The fires of ambition: Te Awa Tupua 2040

Abstract

RESEARCH QUESTION: How can New Zealand cities be decolonised to re-establish mana whenua ahikātanga?

SUB-QUESTION: How can design based on Whanganuitanga re-establish mana whenua ahikātanga at Pākaitore?

ABSTRACT: Since the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi the Whanganui river has actively been destroyed by legislative acts of the Crown. The Highways and Watercourses Diversions Act 1858, the Wanganui River Trust Act 1891, and the Coal Mines Act amendment in 1891 have all undermined Te Tiriti o Waitangi and the ability for Whanganui uri (descendants of the river) to care for, protect, manage and use the river. Over the past 180 years the outcomes of these laws have diminished the mauri of the river and severed the interconnected relationship Whanganui uri have with the river, resulting in a significant loss of ancestral knowledge and practises.

The Te Awa Tupua Act that was passed in 2017 represents a significant turning point. A point where Whanganui uri can acknowledge their people who championed the longest running legal battle in New Zealand’s history, by imagining the future of Te Awa Tupua through their eyes. Now that the river is established as a legal person through Westminster law, Whanganui uri can shift efforts towards restoring the mauri of the awa and rebuilding their relationship with the awa.

This research is a design exploration into Whanganui uri’s aspirations for Te Awa Tupua, following the Te Awa Tupua Act, 2017. The research process was developed to align with the He Waka Pakoko – Pathways to 2040 symposium for Whanganui uri through Kaupapa Māori Rangahau and research by design. In doing so, this research addresses the questions: how can New Zealand cities be decolonised to re-establish mana whenua ahikātanga? and how can design based on Whanganuitanga re-establish mana whenua ahikātanga at Pākaitore?

Site: Pākaitore, Whanganui