Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

The local politics of the global countryside: boosterism, aspirational ruralism and the contested reconstitution of Queenstown, New Zealand

  • Published:
GeoJournal Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

This paper examines the local politics through which the reconstitution of rural localities under globalization is advanced and contested, with particular reference to the impact of international amenity migration. It contends that as globalization proceeds not by domination but by hybridization and negotiation, local politics is critical as the sphere in which the outcomes of globalization processes are interpreted and contested. The paper examines the case study of Queenstown Lakes district in South Island, New Zealand, as a locality that has experienced significant transformation through engagement with globalization processes. These include high levels of international amenity in-migration, substantial overseas investment in property, commerce and construction projects, and an increasing volume of international tourists. Collectively, these processes have contributed to rapid population growth and intensive pressure for the development of rural land in the area. As detailed in the paper, land use planning became the dominant issue in local politics, with conflict between groups informed by ‘boosterist’ and ‘environmentalist’ stand-points, as well as the ‘aspirational ruralism’ of amenity in-migrants. Although locally-grounded, the conflict engaged trans-local actors and networks and transgressed space and scale, thus becoming itself an expression of globalization.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Albrecht, D. E. (2007). Small town in global society. Southern Rural Sociology, 22, 1–14.

    Google Scholar 

  • Anderson, A. (2002). A fragile plenty: Pre-European Maori and the New Zealand environment. In E. Pawson & T. Brooking (Eds.), Environmental histories of New Zealand (pp. 19–34). Melbourne: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ansley, B. (2000). Chewing the scenery. New Zealand Listener, 25 (November), p. 22.

  • Appadurai, A. (1990). Disjuncture and difference in the global cultural economy. Theory, Culture & Society, 7, 295–310. doi:10.1177/026327690007002017.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Baragwanath, L., McAloon, J., & Perkins, H. (2003). Globalisation and New Zealand: Anchoring the Leviathan in a regional context. New Zealand Geographer, 59, 16–26. doi:10.1111/j.1745-7939.2003.tb01663.x.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bebbington, A. (2001). Globalized Andes? Livelihoods, landscapes and development. Ecumene, 8, 369–380. doi:10.1191/096746001701557084.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bell, D. (2006). Variations on the rural idyll. In P. Cloke, T. Marsden, & P. Mooney (Eds.), Handbook of rural studies (pp. 149–160). London: Sage.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bond, S., & Thompson-Fawcett, M. (2006). Design-led participatory planning. In M. Thompson-Fawcett & C. Freeman (Eds.), Living together: Towards inclusive communities (pp. 171–194). Dunedin: Otago University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Busch, L., & Bain, C. (2004). New! Improved? The transformation of the global agrifood system. Rural Sociology, 69, 321–346. doi:10.1526/0036011041730527.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • CAFCA. (2008). Foreign investment in Aotearoa/New Zealand: Decisions of the overseas investment commission and overseas investment office. Retrieved November 14, 2008 from Campaign Against Foreign Control of Aotearoa Web site, http://canterbury.cyberplace.co.nz/community/CAFCA/OIC.htm.

  • Cater, C. (2001). Beyond the gaze: The reflexive tourist and the search for embodied experience. Unpublished PhD Thesis, University of Bristol.

  • Cater, C., & Smith, L. (2003). New country visions: Adventurous bodies in rural tourism. In P. Cloke (Ed.), Country visions (pp. 195–217). London: Pearson.

    Google Scholar 

  • Chaverri, P. P. (2006). Cultural and environmental amenities in peri-urban change: The case of San Antonio de Escazú, Costa Rica. In L. Moss (Ed.), The amenity migrants (pp. 187–199). Wallingford, CT: CABI.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cloke, P. (1989). State deregulation and New Zealand’s agricultural sector. Sociologia Ruralis, 29, 34–48. doi:10.1111/j.1467-9523.1989.tb00354.x.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cloke, P., & Le Heron, R. (1994). Agricultural deregulation: The case of New Zealand. In P. Lowe, T. Marsden, & S. Whatmore (Eds.), Regulating agriculture (pp. 104–126). London: David Fulton.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cloke, P., & Perkins, H. C. (1998). ‘Cracking the canyon with the awesome foursome’: Representations of adventure tourism in New Zealand. Environment and Planning. D, Society & Space, 16, 185–218. doi:10.1068/d160185.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cloke, P., & Perkins, H. C. (2002). Commodification and adventure in New Zealand tourism. Current Issues in Tourism, 5, 521–549.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cooper, W. (2000). Careful consideration behind Wakatipu planning consents. Otago Daily Times, 16 November 2000, p. 22.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cox, K. (1998). Spaces of dependence, spaces of engagement and the politics of scale, or: Looking for local politics. Political Geography, 17, 1–24. doi:10.1016/S0962-6298(97)00048-6.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Crot, L. (2006). ‘Scenographic’ and ‘cosmetic’ planning: Globalization and territorial restructuring in Buenos Aires. Journal of Urban Affairs, 28, 227–251. doi:10.1111/j.1467-9906.2006.00290.x.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Drew, K. (1999). Deer farming in Otago and Southland. In P. Sorrell (Ed.), The cyclopedia of Otago and Southland. Dunedin: Dunedin City Council.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dummond, I., & Marsden, T. (1999). The condition of sustainability. London: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Easton, B. (1997). In stormy seas: The post-war New Zealand economy. Dunedin: University of Otago Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Echánove, F. (2005). Globalization and restructuring in rural Mexico: The case of fruit growers. Tijdschrift voor Economische en Sociale Geografie, 96, 15–30. doi:10.1111/j.1467-9663.2005.00436.x.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Edmondson, J. (2003). Prairie town: Redefining rural life in the age of globalization. Lanham, MD: Rowman and Littlefield.

