Auckland unplugged : coping with critical infrastructure failure / Lindy Newlove, Eric Stern, and Lina Svedin.

Formerly CIP. Uk

Includes bibliographical references (p. 179-199) and index.

1. Introduction -- 1.1. The Auckland Blackout -- 1.2. Studying Infrastructural Failures: A Crisis Management Approach -- 1.3. Urban Crisis Management -- 1.4. Contextual Process Analysis -- 1.5. Thematic Analysis -- 1.6. Outline of the Study -- 2. Public Sector Reform, Electricity Policy, and Crisis Preparedness in New Zealand -- 2.1. A Country in Transition -- 2.2. Public Sector Reform -- 2.3. Electricity Reform -- 2.4. Local Government Reform -- 2.5. Civil Defense and Disaster Planning -- 2.6. The Auckland Region and its Infrastructure Policy: Key Actors -- 3. The Power Outage Crisis: Key Events and Critical Decisions -- 3.1. The Crisis in Brief -- 3.2. Critical Decisions and Opportunities -- 4. Urban Crisis Management in Auckland: Thematic Analysis --

4.1. Crisis Development -- 4.2. Problem Framing -- 4.3. Leadership and Group Dynamics -- 4.4. Organizational Cooperation and Conflict -- 4.5. Crisis Communication and Mass Media -- 4.6. Intelligence Gathering and Information Processing -- 4.7. Stress Management -- 4.8. Symbolic Politics versus Technical-Managerial Logic -- 4.9. Experts and Decision Makers -- 4.10. Crisis Management in an Urban Setting -- 4.11. Sequencing and Synchronicity -- 4.12. Learning -- 5. Lessons for Crisis Managers -- 5.1. Expect the Unexpected -- 5.2. Face the Worst Case Scenario -- 5.3. Take Care of Yourself and Your People -- 5.4. Governments Can Be Victims; Victims Can Be Crisis Copers --

5.5. Take "Political" Responsibility Sensibly -- 5.6. Don't Lose Sight of the Long-Term Picture -- 5.7. Balance Symbolic and Operational Concerns -- 5.8. Beware of Credibility Traps -- 5.9. Make Sure Your Message is Getting Out -- 5.10. Try to Work with the Media -- 5.11. A Word of Caution.

"Using the 1998 blackout of the central business district of Auckland, New Zealand, as a case study, the authors reveal a number of important insights into the central challenges of crisis governance in post-industrial, democratic societies.

These challenges include: finding an appropriate division of responsibility and labor between public- and private-sector actors; crafting and coordinating a crisis response that addresses perceived threats to community values and avoids the twin perils of underreaction (e.g., passivity or paralysis) and overreaction (e.g., crying wolf or political grandstanding); coping with competence/authority discrepancies under stress - those who have expert knowledge of the technical issues rarely have the authority to make policy; those who have the authority generally lack the technical expertise to comprehend the subtleties and uncertainties of the issues at stake; and maintaining credibility and legitimacy when facing acute, ill-structured problems in politicized, publicized, and highly uncertain environments."--BOOK JACKET.