Capturing the profession's collective best-practice in relation to landscape assessment in Aotearoa New Zealand

Te Tangi a te Manu: Aotearoa New Zealand Landscape Assessment Guidelines sets out guidance for landscape assessment in Aotearoa New Zealand. Its purpose is to improve landscape assessment practice in resource management recognising that such assessment is undertaken for the purpose of assisting decision-makers. The document is a response to a long-recognised need for an agreed, consistent approach to landscape assessment, as explicitly urged by the Environment Court.

A contract for such Guidelines was tendered by the Ministry for the Environment in 2016 and awarded to Isthmus and Boffa Miskell. However, funding was withdrawn prior to work commencing.

Recognising the importance of this endeavour and the need for the guidelines within the profession, Gavin Lister and Rachel de Lambert committed to produce them voluntarily. The input of Te Tau a Nuku, the landscape cohort of Ngā Aho, the collective of Māori design professionals, was recognised as an essential component of the process; and Alan Titchener (Ngāi Tahu, Kāhui Whetū Ngā Aho) became the third co-author.

Client

New Zealand Institute of Landscape Architects

Location

National

Project team

Rachel de Lambert

Worked with

Gavin Lister, co-author
Alan Titchener, co-author

Boffa Miskell contributors: Amanda Anthony, Megan Ash, Monica Bainbridge, Chris Bentley, James Bentley, Frank Boffa, Blair Clinch, Boyden Evans, Liz Gavin, Rhys Girvan, John Goodwin, Alan Gray, William Hatton, Rangitahi Kawe, Mark Lewis, Tom Lines, Mathilde Menard, Alan Mestrom, Fraser Miller, Mike Moore, Tracey Moore, Matt Peacocke, Yvonne Pfluger, Luke Porter, John Potter, Rebecca Ryder, Bryan Sanson, Jo Soanes, Topsy Steele, Julia Wick and Hannah Wilson.

Project date

2016 - ongoing

Te Tangi a te Manu: Aotearoa New Zealand Landscape Assessment Guidelines represents a labour of love for its three primary authors, as evident by the comprehensive approach to research and documentation, the confident and concise editorial approach, and the engaging and easy-to-understand nature of the publication. 

The Guidelines explain potentially complex landscape considerations clearly. They provide both a practical guide for inexperienced practitioners, and a reference benchmark of concepts and principles for experienced practitioners.

The Guidelines promote better assessment practice, in turn enhancing the management of Aotearoa’s landscapes. The Guidelines promote both Te Ao Māori and Te Ao Pākehā perspectives, connections between perspectives, and the flexibility for practice to continue evolve. They confidently reflect the evolving depth and breadth of landscape practice in Aotearoa New Zealand; and advance the role of landscape in statutory planning context.

Te Tangi a te Manu is now widely accessible to the profession; students of landscape architecture and allied resource management fields, including planning; and other readers. It is a visually compelling 285-page book published by Tuia Pito Ora, New Zealand Institute of Landscape Architects, and is also freely available as an online resource via the Institute’s website.

The publication of The Guidelines is particularly timely in promoting landscape values and the responsibility and role of the landscape profession in environmental management, given the current and foreseen changes in environmental legislation.

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