    Google Scholar 

  • Epp, R., & Whitson, D. (Eds.). (2001). Writing off the rural west: Globalization, governments and the transformation of rural communities. Edmonton: University of Alberta Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ericksen, N. J., Berke, P. R., Crawford, J. L., & Dixon, J. E. (2003). Planning for sustainability: New Zealand under the Resource Management Act. Hamilton: International Global Change Institute, University of Waikato.

    Google Scholar 

  • Glorioso, R. S. (2006). A bioregion in jeopardy: The strategic challenge of amenity migration in Baguio, the Philippines. In L. Moss (Ed.), The amenity migrants (pp. 261–277). Wallingford, CT: CABI.

    Google Scholar 

  • Goodman, D., & Watts, M. (1997). Globalizing food: Agrarian questions and global restructuring. London: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hall, C. M. (2006). Amenity migration in the South Island of New Zealand: Contestation for land and landscape in Central Otago. In L. Moss (Ed.), The amenity migrants (pp. 295–305). Wallingford, CT: CABI.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hendrickson, M., & Heffernan, W. D. (2002). Opening spaces through relocalization: Locating potential resistance in the weaknesses of the global food system. Sociologia Ruralis, 43, 347–369. doi:10.1111/1467-9523.00221.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hjalager, A.-M. (2007). Stages in the economic globalization of tourism. Annals of Tourism Research, 34, 437–457. doi:10.1016/j.annals.2006.10.006.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hogan, J. (2004). Constructing the global in two rural communities in Australia and Japan. Journal of Sociology 40, 21–40. doi:10.1177/1440783304040451.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hogg, M. (2001). Power in paradise: Elite agency in landscape transformation—A Queenstown case study. Unpublished BA dissertation, University of Otago.

  • Jackiewicz, E. L. (2006). Community-centred globalization: Modernization under control in rural Costa Rica. Latin American Perspectives, 33, 136–146. doi:10.1177/0094582X06294139.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kelsey, J. (1997). The New Zealand experiment: A world model for structural adjustment?. Auckland: Auckland University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • King, R., Warnes, T., & Williams, A. (2000). Sunset lives: British retirement migration to the Mediterranean. Oxford: Berg.

    Google Scholar 

  • Larner, W. (1998). Hitching a ride on the tiger’s back: Globalisation and spatial imaginaries in New Zealand. Environment and Planning. D, Society & Space, 16, 599–614. doi:10.1068/d160599.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Le Heron, R., & Pawson, E. (Eds.). (1996). Changing places: New Zealand in the nineties. Auckland: Longman Paul.

    Google Scholar 

  • MAC Property. (2007). Queenstown property market update. Retrieved November 11, 2008 from MAC Property website http://www.macproperty.com.

  • Magnusson, W. (2003). Introduction: The puzzle of the political. In W. Magnusson & K. Shaw (Eds.), A political space: Reading the global through Clayoquot sound (pp. 1–20). Minneapolis, MN: University of Minnesota Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Massey, D. (2005). For space. London: Sage.

    Google Scholar 

  • McCarthy, J. (2008). Rural geography: Globalizing the countryside. Progress in Human Geography, 32, 129–138. doi:10.1177/0309132507082559.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • McClure, M. (2004). The wonder country: Making New Zealand tourism. Auckland: Auckland University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • McMichael, P. (1994). The global restructuring of agro-food systems. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Moss, L. (Ed.). (2006). The amenity migrants. Wallingford, CT: CABI.

    Google Scholar 

  • Murdoch, J. (2003). Co-constructing the countryside: Hybrid networks and the extensive self. In P. Cloke (Ed.), Country visions (pp. 263–282). London: Pearson.

