Street design in Aotearoa has had limited involvement from iwi, hapū and Māori hāpori to date and yet streets are everywhere, they connect us to each other, they are communication channels and spaces and places to engage with others. What then might a Māori street look and feel like?  The project will take a mixed methods approach rooted in a Kaupapa Māori methodology whereby Māori knowledge is privileged. The project aims to bring together mātauranga Māori – defined here as all types of knowledge – traditional, contemporary, and evolving – held by Māori and design approaches drawn from Western knowledge to elevate Māori aspirations in contemporary urban settings.

Inspired by a little-known Tīkapa mōteatea, He Uru Mānuka, a love lament set among riverside mānuka groves, this project aims to document and culturally map selected Waiapu River locations pairing customary and contemporary technologies. In February 2023 during Cyclone Gabrielle, Waiapu River flooded to a height of 8 metres which exacerbated existing erosion, and further damaged vulnerable cultural and ecological sites. Once-common species utilised in Ngāti Porou lifestyle practices are severely impacted by rapid environmental change, leading to a loss of cultural knowledge. Yet, these practices foster invaluable and mauri-sustaining relationships with our ancestral river.  

The best knowledge/technology is coming together for Tahamata Incorporation and shareholders’ coastal farm, Kuku, Horowhenua. Not only is Tahamata Incorporation aligning itself with Whenua Haumanu program run by Ministry for Primary Industries and Massey University to explore diverse pastures and regenerative management practices for lower North Island coastal farming, but this dedicated iwi-led research team will communicate with shareholders/board/operations via mapping and visuals at winter wānanga.  

Ngā Pae o te Māramatanga supported Mana Taiao Tairāwhiti (MTT) in their submission to the Ministerial Inquiry into Land Use in Tairāwhiti and Te Wairoa. Mana Taiao Tairāwhiti (MTT) is an informal network of Tairāwhiti residents and others concerned about land use and the impacts of woody debris.

Project supervisors: Professor Chellie Spiller & Associate Professor Jason Mika

Institution: Te Whare Wānanga o Waikato

Project supervisor: Professor Melinda Webber

Institution: Waipapa Taumata Rau

Raumati intern: Kate Palmer-Neels (Ngāpuhi)

Project supervisor: Dr Erena Wikaire

Institution: Te Whare Wānanga o Awanuiārangi

Raumati intern: Te Hirea Doherty (Tūhoe, Ngāti Awa, Ngāti Pūkenga, Ngāpuhi)

Project supervisors: Dr Tania Cliffe-Tautari & Dr Luke Fitzmaurice

Institution: Waipapa Taumata Rau

Raumati interns: Courtney Smith (Ngāti Kahungunu ki Te Wairoa) & Danielle Matthews (Ngāpuhi)

This research programme will examine how we might envision an approach to placemaking that would result in outcomes that facilitate the expression of mātauranga Māori, tikanga, whānaungatanga and orangatanga in urban areas. The programme will do this by examining concrete innovations through a series of case studies. These examples will demonstrate the optimism that transformative urban activity brings in terms of the potential to redress the struggles of the past (Awatere et al. 2008; Harmsworth 2004).

Our tūpuna were experts in reading tohu o te taiao to live more attuned with the environment and gather kai at the optimal times. Their understanding of their own local taiao is recorded and woven throughout kōrero tuku iho. The maramataka is an example of kōrero tuku iho which provides a uniquely Māori way to record, organise and understand ngā tohu o te taiao.