Māori-Led Streets for Wellbeing, Identity and Te Taiao
(Re)designing Māori Streets
An imagined example of an imagined Māori street. Drawing by Ben Siesicki.
Kaupapa (purpose):
(Re)designing Māori Streets explores how streets in urban Aotearoa can better reflect Māori values, identity, authority, and relationships to whenua and te taiao. The project brings together Māori-relevant literature, a national Māori Streets Survey, and Māori-led design wānanga to identify priorities, principles, and pathways for streets that support wellbeing, cultural presence, ecological care, and Māori leadership.
Project description:
(Re)designing Māori Streets responds to the need for street environments in Aotearoa that better reflect Māori realities, aspirations, and relationships to place. Streets shape how people move, gather, feel safe, connect with others, and participate in everyday life. However, many contemporary street environments have been shaped through planning frameworks that prioritise standardised movement, efficiency, and control while limiting Māori authority, cultural expression, and ecological relationships.
The project brings together Māori-relevant literature, a national Māori Streets Survey, and Māori-led design wānanga to explore what Māori communities prioritise in street design and how Māori-led streetscapes might be realised in practice. Participants identified safety, walkability, access to nature, visible Māori identity, social connection, and meaningful Māori participation in decision-making as key priorities.
The project shifts the conversation from streets as technical infrastructure to streets as relational environments. Through survey responses, kōrero, drawing, and collective design thinking, participants imagined streets that restore relationships with whenua and te taiao, support tamariki, pakeke, and kaumātua, make Māori identity visible in everyday urban life, and reduce the dominance of vehicles in favour of safe, people-centred movement.
The resulting white paper identifies priority outcomes, Māori street design principles, pathways for change, and recommendations for government agencies, local authorities, mana whenua, Māori communities, designers, planners, and delivery partners. These include Māori-led governance, sustained funding for Māori capability and leadership, pilot projects, place- and taiao-led design guidance, and evaluation frameworks that measure wellbeing, cultural vitality, environmental health, and community use.
While centred on Māori worldviews and leadership, the project also points to wider benefits for inclusive, equitable, and resilient urban environments. It positions streets as places where cultural presence, ecological care, whānau connection, and spatial justice can be made visible and lived.
Project details:
Type of project:
Research project.
Project lead:
Dr Rebecca Kiddle.
Team members:
Dr James Berghan, Dr Kimiora Raerino, Dr Marjorie Lipsham, and the late Dr Morehu McDonald.
Location:
Aotearoa - national research project.
Partnering organisations:
Te Manawahoukura - Te Wānanga o Aotearoa, Massey University.
Funder:
Ngā Pae o te Māramatanga (Grant 23MR13).
Project dates:
2023 - 2025.
Outputs: