ER85 Ka mua, ka muri connection tangata to whenua through housing (2024)

This research project forms part of a longer-term initiative to establish a vibrant pā at Māori Land Block Te Kaha No 2C2 (known as Te Kinakina). Te Kinakina comprises 61 acres of Māori freehold land situated on the Eastern Bay of Plenty coastline, within the tribal rohe of Te Ehutu/Te Whānau-ā-Apanui. The aims of this project are twofold: to undertake a comprehensive site analysis and whānau housing design proposal for Te Kinakina and to document and evaluate the co-creation processes between whānau, researchers, practitioners and other actors involved in housing systems. This project builds on research previously undertaken as part of the ‘Poipoia te kākano, kia puāwai’ research programme, a kaupapa Māori response with Māori researchers undertaking ‘local’ community-up research with and for Māori. Funded through the Building Better Homes Towns and Cities National Science Challenge, this first stage followed the wetlands restoration project and its role in housing the non-human descendants of our environmental atua. The funding applied for here would allow the expansion of the research to explore the aspirations of whānau to be housed on the land. The project also builds on, and draws from, James Berghan’s PhD in terms of the social and collective elements of kāinga design, applied in a rural context.