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25 July 2022: Regional communities are experiencing social impacts from economic regeneration projects, including tourism infrastructure development, heritage conservation, irrigation and new land uses, and housing, but how are these impacts measured?

Building Better researchers Dr Nick Taylor, from Nick Taylor and Associates, and Dr Mike Mackay, from AgResearch, have recently published a comprehensive practical guideline to Social Impact Assessment (SIA) to help councils and community groups learn the basics about how to conduct an SIA, contribute to an SIA, use the results of an SIA, and judge if an SIA is fit for purpose.

“During our work, we encountered many community leaders who were keen to learn how to assess the social impacts of the plans they design, how to take this information and use it to make decisions, and then, overtime, evaluate the outcomes for communities,” says Nick.

13 July 2022: An article in Te Ao Māori News by Muriwai Hei examines the work at Te Puea Marae in delivering transitional housing.

With researchers supporting by Building Better (BBHTC), Manaaki Tangata E Rua is New Zealand’s first marae-based transitional housing programme. Whānau engaging with Te Puea are experiencing transformative results.

BBHTC researcher and Ngā Wai A Te Tūī director Professor Jenny Lee-Morgan says the evidence compiled identifies pivotal ways of thinking about marae and their ability to support communities.

“The contribution our marae provide in serving our whānau and addressing homelessness has seen compelling shifts for whānau in their physical and spiritual wellbeing.”

Families from diverse cultures who’ve experienced the meaningful support provided by Te Puea have shared their experiences with researchers.

Te Puea Marae.

10 July 2022: Te Puea Marae is transforming the lives of whānau experiencing homelessness with a tikanga Māori based approach to transitional housing.

Manaaki Tangata E Rua, funded by Building Better Homes, Towns, and Cities (BBHTC), is New Zealand’s first marae based transitional housing programme which has secured permanent homes for more than 100 families.

Lead Social Worker, Whitiao Paul says people supported through the programme become a part of the whanau at their Marae which helps creates an enduring connection.

“When they move to their new homes our relationship with them doesn’t end, we stay by their sides to help make sure they have the right support to maintain mana motuhake (self-sustainability).”

The Manaaki Tāngata Programme Kaimahi.

26 June 2022: A leading Māori architect says new housing developments need to more culturally appropriate and designed with Māori and Pasifika families in mind.

Rau Hoskins told Q+A with Jack Tame that in the wake of the housing crisis, the initial effort has been to build, build, build.

“I think it's to be applauded that the Government is finally putting major resourcing Into getting the volume of our state housing up. The next challenge is looking at the quality of those environments for Māori, Pacific and inter-generational whānau.”

However, he says the focus on multi-level terrace house developments has meant many houses don’t cater for whānau with disabled members, or allow for inter-generational living.

“We've had not only that style of house dictated to us, but we've had the planning dictated to us from standard plan books. And that was from the very early Māori Affairs houses right through to our medium density terraced housing that's proliferating in Māngere and Mt Roskill and other parts of the country today," said Hoskins.

Marae designed by Rau Hoskins.

07 June 2022: Māori conceptions of ‘home’ are relational and multi-dimensional. They can extend beyond the physical house, drawing on connections and relationships within and between whānau, whenua, and whakapapa.

These conceptions can be at odds with mainstream societal regimes, which tend to focus on individualisation, private property rights, and the nuclear family unit. Building Better researcher Dr James Berghan asks if there may be better options worth investigating.

“Much of our housing stock is reflective of those values which don’t necessarily align with a relational Māori world view. A growing body of literature is emerging on housing approaches that might better suit Māori needs and aspirations,” says James.

A number of scholars have explored various aspects of Māori and housing, including trends and contemporary barriers to Māori achieving their housing aspirations, papakāinga (Māori housing) design principles, and established toolkits to guide the development of papakāinga - advancing the state of knowledge around papakāinga and the potential for kaupapa Māori housing and neighbourhood design approaches.

Earthsong Eco-Neighbourhood, Ranui, Auckland. Photo: James Berghan.

11 May 2022: The world’s top-ranked university, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), has awarded Jacqueline Paul (Ngā Puhi, Ngāti Kahungunu ki Heretaunga, Ngāti Tūwharetoa) a full-ride scholarship.

