The NZILA Firth Wānanga 2025: An opening menu for a drawcard venue

Hastings Heretaunga is the drawcard venue this year for Horanuku Hora Kai, the NZILA Firth Wānanga 2025 on Edible Landscapes.

An NZILA Creative Panel consisting of Joshua Hunt, Ashleigh Hunter, Daniel McEwan, William Hatton, Shannon Bray and Lizzie Burn has been hard at work on the programme for 22-23 May.

This week Shannon and Lizzie provided a rundown on how it’s all coming together.

Shannon: “We’ll open the conference with an early pōwhiri at Waiaroha, Hastings’ unofficial urban marae and water treatment plant.

“Kaumatua supported by Mayor Sandra Hazlehurst will welcome all-comers to Heretaunga. Kapa haka will prepare our guests for two days of engaging discussions, followed by our first introduction to the wānanga subject – some great kai.

“Our first formal session at the historic and recently refurbished Hastings Opera House (Toi Toi) will be confronting, as we hear first hand the impacts from Cyclone Gabrielle in our region.

“This will include talks from the Council CE, Nigel Bickle, and chief engineer, Graeme Hansen, who will talk openly about their professional and personal experiences of the cyclone and its long recovery.

“We’ll hear from some local producers who have spent the last couple of years rebuilding, setting up the theme for our conference about how we need to be responsive to food production and its role in providing for the wellbeing of all of us.

*Tim Waterman, left, and Joshua Zeunert.*

Lizzie: “After some fresh air, we’re going to expand our horizons internationally.

“Tim Waterman, professor of landscape theory, previous restaurant owner, classical musician and Londoner will introduce global thinking around foodways in community, civil life and landscape. Australian Joshua Zeunert will follow Tim’s musings to introduce us to the concepts of edible landscapes, food resilience and urban agriculture. Shannon Davis rounds out this session with a facilitated discussion about the role of landscape architects in food planning.

The first afternoon will, Shannon Bray says, deviate away from landscape architecture briefly to allow for a commercial perspective.

“Morgan Maw will talk about the holistic approach Boring takes to producing its world renowned oat milks. Rachel Taulelei, Chair of Moana Seafood (Aotearoa’s largest Māori-owned fisheries company) will discuss the challenges of using seascapes for production, and Renee Taylor from Salt Aotearoa will deliver some inspiring discussion on wāhine free diving.

“On day 2 we’ll hear from food sovereignty advocate Nick Rose from Melbourne and see a variety of great food-based urban and rural projects by a variety of New Zealand-based landscape architects including Mel Robinson, Gary Marshall and Rachel Hill amongst others,” Lizzie says.

“The sessions will include 3-4 short talks (the final lineup of speakers will be announced soon), with a facilitated question and answer session focussed on our role as landscape architects in the process of creating and managing food resources. It’ll be both interactive and inspiring!

“For the final wrap-up session, each of the facilitators will come together with thoughts from the whole delegation – the idea being to summarise the discussion had, and to give us all tools to take back home.

As already alluded to, the edible part of Edible Landscapes won’t be neglected says Shannon.

“Don’t worry, there’ll be plenty of time to sample local kai and inu – we’re planning some cooking demonstrations from talented locavores and there’ll be enough locally made beer, wine and gin for those keen to sample”.

He adds that the conference has also planned some walking tours of the city during the conference.

“So if you haven’t been for a while – or it’s your first time to the Bay – we’ll make sure to introduce you to the amazing revitalisation work that’s been taking place to make Hastings the place to be. As part of the walking tours, Firth will be giving a short presentation on some of their permeable concrete innovations, which have been used in the projects you’ll see on the walking tour”.

And this is just the appetiser; Lizzie and Shannon promise more updates to follow.

Note: Earlybird tickets for the NZILA Firth Wānanga 2025 are on sale now. See the NZILA website for details and to purchase your tickets.