Tawaipareira Reserve Placemaking
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Tawaipareira Reserve Placemaking
Micro-credential 2024 Cohort Profile
Fiona Gregory, Community Broker at Auckland Council
Fiona Gregory works as a Community Broker at Auckland Council, supporting the Waiheke Local Board rohe. Her role focuses on creating connections and opportunities to help the community and council collaborate, sharing strengths, resources, and expertise to support a thriving, diverse, and equitable community.
I have a professional background in adult literacy and community education, with over 25 years of experience as an educator, learner, coordinator, and manager within the education and not-for-profit sectors. Since 2017, working at Council has given me an opportunity to contribute to my local community and to help amplify some of the voices that might not otherwise be heard.
A Vision for Tawaipareira Reserve
I will describe one part of an ongoing project that began in 2018 and will continue into 2025/26. It started as a Council initiative to redevelop the old skatepark at Tawaipareira Reserve. I identified an opportunity to facilitate a community vision for the reserve through placemaking, so I worked with Council colleagues, skatepark users, and the local community to create events and opportunities.
An important focus is supporting Ngāti Paoa to achieve their aspirations in the reserve and to ensure at least part of the project is iwi-led. From the beginning, I met with a kaumātua I knew from a previous rangatahi arts mentoring project, E Tipu E Rea. Over several café breakfasts, he shared hapū history of Tawaipareira – a fresh water source and significant area for waka building and repairs, before being turned into a dump by Pākehā settlers in the 1900s. He was generous with his knowledge and had a vision of creating pou whenua to landmark Ngāti Paoa narratives for iwi, locals, and visitors.
Applying CLD Principles
Community Brokers support and empower community groups to lead initiatives that are important to them. My role in the Tawaipareira project was to facilitate connections and support iwi members in the process of working with Council. In doing so, I acknowledged the iwi relationship to the whenua, the history of colonisation, the mana and generosity of the people involved.
An important step was to make some budget available to enable those involved to be acknowledged for their mahi. Although it hadn’t been part of the initial budget, Council agreed to $10,000 to enable iwi to produce a design concept that would be worked up and implemented by the Council project team as part of the final design of the park.
In 2021, I organised a Zoom hui with the designer, a Ngāti Paoa kaumātua she invited, and the new Council project manager. We brainstormed and the kaumātua suggested we adopt the same tuakana/teina approach as E Tipu E Rea. Rangatahi with an interest in design would be supported to create the design concept, with the guidance of professional Ngāti Paoa artists. Rangatahi would gain valuable experience, and all would receive koha.
Challenges and Adaptability
This project has extended over several years and faced multiple changes and challenges – the passing of a kaumātua, COVID restrictions, changes within the Ngāti Paoa governance structures, budget cuts, protracted timelines, Council restructures, and for me personally, a period of extended family health leave.
Through all these challenges, it was central to our place-based approach to hold on to the history of the whenua and Ngāti Paoa’s aspiration of making iwi narratives visible across the motu by bringing them to life.
Celebrating Successes
In April 2024, we celebrated the opening of the reserve with an event for the whole community. Everyone came back together to celebrate – the local board, Ngāti Paoa, the skaters, cyclists, young people, organisations, schools, and families that had contributed. Ngāti Paoa opened the event and welcomed everyone onto the reserve, blessing the whenua to make the park safe for everyone to use.
It was wonderful to take a pause to celebrate the mahi of those who had been involved and the huge impact that the rangatahi designs have on the space – adding vibrancy and a sense of connection to place. I believe the kaumātua who passed would be hugely proud of the outcomes that have been achieved.
Reflections and Learnings
Initially, I was somewhat naïve going into the project. I had only recently come into Council from the community sector and was just learning about placemaking methodology. While I had worked with Māori in past roles, I was still learning about relationships with mana whenua in a Council context.
Some of the values that I have learnt from working with Māori over the years and aspire to in my interactions with everyone are:
- Whanaungatanga – the relationships that are at the heart of community development
- Manaakitanga – caring for each other in a reciprocal and mana-affirming way
- Rangatiratanga – respecting and supporting self-determination and agency
- Kotahitanga – coming together as diverse people to work on a shared vision
- Te Tiriti as the foundation for working in partnership
To develop a shared vision for this project, I felt it was crucial to develop relationships with local iwi and to understand the histories of the place. Thanks to the generosity of the kaumātua, I was able to learn more about the stories of the place.
Ongoing Commitment
The opening event was a great opportunity to sit and kōrero, to deepen the relationships, and to find out ‘what next?’ in the ongoing mahi. The vision of pou or waharoa is still important; I will hold this and look for opportunities to enable it.
This mahi reinforces the importance of relationships, adaptability, and honouring the voices of all contributors. It’s been an ongoing journey of learning, and I look forward to continuing to support Ngāti Paoa and the wider community as we bring this kaupapa to life.
Are you ready to join a growing community of changemakers? Learn more about the CLD Micro-credential here.
This case study is drawn from Fiona Gregory’s mahi over the course of the Micro-Credential in Community-Led Development (CLD) Facilitation. Shared in her own words, it has been lightly edited by Inspiring Communities for clarity and to suit a blog format while staying true to her experience and insights..