This paper begins with a review of the residential mobility literature that arose out of housing and planning policy aimed at decreasing the negative effects of urban transience. The literature identified the range of factors influencing residential mobility, but Rossi's (1955) claim that mobility was a 'natural' outcome of life stage changes became the basis for the majority of this work. Most of this literature arose out of quantitative research approaches but writers drew attention to the inability of these approaches to capture the increasing complexity of family life and residential mobility. Drawing on data from the Christchurch, New Zealand, house and home study, this study argues that the qualitative ethnographic method used provides a more holistic approach to, and understanding of, the events and issues which influence household mobility over time. Within this context, the paper presents excerpts from interview data framed as ontological narratives and related stories embedded in social and economic contexts. Some of the themes identified are those of identity, home and place attachment, change and social differentiation, and the impact of gender relations on mobility decisions and experiences. These findings, like those in previous literature, are relevant to housing and planning policy making given the increasing diversity of residential developments and issues of access to social, financial and environmental resources. Understanding how individuals and families establish relationships between themselves and the places in which they live is important given increasingly divided and differentiated experiences of contemporary urban life.

In systemic intervention, boundary critique is important. This means explicitly exploring the inclusion, exclusion and marginalization of both people and issues. Most of the practitioner's attention in boundary critique is usually focused on relationships between stakeholders (i.e. the participants in the intervention and those who might be affected by it). A significant focus is also the remit of the intervention: those things that need to be directly addressed or bracketed out in order to make a difference that is meaningful to a broad range of stakeholders. What is often less visible during boundary critique is the personal and/or professional identity of the practitioner, and the impact this may have on both relationships with others and the construction of people's understanding of the issues they are grappling with. This paper reflects on a project promoting environmental health through Māori community development that reveals the importance of personal and professional identity to systemic intervention. It is argued that it is impossible for practitioners to set aside their identities and become ‘neutral’ modellers or process facilitators. When this appears to happen it is because the practitioner's identity has been (often invisibly) constructed to legitimate his or her activities, and these activities do not transgress the expectations of participants that flow from their understanding of the practitioner's identity and role. Nevertheless, even though practitioner identities inevitably impact on the trajectory of interventions, at least some of their implications can be explicitly acknowledged and managed as part of systemic intervention. Some examples of management strategies are provided. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

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The purpose of this paper is to improve understanding of the relationship between sense of place and community resilience, two concepts described and defined differently reflecting different disciplinary research, policies and practices. We draw on international literature that has focused on the interrelationship between these concepts in the context of natural disasters, as well as the findings of a multidisciplinary project in the post-earthquake Christchurch recovery context. We describe how we developed indicators of resilience linked to sense of place as it relates to home, neighbourhood and the city, including place-based social interaction and the role of scientific and technical information. Through integrating literature with the findings from project interviews and a survey, we offer new ways of considering 'resilience' and we discuss the implications of our findings for not just the Christchurch recovery, but for future response and recovery to natural disasters throughout New Zealand.

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