Students design solutions for managing flood risk
Devising ways to make Masterton more resilient to flooding while enhancing the area for residents is the focus of a group of students from Victoria University of Wellington.
About 20 third year Landscape Architecture students have used the Waipoua River, which flows through the middle of the Wairarapa town, as a case study for their coursework. They have been tasked not only with developing ideas to manage the flood risk along the riverbanks, but also with finding ways to increase economic development in the area.
Peter Connolly is an associate professor in Landscape Architecture at Victoria’s School of Architecture and is the course coordinator. He was thrilled when the Greater Wellington Regional Council (GWRC) proposed the collaboration and says it’s the perfect project for the students.
“It’s a fantastic opportunity to join forces with the regional council—it provides local knowledge, guidance on budgeting and other data to the students. They are then set loose on the project and can come up with any design they like, within the parameters.”
The course also involves working closely with Masterton locals to gather ideas—the students have attended a workshop where they consulted with prominent members of the community, including local Māori.
Peter says the potential threat posed by flooding to Masterton had previously been underestimated. “The local population perhaps doesn’t realise how bad it could be – before the GWRC’s recent re-evaluation of the protection ability of the stop banks, everybody thought the current system would stand up to a one in 100 year flood. But it actually only offers protection from a one in 36 year flood—much less than anybody is prepared for.
“Flooding control systems have a big impact on surrounding urban areas, and traditionally involve building huge stop banks which in effect take the river out of people’s lives,” says Peter. “If you’re just passing through Masterton, you’d hardly realise there’s a beautiful river running right through the town. This project is a chance to design a solution which keeps in mind the imperative of preventing flooding, while also enhancing the area around the river for the people who live and work there.
Former Masterton mayor Bob Francis, who chairs the GWRC’s Te Kāuru Upper Raumahanga Floodplain Management Subcommittee, says he’s been very impressed with the students’ work. “I thought their recent presentation to a community meeting was particularly exciting,” he says. “There are a lot of ideas that they’ve developed which are relevant, within budget, and could certainly be implemented in the next year or two.”
Peter says the students have really enjoyed working on the project. “They’ve loved being there and hearing people talk about their town. It’s a significant project, and the work they are doing has the potential to make a real difference and leave an important legacy.”