TY - UNPB T1 - To cluster or not to cluster – post natural disaster relocation decisions of SMEs Y1 - 2014 A1 - Deborah Levy A1 - Helena Cooper-Thomas A1 - Sussie Morrish A1 - Paul Ballantine AB -

The Christchurch earthquake of the 24th February 2011 devastated the New Zealand city and in particular its Central Business District. Extreme events such as these not only highlight the vulnerability of our communities, but also demonstrate how communities are dynamic places that are in continual change. There are similarities in the issues that communities face after a natural disaster regardless of the type of disaster that has occurred. Christchurch illustrates that the decision people make on whether they stay to rebuild or move elsewhere is highly dependent upon what happens in property markets both physical and financial. The ability of developers and key industry players to obtain financing and the cost to rebuild to new specifications will decide whether businesses stay in the same area of the city or relocate. Relocation decisions also hinge on how badly affected areas of the city are and the types of damage caused to property and infrastructure. In Christchurch it is evident that some areas that were not particularly desirable before the earthquake but were left relatively unscathed have become highly sought after. This paper utilises Christchurch to examine the relocation decisions of small and medium sized businesses that were located in the CBD. In particular it examines the phenomena of clustering in relation to socialisation and market efficiency. The research takes a qualitative approach by undertaking in-depth interviews with real estate agents working relocating businesses and a number of in-depth interviews with decision makers within a range of small and medium sized businesses.It is suggested that the decision making process of these businesses are common to disaster areas regardless of the type of disaster occurring and will thus explore how people and businesses interact with property. This study will help to increase our understanding of these relocation decisions and the dynamic and eclectic nature of rebuilding after an extreme event.

JA - 21st Annual European Real Estate Society Conference T3 - ERES: Conference CY - Bucharest, Romania UR - http://library.eres.org/cgi-bin/rsa98.pl?conf=ERES2014&type=session&theme=K &slot=2770 U3 - RePEc:arz:wpaper:eres2014_188 J1 - Conference 2014 ID - oai-eres.id-eres2014_188 M3 - 10.15396/eres2014_188 ER -