Celebrating places and people who make them
Kōre te kūmara e kōrero ana mo tōna ake reka. The kūmara does not brag about its own sweetness…
But others do! The Kūmara Awards is on a mission to celebrate fabulous placemaking happening across Aotearoa. It is a community-driven showcase of the outstanding placemaking projects. Big or small, permanent or temporary, many kinds of placemaking projects can win a Kūmara Award!
The Kūmara Awards 2021
Premiered in 2020 in Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland, in 2021 the Kūmara Awards have grown and were presented in three regions: Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland, Ōtautahi Christchurch and Te Panepane o Te Ika Greater Wellington Region.
Three local panels of wonderful judges, each with huge experience in placemaking, were looking for placemaking that does more than just beautify the place. Judges were particularly interested in how it enhanced local public life, who was involved and how – the process was as important as any outcome or impact.
Placemaking Aotearoa and the Kūmara Awards team congratulate fabulous winners of the Kūmara Awards 2021 and say Thank You for their incredible efforts to brings positive changes to the people in and of a place, and to the place itself.
We also are very grateful to everyone who made the effort to tell us about great placemaking happening in Auckland, Christchurch and Wellington! Thanks too to those who helped spread the word around so more people could contribute.
The Kūmara Awards 2021 / Video by MjS Visual
Meet the winners of The Kūmara Awards 2021!
Community Builders NZ
Honoured with an award in the category of ‘It Takes a Village’ for bringing many people together on journeys of positive change towards food, health and wellbeing for the benefit of both people and place.
M2M: Te Atatū
He Oranga Poutama ki Tamaki Makaurau, Aktive, Sport Waitākere, Healthy Families Waitākere, Community Waitākere and Papaya Stories
Honoured with an award in the ‘Looking Back to Move Forward’ category for celebrating places of cultural significance through an immersive storytelling experience about the taiao and tangata through whanaungatanga and mātauranga Māori.
Jessie Tonar Scout Reserve regeneration
Kāipatiki Project, Ngāi Tai ki Tāmaki, Te Patukirikiri, Ngaati Whanaunga, Ngāti Whātua Rūnanga, Ngāti Maru, Ngā Maunga Whakahī o Kaipara, Ngāti Paoa Trust Board, Te Ākitai Waiohua, Isthmus Group, Eke Panuku and Auckland Council
Honoured with an award in the ‘Saving the World One Place at a Time’ category for being the flourishing result of collective regenerative placemaking efforts that nurture both people and place.
Sokols Swanson Fruit Shop, Sport Waitākere, Healthy Families Waitākere, Sport NZ and Aktive
Honoured with an award in the ‘From Little Things Big Things Grow’ category for enabling everyday fun, creativity and play among local children in many local (and sometimes unexpected) places.
Link Alliance, The Karangahape Road Business Association, The Warren, Monster Valley, The Open Fort and Shelly Botticelli
Honoured with an award in the ‘Beyond the Brief’ category for activating the Karangahape Station construction edge into a vibrant place that showcases the vast talents in the community, supports local businesses and builds connections that uplift both people and place.
Received an award in the ‘Tiaka whenua, tiaki tangata’ category for their impactful bringing together of urban farming with deep ecological purpose and long-term youth development.
Honoured with an award in the ‘Facilitating Self-sufficiency’ category for their work providing social connection, skills and purpose in the service of addressing transport deprivation.
FRESH Events
Youth and Cultural Development (YCD)
Received an award in the ‘Rangatahi Empowerment’ category for their work carving out places for marginalised young people to grow a positive sense of connection and belonging.
Roimata Food Commons
Roimata Commons Trust
Received an award in the ‘Growing Community Through Growing Kai’ category for their radically inclusive approach to local food production, education and alleviation of poverty.
Life in Vacant Spaces
Received an award in the ‘Gracious Navigating of Red Tape’ category for their work satisfying the requirements of central and local government landowners and the aspirations of residents and former residents in the highly contested Residential Red Zone.
Honoured with an award in the category ‘It Takes a Village’ for its wonderful homegrown approach to building social capital by being a living, breathing example of integrated community commons creating connection.
Porirua City Council, Te Hiko, Cannons Creek (Wesley Community Action)
Honoured with an award in the category ‘Streets for People by People’ for its excellent work in co-design with positive change being driven by community members to create a safe and vibrant community heart.
The Active Team at Hutt City Council
Honoured with an award in the category ‘Play Together, Stay Together’ for making play normal and visible in a variety of public spaces, connecting people to their neighbours and their place while having fun.