The Ngā Wai A Te Tūī and He Kāinga Whakamana Tangata Whakamana Taiao (BBHTC) researcher has joined the chosen few accepted to MIT, ranked as one of the best universities in the world alongside institutes like Harvard, Oxford, and Stanford. For more than a decade, MIT has maintained the number one spot on the QS World University Rankings, and the competitive admissions process only accepts 4.1% or 4 out of every 100 applicants.

Jackie received the news of her acceptance to MIT just hours after graduating with her Masters at the University of Cambridge.

“I was in Lucy Cavendish College with a close friend and my sister when I received the news. It has taken me several weeks to process everything as it feels surreal to get into the one school I thought I would never get into. I feel so humbled and extremely grateful.”

MIT scholarship recipient Jacqueline (Jackie) Paul. Photo: Emma Wharepouri.

14 April 2022: Leaders of a national research entity operating under a Treaty-based co-governance structure say it’s an important step towards establishing genuine equality for Māori.

Building Better Homes Towns and Cities (BBHTC), a National Science Challenge dedicated to exploring sustainable housing solutions, is led by Tangata Tiriti and Tangata Whenua co-chairs and co-directors who share equal authority and accountability.

BBHTC (Tangata Whenua) co-chair Gena Moses-Te Kani and (Tangata Tiriti) co-chair Hope Simonsen say political attacks on co-governance encourage ignorance and fuel racism.

“What it does is it reinforces racism. Saying that we are getting something that no one else is getting is throwing shots without understanding any of the detail whatsoever. It’s undermining and annoying,” says Moses-Te Kani.

Tangata Tiriti co-chair Hope Simonsen says co-governance supports the evolution of an imbalanced western-dominated system.

Building Better Homes, Towns and Cities: He Kāinga Whakamana Tangata, Whakamana Taiao National Science Challenge Co-directors Ruth Berry (left) and Rihi Te Nana. Photos: Louise Thomas (Ruth) and Desna Whaanga Schollum (Rihi).

14 April 2022: Te Ao Māori News reporter Tumamao Harawira reported on the Building Better Homes, Towns and Cities National Science Challenge co-governance arrangements, with Tangata Tiriti and Tangata Whenua co-chairs and co-directors sharing equal authority and accountability for the Challenge.

BBHTC Tangata Tiriti co-chair Hope Simonsen says political attacks on co-governance encourage ignorance and fuel racism.

"It's just absolutely ridiculous to think that we can work within the confines of a western structure and get good outcomes for Māori."

Moses-Te Kani also says the journey towards co-governance is challenging.

"When I started in the challenge I was the only woman in governance, there were two Māori out of six. We didn't have a kāhui and we purposely decided the kāhui wasn't the way to go."

With public consultation on co-governance expected to begin later this year following iwi and Māori consultation on He Puapua, BBHTC is encouraging organisations championing this approach to step forward and highlight the facts to help drown out divisive discourse.

Māori Television.

13 April 2022: Te Ao Māori News reporter Deborah LaHatte recently reported on the almost complete new block of Kaumātua housing in Bluff. The beginnings of this papakainga have long been an aspiration of the Te Rau Aroha Marae.

The project has in part been supported by government funding of $2 million as part of He Kāinga Pai Rawa, a Building Better Homes, Towns and Cities National Science Challenge Project, which is developing housing strategies to create communities for Māori.

“We’re hoping to move the kaumatua in the next two months. For the next few weeks, we will be showing them around. There is still a lot of work to do but they are all excited,” says Te Runaka o Awarua kaiwhakahaere Dean Whaanga. Based in Bluff, Te Runaka o Awarua is an organisation responsible for implementing initiatives for social, cultural, and spiritual well-being of Ngāi Tahu and the community.

Dean says with a lot of runaka it’s a question of pūtea. “So we are always saving up money, but got the support of government."

“There are housing issues all over the country and this helped us achieve some of our goals, especially for our kaumatua, as a starter. After that, we are looking at developing more papakainga housing for all of our hapū."

The motu’s southern-most marae at Bluff has just opened six homes for kaumātua, fulfilling a 20-year dream by the Te Rau Aroha Marae whānau. Photo: Te Ao Māori News.

5 April 2022: New Building Better-funded research shows that jetties are deeply valued by people in a variety of ways from the recreational, to the historical, to the aesthetic. Jetties are places of connection, with intergenerational value. The researchers say that restoring a community’s jetty has a greater effect than just repairing the physical structure.

