UC Spark

Dr David John Conradson

Geography

Fields of Research

  • Community welfare and well-being
  • Disaster recovery and resilience
  • Emotion and affect in social life
  • Therapeutic and enabling environments
  • Place attachment and sense of place
  • Social connectedness
  • Supportive settings

Researcher Summary

My research is concerned with community welfare and well-being in western societies.  I approach these topics from the perspectives of social, cultural and health geography.  My thinking is also shaped by work in psychology and psychotherapy, community and public health, and by interdisciplinary scholarship on emotion and affect.   A number of my current projects are connected to recovery after the Canterbury earthquakes.  

I am an Editor for Social and Cultural Geography and a member of the editorial advisory board for Social Science and Medicine.  I serve on the University of Canterbury’s Human Ethics Committee.  

Current and recent research projects:

• Stories of movement: experiences of disruption and adjustment in a post-quake city (PI)
• Promoting community resilience: a framework for best practice (co-I)
• Community recovery indicators and well-being survey (co-I)
• City of flows: household water practices in Christchurch, New Zealand (PI)
• Affective choreography: contemporary techniques for the orchestration of feeling (PI)
• The revalorisation of stillness: the contemporary place of retreat (PI)

Subject Area: Disciplines

Key Methodologies

  • Interviews and focus groups
  • Social surveys/questionnaires
  • Participant observation
  • Ethnography
  • Social network analysis

Affiliations

Publications


  • Conradson, D. (2013) Health and Well-Being. In Cloke, P., Crang, P. and Goodwin, M. (Ed.), Introducing Human Geographies (3rd ed.): forthcoming. London: Routledge. (Chapter in Book)
  • Conradson, D. (2013) Somewhere between religion and spirituality? Places of retreat in contemporary Britain. In P. Hopkins, L. Kong and E. Olson (Ed.), Religion and Place: Landscape, Politics and Piety: 185-202. Dordrecht: Springer. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-4685-5_11. (Chapter in Book)
  • Stevenson, J., Conradson, D. and Vargo, J. (2012) Context and networks in organisational resilience: Case studies from the Christchurch Central Business District. Christchurch, New Zealand: 6th Australasian Natural Hazards Management Conference, 21-22 Aug 2012. (Conference Contribution - Poster presentation)
  • Britt, E., Carter, J., Conradson, D., Scott, A., Vargo, J. and Moss, H. (2012) Resilience framework and guidelines for practice. Ministry of Social Development. 45pp. (Report for External Body)
  • Conradson, D. (2012) Well-Being: Reflections on Geographical Engagements. In Atkinson, S., Fuller, S. and Painter, J. (Ed.), Well-Being and Place: 15-34. Aldershot: Ashgate. http://www.ashgate.com/isbn/9781409420606. (Chapter in Book)
  • Conradson, D. (2011) Care and Caring. In V. Del Casino, M. Thomas, P. Cloke and R. Panelli (Ed.), A Companion to Social Geography: 454-471. Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell. http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/9781444395211. (Chapter in Book)
  • Conradson, D. (2010) The orchestration of feeling: Stillness, spirituality and places of retreat. In D. Bissell and G. Fuller (Ed.), Stillness in a Mobile World: 71-86. London: Routledge. (Chapter in Book)
  • Conradson, D. (2009) "Non-representational theory. Space politics affect" by Nigel Thrift. Routledge, London, 2008. 325 pp. New Zealand Geographer 65(3): 238-240. Book Review. (Other)
  • Curtis, S., Hoyez, A-C., Conradson, D. and et al. (2009) Health, Well-being and Immigrant Populations in France and Britain. International Journal of Migration, Health and Social Care 5(4): 4-19. http://dx.doi.org/10.5042/ijmhsc.2010.0228. (Journal Article)
  • Conradson, D. and Moon, G. (2009) On the street: Primary health care for difficult to reach populations. In V. Crooks and G. Andrews (Ed.), Primary Health Care: People, Practice, Place: 237-260. Aldershot: Ashgate. (Chapter in Book)
  • Conradson, D. (2008) Experiential economies of stillness: the place of retreat in contemporary Britain. In Williams, A. (Ed.), Therapeutic Landscapes: 33-48. Aldershot: Ashgate. (Chapter in Book)
  • Conradson, D. (2008) Expressions of charity and action towards justice: Faith-based welfare in urban New Zealand. Urban Studies 45(10): 2117-2141. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0042098008094876. (Journal Article)
  • Conradson, D. and Latham, A. (2007) The affective possibilities of London: Antipodean transnationals and the Overseas Experience. Mobilities 2(2): 231-254. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/17450100701381573. (Journal Article)
  • Milligan, C. and Conradson, D. (2006) Contemporary landscapes of welfare: the voluntary turn? In C. Milligan and D. Conradson (Ed.), Landscapes of Voluntarism: New Spaces of Health, Welfare and Governance: 1-14. Bristol: Policy Press. (Chapter in Book)
  • Milligan, C. and Conradson, D. (Ed.) (2006) Landscapes of Voluntarism: New Spaces of Health, Welfare and Governance. Bristol: Policy Press. 320pp. (Edited Book)
  • Conradson, D. (2006) Values, practices and strategic divestment: Christian social service organisations in New Zealand. In C. Milligan and D. Conradson (Ed.), Landscapes of Voluntarism: New Spaces of Health, Welfare and Governance: 153-172. Bristol: Policy Press. (Chapter in Book)
  • Conradson, D. and Latham, A. (2005) Escalator London? A Case Study of New Zealand Tertiary Educated Migrants in a Global City. Journal of Contemporary European Studies 13(2): 159-172. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/14782800500212376. (Journal Article)
  • Conradson, D. (2005) Freedom, space and perspective: moving encounters with other ecologies. In J. Davidson, L. Bondi and M. Smith (Ed.), Emotional Geographies: 103-116. Aldershot: Ashgate. (Chapter in Book)
  • Conradson, D. and Latham, A. (2005) Friendship, networks and transnationality in a world city: Antipodean transmigrants in London. Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies 31(2): 287-305. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/1369183042000339936. (Journal Article)
  • Conradson, D. and Latham, A. (2005) Transnational urbanism: Attending to everyday practices and mobilities. Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies 31(2): 227-233. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/1369183042000339891. (Journal Article)
  • Conradson, D. (2003) Doing organisational space: practices of voluntary welfare in the city. Environment and Planning A 35(11): 1975-1992. http://dx.doi.org/10.1068/a3584. (Journal Article)
  • Latham, A. with Conradson. and D. (2003) The possibilities of performance. Environment and Planning A 35(11): 1901-1906. (Journal Article)
  • Conradson, D. and Pawson, E. (1997) Reworking the geography of the long boom: the small town experience of restructuring in Reefton, New Zealand. Environment and Planning A 29(8): 1381-1397. http://dx.doi.org/10.1068/a291381. (Journal Article)
  • Conradson, D. (1996) The small town experience of restructuring. In R. Le Heron, E. Pawson (Ed.), Changing Places: New Zealand in the Nineties: 116-118. Auckland: Longman Paul. (Chapter in Book)