Whakaora – Our Thriving City is a challenge to all the makers and stakeholders of our urban places to optimise the value created from our investments.
We are excited by the market shift to low carbon, the growth in green and living buildings, non-toxic materials, and resilient greener infrastructure. What more are we called to create for healthy sustainable city systems and lifestyles – a new tikanga, a culture that celebrates beauty and guides us to regenerate the natural wealth of Auckland, Tāmaki Makaurau?
We are driven by the need for change
Change is happening now. Iwis are engaged and playing a critical role with whānau, whenua, their developments. Council is deploying carbon goals and Te Aranga Design across the isthmus. Eke Panuku is a leading place-based co-design. The All of Government Zero Carbon Operations by 2025 is both courageous and disruptive. The Ministries of Health and Kāinga Ora are aiming for green performance, community wellbeing, and strategic trajectories. All to address the challenges of climate change, sustaining communities, health, and biodiversity collapse.
It is critical we keep this momentum going. It is also essential that we ensure all life and all people can thrive.
It is critical we challenge ourselves to do way better.
What does ‘good’ look like?
Join us and be integral to the visionary dialogue!
The Event Curators
Jerome Partington
Co-Curator
Jerome has architectural training and background in physics and biology, architecture and building, education, and facilitation – a lifelong learner, award winner, and advocate for nature and communities that can sustain themselves. He has helped lead our design and construction sector toward our thriving future – purposefully introducing Integrative Design Process (IDP) 2005 onwards, the Living Building Challenge (LBC) 2011 onwards and from 2015 Regenerative Development (RD) or whole living systems design -seeing the need to shift our thinking to the community and ecological health – and where the financial and infrastructure value add is really created. His experience is wide and deep as a green design advisor and process facilitator for Residential, Healthcare, Tertiary, Schools, Commercial, Civic, Infrastructure and Community projects.
Akasadaka Robison
Co-Curator
Akasadaka is a Re-source, Developmental Facilitator and Living Systems Thinker. He has a broad range of industry and audience experience, which includes values-based SME’s, local government, community engagement, youth work, charities, healthcare, and construction.
His areas of interest are Buddhist Practice, Regenerative Design and Development, and Group Facilitation. He has begun writing on these three subjects after decades of application and practice. He currently works as a Re-source for Whakaora as they embark on their three year journey of regenerative business development with the Carol Sanford Institute.
Amanda Yates
Co-Curator
Associate Professor Amanda Monehu Yates
Ngāti Whakaue, Ngāti Rangiwewehi,
Te Aitanga a Mahakai, Rongowhakaata
works with Councils, Iwi, and communities exploring place-based indigenous-led strategies and actions for holistic urban wellbeing in an era of climate and biodiversity emergency. Amanda is an Associate Professor and director of He Puna Ora, the Regenerative Urbanism Wellbeing Lab at AUT’s Huri te Ao, the School of Future Environments. She is Programme Leader for Huritanga, the Urban Wellbeing programme funded by the National Science Building Better Homes Towns and Cities Challenge.