    Google Scholar 

  • Murdoch, J. (2006). Networking rurality: Emergent complexity in the countryside. In P. Cloke, T. Marsden, & P. Mooney (Eds.), Handbook of rural studies (pp. 171–184). London: Sage.

    Google Scholar 

  • Murray, W. E. (2001). The second wave of globalization and agrarian change in the Pacific Islands. Journal of Rural Studies, 17, 135–148. doi:10.1016/S0743-0167(00)00042-5.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Neill, S. (2000a). Mud-slinging with the mayor. The Press, 10 November 2000, 2 edn., p. 1.

  • Neill, S. (2000b). Our national treasure. The Dominion, 5(December), 2000.

  • NZ Winemakers. (2004). Annual report 2004. Auckland: NZ Winemakers.

  • Pearce, D. G., & Cant, P. G. (1981). The development and impact of tourism in Queenstown. New Zealand Man and Biosphere Report Number 7. Christchurch: Department of Geography, University of Canterbury.

  • Peart, R. (2004). A place to stand: The protection of New Zealand’s natural and cultural landscapes. Auckland: Environmental Defence Society.

    Google Scholar 

  • Perkins, H. C. (2006). Commodification: Re-resourcing rural areas. In P. Cloke, T. Marsden, & P. Mooney (Eds.), Handbook of rural studies (pp. 243–257). London: Sage.

    Google Scholar 

  • Queenstownproperty.com. (2004). An overview to the Queenstown property market. Retrieved November 2, 2004 from Queenstown Property website http://www.queenstownproperty.com/trends/market_commentary.html.

  • Schmied, D. (2005). Incomers and locals in the European countryside. In D. Schmied (Ed.), Winning and losing: The changing geography of Europe’s rural areas (pp. 141–166). Aldershot: Ashgate.

    Google Scholar 

  • Shatkin, G. (2004). Globalization and local leadership: Growth, power and politics in Thailand’s eastern seaboard. International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, 28, 11–26. doi:10.1111/j.0309-1317.2004.00500.x.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sorrell, P. (Ed.). (1999). The cyclopedia of Otago and Southland. Dunedin: Dunedin City Council.

    Google Scholar 

  • Stahre, U. (2004). City in change: Globalization, local politics and urban movements in contemporary Stockholm. International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, 28, 68–85. doi:10.1111/j.0309-1317.2004.00503.x.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Stringer, C., & Le Heron, R. (Eds.). (2008). Agri-food commodity chains and globalisation networks. Aldershot: Ashgate.

    Google Scholar 

  • Torres, R. M., & Momsen, J. D. (2005). Gringolandia: The construction of a new tourist space in Mexico. Annals of the Association of American Geographers. Association of American Geographers, 95, 314–335. doi:10.1111/j.1467-8306.2005.00462.x.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tourism Research Council New Zealand. (2006). Regional tourism organizations statistics. Retrieved February 12, 2006 from Tourism Research Council New Zealand website http://www.trcnz.govt.nz.

  • Tourism Research Council New Zealand. (2008a). New Zealand Regional Tourism Forecasts 2008–2014: Lake Wanaka RTO. Retrieved November 11, 2008 from Tourism Research Council New Zealand website http://www.trcnz.govt.nz.

  • Tourism Research Council New Zealand. (2008b). New Zealand Regional Tourism Forecasts 2008–2014: Queenstown RTO. Retrieved November 11, 2008 from Tourism Research Council New Zealand website http://www.trcnz.govt.nz.

  • Whitson, D. (2001). Nature as playground: Recreation and gentrification in the Mountain West. In R. Epp & D. Whitson (Eds.), Writing off the rural west (pp. 145–164). Edmonton: University of Alberta Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Woods, M. (2003). Deconstructing rural protest: The emergence of a new social movement. Journal of Rural Studies, 19(3), 309–325. doi:10.1016/S0743-0167(03)00008-1.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Woods, M. (2006). Foreword. In M. Thompson-Fawcett & C. Freeman (Eds.), Living together: Towards inclusive communities (pp. 7–12). Dunedin: Otago University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Woods, M. (2007). Engaging the global countryside: Globalization, power and the hybrid reconstitution of rural place. Progress in Human Geography, 31(4), 385–508. doi:10.1177/0309132507079503.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Aberystwyth University, Aberystwyth, UK

    Michael Woods

Authors
  1. Michael Woods
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Michael Woods.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Woods, M. The local politics of the global countryside: boosterism, aspirational ruralism and the contested reconstitution of Queenstown, New Zealand. GeoJournal 76, 365–381 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10708-009-9268-7

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10708-009-9268-7

Keywords

Search

Navigation