Vol.:(0123456789) 1 3 Sustainability Science https://doi.org/10.1007/s11625-017-0523-4 ORIGINAL ARTICLE Disasters as opportunities for sustainability: the case of Christchurch, Aotearoa New Zealand Katja Brundiers 1 Received: 21 June 2017 / Accepted: 14 December 2017 © Springer Japan KK, part of Springer Nature 2017 Abstract Disasters can catalyze change in diferent ways, among others: they allow reinforcing pre-disaster exploitation and inequities, enhancing disaster risk reduction policies, or introducing alternative pathways guided by sustainability. Only few studies have investigated the latter: how people were able to leverage disasters for change towards sustainability. This study deals with such people who were able to see, seize, and sustain opportunities for sustainability following a disaster. The study generated data through semi-structured interviews with sustainability change agents in Christchurch, Aotearoa New Zealand, active during and after the major earthquakes period 2010–2012. The study fnds that progress towards sustainability to date is mixed. While Christchurch was less successful in leveraging the immediate opportunities for sweeping change towards sustainability, the sustainability change agents continued to see, seize, and sustain post-disaster opportunities to move sus- tainability forward. The study derives advice on how to best leverage disasters for sustainability. Keywords Sustainability · Disaster · Opportunity · Change · Agency · Christchurch Introduction Disasters and post-disaster recovery processes provide win- dows of opportunity for change (Birkmann et al. 2009; Pel- ling and Dill 2010; Solecki 2015; Wiek et al. 2015). Human agency is needed to recognize and leverage such windows of opportunity. The majority of studies document post- disaster change that benefts interest groups at the expense of the greater good (e.g., Klein 2007; Gunewardena and Schuller 2008; Gotham and Greenburg 2008). In contrast, there is a body of work that evaluates to what extent disas- ters spur disaster risk reduction measures and building back better eforts, enhancing resilience. These eforts primar- ily focus on mitigating potential impacts of future hazards while improving disaster recovery (Pantuliano et al. 2014; Mannakkara 2014). To expand these eforts, the notion of building back better needs to include not just building back “stronger”, but also “greener” and “more equitably” (Kim and Olshansky 2015). Others go even further, arguing that there should be no building back better, but building dif- ferently to enable bouncing forward to a sustainable future (Manyena et al. 2011; IOM 2015). Few studies document, how individuals and organizations seized windows of oppor- tunity for social cohesion and justice, renewable energy and resource-efcient construction, and integrated livelihoods (e.g., Solnit 2009; Swearingen-White 2010; McSweeney and Coomes 2011). Investigating “the positive side of disasters” supports communities in how to utilize disastrous events to make progress towards sustainability (Agrawal 2011). Such research becomes important as “every extreme event should be seen as an opportunity for learning” (Solecki 2015, p. 9). This will enhance capacities for sustainability, disaster risk reduction, and adaption. The city of Christchurch in Aotearoa New Zealand is one of the cases, where civil society, businesses, and some government entities desired to seize opportunities for change towards sustainability after the series of earthquakes 2010–2012. After more than 5 years of recovery eforts, an open question is: did Christchurch seize the opportunity for Handled by Akhilesh Surjan, Charles Darwin University, Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (https://doi.org/10.1007/s11625-017-0523-4) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users. * Katja Brundiers katja.brundiers@asu.edu 1 School of Sustainability, Arizona State University, P.O. Box 875502, Tempe, AZ 85287-5402, USA