Kūmara Awards Shine A Spotlight On Great Placemaking In Auckland, Wellington And Christchurch

Pippa Keel and Zoe Gillet of the Carterton Firesite Mural

Five unique and diverse projects from three cities across Aotearoa are being honoured with the third installment of the Kūmara Awards. These projects have connected communities and transformed random spaces, all of them upholding the values of community placemaking.

The Kūmara Awards are run by Placemaking Aotearoa, and are supported by Eke Panuku in Auckland, Hutt City Council in the Wellington area, and ChristchurchNZ and Gap Filler in Christchurch. In 2022, the officially recognized regions of the awards were Te Panepane o Te Ika Greater Wellington Region including Wairarapa, Ōtautahi Christchurch, Selwyn and Waimakariri, and Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland.

The Awards recognise and celebrate great placemaking - a collaborative process where people work together to shape and change the public realm to make places better, not only for themselves but for others and for the place itself.

“Placemaking is the process of co-creating and designing or adapting public spaces to benefit the community’s well-being and happiness as well as promote cultural identity, community bonding, inclusiveness, social equality, and drive economic success. I often think about Placemaking as an invisibility cloak that connects communities,” said Denise Bijoux, Placemaking Aotearoa founding member.

This year, for the first time, the public was given categories to nominate the projects that they felt deserved recognition. The themes were:

1. Mā te haukāinga hei tūāpapa ki te ao tūroa / It Takes a Village

2. Ahakoa he iti, ko tōna painga ka puawaitia / From Little Things Big Things Grow

3. Kei tua atu i te kaupapa / Beyond the Brief

4. Ngā akoranga i muri, hei tūāpapa ki ngā mahi ki mua / Looking Back to Move Forward

5. Tiakina te whenua, ka manaakitia te tangata / Caring For the Land, Caring For the People

Winners in all three regions were selected by local judges with vast and diverse experience in urban design, community development, public art, placemaking, city management, and more. Entries were open to all projects whether they were big or small, permanent or temporary, led by locals or professionals, big budget or small budget - and they had to have taken place in the last two years with no previous Kūmara Award wins.

Te Panepane o Te Ika Greater Wellington Region was the first city to be announced on social media. The winners included:

The Carterton Firesite Mural, winning the Award: Mā te Haukā inga hei tūāpapa ki team tūroa / It Takes a Village

This was A collaboration between Pippa Keel and Zoe Gillet and the greater community. In October 2021, a number of buildings burnt down on Carterton's High Street, due to a suspicious fire, and the community band together to create something beautiful in the place of disaster.

Block Vandal, winning the Award: Ahakoa he iti, ko tāna pianga ka puawaitia / From little things big things grow

The project was brought about by a local Wainuiomata artist that wanted to bring joy to people passing by the concrete slab wall at the bottom of Wainuiomata Hill. The shapes of the concrete slabs were perfect for creating Lego themed heads and characters.

Womble Inn and Food 4 Thought winning the Award: Kei tua aut i te kaupapa, Beyond the Brief

Womble Inn created a community space in Upper Hutt and meant that groups had a space to reverse the impacts COVID caused like becoming more isolated, Womble Inn saw the effect of lockdown and isolation had , not just on individuals but also the groups that help them. Food for thought is delivering this project and helping community to learn and engage in recycling and reusing the products around our lives.

Kākano Collecting and Hugelkulture Project at Wairapa Moana, winning the Award: Ngā akoranga i muri, hei tūā papa ki ngā mahi ki mua / Looking back to move forward

This incredible rōpū have been working so hard on local initiatives to nurture our local moana. This includes planting natives on hugelkulture beds and collecting native seeds with our local school children to raise in a nursery, for future planting around our moana.

Te Kukuwai o Toa winning the Award: Tiakina te whenua, ka manaakitia te tangata / Caring for the land, caring for the people

The project was initiated to address water quality and flooding issues in the area. The wetland filters stormwater collected from the surrounding roads, industries, and homes before it runs into the harbour. The wetland captures contaminants like sediment, litter and heavy metals greatly improving a historical source of pollution that has caused problems for the harbour for decades. It also significantly reduces the flood risk to nearby homes, businesses and schools by storing flood waters.

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