Recreational activities using jetties by the community were wide ranging including fishing, walking, nature appreciation, jumping off it, and using it to launch a kayak or boat.

In addition, many people interviewed for the research also emphasised that the jetties offered much more than their functional purposes. As an interviewee said, “I don’t think you have to use something for it to be precious.”

Jetties provide access to the marine environment to which many community members feel a connection and from which they get pleasure. Some utilise its access to nature for their wellbeing, with a respondent referring to their local jetty as the “Blue Hagley Park”.

The Church Bay jetty was successfully restored by the community by December 2016, after the Christchurch City Council made the decision in 2011 not to finance the jetty repair. The overall effect was of “bringing the community together”, with the grand re-opening occasion marked by a sign stating “We have saved our jetty”. The Kaioruru / Church Bay jetty was subsequently used as a blueprint for other community-led jetty restoration projects around the Peninsula. Photo: Kate Oranje, Lincoln University.

1 April 2022: A sustainable paving project sponsored by Venture Timaru, with support from AgResearch via the Thriving Regions programme of the Building Better Homes, Towns and Cities National Science Challenge, has recently been announced as one of the top 24 ventures in the 2022 Food, Fibre & Agritech Supernode Challenge.

The top 24 ventures have now been selected to move into an Accelerator programme. Participants are developing ideas that will solve problems in the sector, positively impacting the future of Aotearoa New Zealand as they support a cleaner and greener environment and facilitate more efficiency.

The paving project, part of Venture Timaru’s 'Sustainable is Attainable' initiative, is by University of Canterbury product design student Imogen McRae, and seeks to solve the problem of Timaru CBD's slippery tiles, with replacements made from waste-materials from the food industry. The Accelerator programme could see the pavers eventually developed commercially, if they prove sustainable and fit-for-purpose.

Imogen has been developing pavers made of waste material sourced from South Canterbury - diatomaceous earth, a by-product from the beer brewing industry which normally winds up in the landfill, and polypropylene plastic, a waste product in many food processing and manufacturing businesses.

The Alps to Ocean pavement design concept was one liked by Timaru residents in Imogen’s survey. Photo: Imogen McRae.

31 January 2022: Issue 21 of the Building Better newsletter is out now, packed full of research news and views from Building Better researchers.

Articles include:

• Te Tiriti-anchored housing strategies;

• Ecology of community;

• COVID-19 and media constructions of housing and home in Aotearoa New Zealand;

• Non-slip, sustainable pavers could resolve Timaru's slippery tile woes;

• The great divide;

• Christchurch Conversations: Towards 2030;

• BBHTC wellbeing compass aids in Bill submission; and

• Spotlight on housing; and

• new publications.

The Government released MAIHI Ka Ora, the National Māori Housing strategy late last year. It envisages a future where “all whānau have safe, healthy, affordable homes with secure tenure, across the Māori housing continuum.” – it’s an ideal that should ultimately be extended to all New Zealanders, so why the particular focus on a Māori Housing strategy?

27 January 2022: In late November, Te Tatau o Te Arawa, which represents Te Arawa whānui, made a submission on the Resource Management (Enabling Housing Supply and Other Matters) Amendment Bill.

In the submission Te Tatau called for the Bill to be wellbeing and urban regeneration-led to allow for wider positive effect. Te Tatau o Te Arawa is a research partner in Building Better Homes, Towns and Cities Urban Wellbeing - Ngā Kāinga Ora programme. In making the submission on the Bill they referred to the Te Tatau Mauri Ora Housing Development Wellbeing Compass co-created with AUT’s He Puna Ora Urban Regeneration Lab as part of the BBHTC Kāinga-Ora Urban Wellbeing programme. The compass tool is used to create a holistic social, cultural, and ecological wellbeing model for wellbeing-led urban planning and development.

Manahautū of Te Tatau, Jude Pani, says they would like to see that any changes to allowances for building densification be undergirded by mātauranga Māori and mauri ora (wellbeing of tangata and taiao).

“While we are notionally in support of the Bill, we want to see it done right. To Te Arawa whānui that means making sure that higher density developments have the inclusion of urban and peri-urban papakāinga and whenua Māori.

"Mauri ora – wellbeing – created by the built environment matters, and has been ignored for too long. The compass is a valuable tool to remind us of the different aspects of wellbeing we should be considering in building developments."