductions in work force productivity and business profitability. The reverse is also true: improved mental wellbeing can lead to greater worker engagement and commitment, which in turn increases productivity and profitability. Although these relationships are well substantiated, managers and leaders in the forest industry may not be aware of either the existence of a workplace stress problem or of its impact. Methods: A critical review is undertaken of stress and psychosocial hazards research within the international forest industry or similar industries (e.g. construction), with particular attention given to the explanation of psychosocial hazards. Results: International research on the forest industry largely confirms what we know about harmful aspects of job content and workplace conditions. However, it is argued that the focus within this research on job content and immediate workplace conditions obscures the impact of the wider social context. This limits the potential of management to move beyond seeing psychosocial factors simply as risks to be minimised at the workplace level. Bringing an ecological perspective to the analysis of forestry workplaces makes it easier to identify the elements of forest management practice that may contribute to stress within the workforce. It also becomes easier to identify the interactions between family, community and workplaces that may either exacerbate or reduce workforce stress. Conclusions: This paper highlights particular opportunities for reducing stress and enhancing wellbeing within the New Zealand forest industry workforce. It suggests that the psychosocial conditions that contribute to mental ill-health can be reconfigured to promote mental health, with wellbeing benefits that extend beyond the workplace. Psychosocial demands on a person can be motivating as long as the person has the resources to meet the challenge. Successful stewardship of the psychosocial environment at the forest management level is thus an opportunity to increase value to both investors and other stakeholders.

The mediatised circulation of narratives that invite or induce strong emotional responses has been a key dimension of the COVID‐19 pandemic. These circulations have shaped the affective dimensions of pandemic life—including collective feelings of fear, anger, relief and happiness—while also contributing to polarised debates regarding lockdowns and vaccinations. In this context, this commentary examines the emergence of public outrage in Aotearoa New Zealand over two women alleged to have broken a lockdown travel restriction. It describes an escalation of judgement and anger, and considers whether the mediatised cultivation of such feelings might displace or undermine empathy and civility. [ FROM AUTHOR] Copyright of New Zealand Geographer is the property of Wiley-Blackwell and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full . (Copyright applies to all s.)