Mrs Rachael Boswell Cowie

Research | Current

_{PhD thesis working title: Playfulness and Politics: The role of artists’ creative spatial practices in urban recovery after disasters}

This research investigates the interaction between the arts, urban development and post-disaster recovery by looking at urban interventions by artists in Christchurch. The research examines these creative spatial practices through a cultural geographic lens, using the theoretical frameworks involving place, urban space and everyday life discussed by writers such as Lefebvre and DeCerteau, in particular, Lefebvre’s concept of the ‘production of space’ including the ‘right to the city'.

Teaching | Current

17 years of Geography teaching in high schools in both New Zealand and United Kingdom.

Currently teaching Geography part time at a private school for international students in Auckland, while working on my PhD.

Areas of expertise

DIY / Guerilla urbanism

Urban regeneration, particularly in a post-disaster context