Naenae Clubhouse, Greater Wellington Regional Council, Healthy Families Hutt Valley, Rebicycle EkeRua and Hutt City Libraries
Honoured with an award in the category ‘Shifting It Up a Gear for Equity’ for its incredible work in removing barriers for people trying to access transport by providing free bikes, delivering more equity and encouraging people to connect with local cycleways, each other and their local town centre.
Julia Milne and The ReMakery
Honoured with an award in the category ‘Tiaki whenua, tiaki tangata (care for the land, care for the people)’ for its amazing inclusive and participatory approach - through its gardens and ReMakery helping people grow aroha and connection to each other and place.
Judges for the Kūmara Awards 2021
Sir Bob Harvey
Board member | Museum of New Zealand Te papa Tongarewa
Penny Hulse
Board member | Kāinga Ora
Mei Hill
Design Executive - Cultural | Ngāti Whātua Ōrākei Whai Rawa
Anaru Ah Kew
Māori Outcomes Manager | Tāmaki Regeneration Company
Barbara Holloway
Principal – City Centre Place Activation | Auckland Council
Ben van Bruggen
Principal and Senior Urban Designer | Jasmax & Director | van Bruggen Urbanism
Jill Nerheny
Manager | Kāipatiki Community Facilities Trust
Jeremy Hansen
Arts, Culture and Community Manager | Britomart Group
Kathleen Waldock
Placemaking Manager | Kāinga Ora
Mandy Patmore
Creative Director and Founder | Kākano Youth Arts Collective
Ross Moffatt
Senior Planner and Convenor, Placemaking Collective | Auckland Council
Anna Fawcett
General Manager of Marketing, Brand & Communications | ChristchurchNZ
Daniel Godden
Consultant for Property Development and Management, Managing Director | Optimum (Boxed Quarter)
Khye Hitchcock (They/Them)
Freelance curator and Programme Director | The Green Lab
Debbie Tikao
Landscape Architect and General Manager | Matapopore Charitable Trust
Dr Rebecca Kiddle
Head of Urban Development | Hutt City Council
Isabella Cawthorn
Consultant for liveable towns | Editor of Talk Wellington | Co-host of Urbanerds
Dr Mark Bradford
Academic and Designer | Ngā Pae Māhutonga Wellington School of Design | Massey University
Claire Pascoe
Transition Programme Lead | Wellington City Council
The Kūmara Awards 2020 – Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland
The Kūmara Awards premiered in Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland in 2020.
There were no submission forms or formal panels of judges, but a group of placemaking enthusiasts who listened carefully to the kūmara vine and acknowledged five placemaking projects that were talked about the most.
Take a look at the five winners of the inaugural Kūmara Awards for placemaking across Tāmaki Makaurau.
WINNERS 2020
- O.M.G. Organic Market Garden received an award in the category of “Saving the World One Place at a Time” for showing people the role of urban farming in achieving sustainable and regenerative food systems and helping people reconnect with the place.
- Bayview Community Center received an award in the category “From Little Things Big Things Grow” for supporting local people to come together and act on what matters to them, ultimately creating a safer neighbourhood through the “Bayview Traffic Safety Project”.
- Smales Farm was honoured for going “Beyond the Brief” with their revolutionising workspace that embraces technology, flexibility, sustainability and community to deliver a smarter, sustainable and healthier workplace where lifestyle and work can effortlessly blend.
- The 312 Hub was acknowledged as “Most Gracious Survivor of Red Tape” for believing and persisting in their mission to create “A Place Where Youth Lead”, and generously helping existing systems to evolve at the same time.
- ARA Journeys was honoured with an award in the category of “Looking Back To Look Forward” for weaving innovations with deep story of place to provide unique connections to the significance of place through tohu (elemental indicators and seasonal time markers) via “The Journeys of Manu” project.
What’s Next?
The Kūmara Awards are given based on what’s being talked about on the placemaking kūmara vine… So make it talk!
Share your placemaking journey with others: join the conversations, participate in the events, send us your case studies for the library, connect with other placemakers in your area and help us uplift placemaking in Aotearoa in many other ways.
The Kūmara Awards are a Placemaking Aotearoa initiative, brought to you in 2021 by a collective of organisations from around the country: Catalyse, Eke Panuku, Hutt City Council, ACS Marketing and Gap Filler.
If you want to see the Kūmara Awards continue growing and launch it in your area, let us know!