Seaports as Adaptors to Natural Hazards and Climate Change: The Case of the Port of Lyttelton, New Zealand

By means of an in-depth case study of the natural shock-prone Port of Lyttelton, New Zealand, this paper aims to illustrate the types of challenges long-standing ports face in adapting to natural hazards and climate change. Despite Lyttelton’s vulnerability to external environmental shocks, such as earthquakes and tsunamis, sedimented organisational routines and institutional inertia inhibited adaptive decision making and planning for disaster management. It took a trigger event - namely, the 2011 Christchurch earthquake - and subsequent pressure from external stakeholders to spur the port authority to commence comprehensively planning for the effects of climate change. More generally, through its institutional-organisational approach, the paper highlights the contribution maritime history can make to global historical research on human adaption to changes in marine environments.