Heritage NZ talk | Kāi Tahu Design – Heritage or Here and Now?

Speakers: Michael Bathgate (Senior Planner at Aukaha) and Kitty Brown (Project Manager at Aukaha)

Ōtepoti/Dunedin’s reputation as a heritage city is largely based on the post-gold rush economic heyday of the late 19th / early 20th centuries. While this legacy of Victorian and Edwardian built heritage was being laid down, local Kāi Tahu hapū and whānau were dealing with the crippling socio-economic effects of colonisation and petitioning the Crown for recognition and redress in relation to breaches of Te Tiriti. As a result, until recently Kāi Tahu have seen little or no reflection of their culture and heritage within the built form of Ōtepoti and other parts of Otago. In recent years this has started to change with Aukaha facilitating the inclusion of Kāi Tahu mana whenua values and narrative into a range of urban amenity and building projects. This talk will summarise this indigenous design process, with examples of how Dunedin and Otago’s post-colonial built form legacy can embrace and integrate Kāi Tahu design and narratives.