Kia Whakanuia Te Whenua - People Place Landscape
The Landscape Foundation is publishing its first book - KIA WHAKANUIA TE WHENUA - People place landscape.
Māori-led, the book explores the spirit of whenua and how it is embedded in place through identity and naming. It confronts the pain of alienation and whenua loss for all indigenous peoples and looks at how that can be transformed.
Forty different authors contributed articles, including perspectives from Aboriginal, American Indian and Irish landscape architects as well as Māori and Pakeha.
Landscape Foundation Chair Dr. Diane Menzies, says global issues such as biodiversity loss, water pollution and worldwide adverse effects on habitat have led to a global call for action - a change in how we perceive, relate to and care for our whenua.
Kia Whakanuia te Whenua offers solutions to understanding place, in how to weave Matauranga mauri and scientific knowledge systems together to protect the essence of our landscapes.
Light on Lake Hawea by Jacky Bowring
“It recognises that we can utilise the knowledge derived from a thousand years of indigenous observation of environmental indicators and combine them with modern science to successfully address the complex problems we face. We can learn from the past to find solutions for the future,” Dr Menzies says.
“The book offers a range of alternatives to current practice. If we can change the way we think about the land; identify the land management issues which affect our future and highlight best landscape protection and management practice, we can work together to solve the difficult environmental issues we face.”
Dr Menzies believes the book marks a seminal change in how landscape architects, as part of the wider landscape practitioners’ group, need to view the landscape and their part in shaping that change.
Hinuera Valley by Pam Gore.
She hopes it will challenge the how and why of the profession, providing new understanding and insights.
“We believe that changes in our relationship with the whenua will eventually result in a national outcome of environmental wellbeing, as well as enhancing cultural vibrancy, cultural identity, and social cohesion,” says Dr Menzies.
The book is aimed at a wide audience - everyone from those undertaking land/whenua-based research, land-use practitioners, policy and decision makers, as well as iwi authorities, tamariki, rangitahi and kaumatua and communities concerned about climate change, identity and the health of the whenua.
While Kia Whakanuia te Whenua is due in bookshops by April next year special orders can be made now for delivery by Christmas. NZILA members receive a discount. To order and for more information click here