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). The incorporation of Māori histories, values and traditional cultural knowledge within the changing urban landscape is one key to reconciling past grievances and creating desperately needed inclusionary urban spaces that portray and celebrate tangata whenua identity within Aotearoa New Zealand cities.