The Resourcefulness of Craft: Whole House Reuse

Abstract

To choose between being resourceful or wasteful is an everyday decision that is often under-valued. It useful to consider what happens when this choice is taken away and wastefulness is forcibly imposed. To see wastefulness occur, when one would rather act resourcefully, is to experience dispowerment, meaninglessness, loss and an external locus of control. To impose wastefulness is to remove an opportunity to experience a significant capability: resourcefulness. In the context of natural disaster, when sudden trauma causes waste to be seen as a minor issue in relation to other acute priorities, opportunities for resourcefulness often become limited, yet are fundamental to building resilience. To be allowed and enabled to be resourceful post-earthquake by being involved in the craft of deconstruction, resource recovery and reuse, where safe and feasible, is to be offered an opportunity to influence the degree of loss and trauma experienced. Being resourceful enables people to begin to regain some sense of control over what is happening to them, and to feel they can make the most of the resources they have. To see demolition as an opportunity for constructive deconstruction and reuse through craft requires an understanding of the benefits of this over a cheap and hasty use of diggers and trucks. Whole House Reuse was a project that involved the full deconstruction and reuse of one home due for demolition that was made possible by over 250 people engaging in craft for reuse. This project demonstrates that craft is vital as a tool in these times when, more than ever, we need to make the most of the resources we have.