Around the motu

Sitting days at Parliament are fast evaporating. Even so the pace before this year’s Election campaigning accelerates has reached a fever pitch, now jammed together with a consultation on testing the approach to National Policy Direction” to replace the RMA.

There’s seldom a lack of speaker events around the motu to keep track of - all providing valuable insights and perspectives on topics as varied as Visual Representation, what it takes to come out on top in Competitions and the pressing need to talk about Urban Heat.

Atelier South is an intensive international Summer School hosted by the School of Architecture at Otago Polytechnic that explores how design education can respond to urgent environmental and social challenges.

James Paxton of Reset shares insightful thoughts about Te Tauoma - a brownfield regeneration project that may not have seen the light of day, but that sheds light on “what can happen when landscape architecture leads the shaping of cities from the very beginning”.

Drawing on the Mangawhai Hills project, Reset co-director James Paxton sets out a belief that “when ecology, landform, water, movement and public life become the starting point, development produces communities that are healthier, more resilient and more memorable”.

This week’s news monitoring scan has brief items about: Te Pūmanawa o Onehunga; a call to take part in People’s Choice voting for IFLA’s Global Landscape Architecture (GLA) awards; a special recognition of Ines Stäger for her service to Forest & Bird; and the sad news of the death of Hastings District Council chief executive To’osavili Nigel Bickle.

The shortlist for the 2026 Resene NZILA Awards is out! The 15 categories and 51 contenders amply show that the positive impacts made by all landscape architecture professionals extend across an extraordinary breadth of locations and clients. When you look, landscape architecture is everywhere.

Is the distinctive contribution that landscape architects make something larger than legislation? In this thinkpiece, Shannon Bray, positions the profession’s long-term relevance on its ability to bring differing perspectives together and to explain why landscape matters in the first place.

As part of celebrating the 10th anniversary of the ‘digital life’ of Landscape Architecture Aotearoa, we’re introducing a regular new feature we’re calling the LAA Newswire - drawing from social media channels and prompts from our readers.

The Environment select committee’s recommendations for amendments to the Planning Bill and the Natural Environment Bill have landed with an inexorable thud that is slowly reverberating around the motu. Read LAA’s overview here.

Herwi Scheltus (1951-2026) worked tirelessly as a landscape architect in the public service of the New Zealand Government for four decades, most especially leaving his mark on Aotearoa’s much treasured Conservation estate. A brief memoriam of his life is shared here by NZILA Tuia Pito Ora.

LAA is grateful to Amy Hobbs for taking time to respond to a recent article we excerpted from 42 years ago on the topic of “Urban Vegetation” in Te Whanganui a Tara Wellington. Amy’s appraisal combines an honest critique with a call to do more to green our urban spaces.

It’s no easy feat to be named in the winning team for the ArchEngBuild challenge. So kudos to landscape architecture student Konstantinos Antonopoulos for working with students from engineering, building/ construction management and architecture disciplines to help shape a winner!

The 2026 ArchEngBuild challenge - the 13th since 2012 - brought students to Ōtautahi Christchurch from tertiary education institutions across Aotearoa New Zealand. This article provides reflections on this highly regarded event, organised by BRANZ, from the points of view of a mentor, judge and two students.

Six trees have their branches extended ready to receive the honour of being named the 2026 Tree of the year / Rākau o te tau. Which will it be? Ancient Pūriri, Mighty Old Mataī, Kissing Tree, The Bucket Tree, The Sango Survivor or Old Goff?

This year’s theme of Matariki herenga waka is all about inclusion and encouraging all people to celebrate Matariki together. ‘Matariki herenga waka’ is an adaptation of the proverb ‘Tāmaki herenga waka’ which means ‘Tāmaki the gathering place of many canoes’.

Enoch Shi, now on the Arcadia team in Auckland, has achieved the feat of completing two Master degrees between 2020-26. His latest thesis project spans architecture and landscape architecture to position and contextualise memories of Chinese gold miners in Central Otago.

Thanks to NZILA Fellow Steve Dunn, the plantings that conceal the mammoth Omāroro reservoir were given a thorough revisit in June. This article couples the emergent beauty of this ‘well kept secret’ with Crystal Olin’s critique of the Wellington Town Belt’s contradictions.

Influential landscape architect Rachel de Lambert has been presented with the Garvey Cup by the Auckland branch of Te Kāhui Whaihanga New Zealand Institute of Architects for elevating design outcomes and enriching the discourse and practice of architecture in Aotearoa.

One month out from celebrating Matariki, we share Boffa Miskell landscape architect Yoko Tanaka’s reflections on weaving tikanga-based approaches into the design process: grounded in place, shaped by people, and strengthened through collaboration.