V illag e
Le arnings TÄ€NEATUA
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October 2020
We have learned
a gre at de al from the trial of a vill age in tÄ ne atua , without pouring a single foundation. We started with a vision for villages, but many questions remained. We originally called them ecovillages, because sustainability and caring for the whenua must be a key part of any initiative to put more people on the land.
Yes, environmental sustainability is central to what we want to do – the “eco” part – building on the skills and technology we have developed from Te Kura Whare, Te Tii and Te Kura Whenua – for electricity off the grid, our own water supplies, gardens and orchards for our own food. We added to our knowledge by visiting other sustainable communities, and permaculture experts.
But the “village� part is equally important.
We had to le arn, what does living in a community based on TĹŤhoe values me an?
We went into the trial with no expectations. We knew we wanted to find a way to use communal land, owned by hapĹŤ or iwi, to provide homes and society for our people. To reinvigorate marae as centres of daily social life, for the 21st century. And to provide a place where TĹŤhoe values could be lived. But we wanted to find out what that would mean in practice. What will it be like to wake up in a village surrounded by whanauna, to be freed from grocery shopping, to be self reliant? That involved many conversations. Some of the things we have learned have perhaps surprised us, and have opened the way to spreading the experiment around the rohe.
The building
is the e asy part The first thing that became apparent to us is that building is the easy part. Te Uru Taumatua has a lot of experience in designing, consenting and building large construction jobs: Te Kura Whare, Te Tii and Te Kura Whenua. We know TĹŤhoe people can be trained to do those jobs. Planning for the trial has shown us houses, even using the same technology and standards as those projects, are relatively simple.
So what we ended up focusing on is what is a vill age , a community, that encompasses and encourages TĹŤhoe values like in practice?
Our re al lessons were about whenua and whānau, through e xploring the l and in Tāne atua and talking with Tūhoe about what they imagined a vill age to be .
The land
comes first We are the people of the land. We want to build villages that help us live with and from our whenua, which can provide us everything we need. That’s why sustainable food production, gardens and orchards, must be part of our villages. Instead of drawing up blueprints for where houses will go, and then fitting in trees and plants and lawns wherever is left, we realised you need to get your hands dirty in the earth first. What is the soil like? What properties does it have, when we test it? What kind of food and plants would grow best in each part?
Does it need to be regenerated from previous activities? How does the ground drain water? We learned about hydrology and soil science and permaculture. The design of the village flows from these questions: where does the food go, where does the water go, where are the trees and the shade. And only after that, where do we put houses?
Villages
can’t be too big Living together is at the he art of the vill age concept.
And living together me ans taking part in e ach other’s lives and caring for one another. Pitching in, being helped, whether it’s cooking, gardening, maintenance, childcare or just keeping an eye on one another. To the Tūhoe we consulted, that kind of lifestyle suggested a more traditional ancient whānau size, between 30 and 40 people, rather than the 50-60 we originally imagined in each village. It’s big enough to be a community, and small enough that the adults can come together to make decisions and everyone’s voice can be heard.
Hapu must have
the final say
The villages are a way to use communally owned land, especially around marae, to make liveable and vibrant communities. They will be homes for pakeke, for young families, marae people, those who have come back to the rohe, and those who need help getting back on their feet, according to Tūhoe values. We’ve had a lot of discussion about those values, and a big part is the mutual respect and obligations members of a community owe each other. That makes the villages different from an ordinary housing development and affects how ownership or tenure should work. After all, “ownership” can’t be a free pass to disrespect other residents,
or the hapū on whose land the village sits. Likewise, everyone would suffer if ownership was treated as a financial asset rather than choosing to be part of a community, or if homes on communal land were treated as holiday baches. So instead we’re looking at alternative ways to provide security for whānau that protect their investment and their commitment to village living, such as long term licences to occupy. Hapū will always have the final say on the standards and the residents in their villages.
Space matters
less than how we use it Living together doesn’t mean giving up any privacy or personal space. Whānau we talked to want to be near each other, but they also want to be able to have their own homes and not always be on top of everyone else. That doesn’t have to mean acres of room. We’ve learned how we can plant tree-canopy growth that also provides natural screens (banana trees are excellent fences, as well as having delicious fruit), so everyone can have space to retreat into when they want some seclusion.
Homes will be self contained – so even though the shared dining facilities and pantry will have everything you need and capacity for village get-togethers, residents will have fully functional kitchens of their own.
We’re building skills
as well as homes
Village living should decrease reliance on outside organisations. We’ll be creating our own electricity, water, and food. Residents will save on power bills, water, rates, transport and groceries thanks to the sustainable technology and culture of the villages. That means there will be ample opportunities for anyone who wants to learn the skills and qualifications to be responsible for those things in the village. Maintaining the photovoltaic cells should allow villages to produce their own sustainable energy; running recycling; maintain the water systems; tending to crops and orchards, and performing house repairs – all skills that add value to the community and are transferable.
The learning and effort of the people should go into knowledge that help them to reinforce what makes village life different and special. So villages will be designed in a way that maximises the benefits in lifestyle and skills for residents. For example, we learnt that roofs over a certain angle require specific qualifications to clean. We can reduce those requirements by building houses with flatter roofs, making them simpler to maintain and allowing our people to concentrate on learning cutting edge skills in other areas.
Next steps
We have le arned so much through the trial with the TÄ ne atua vill age site . We know what we can do. We also know what else we need to find out.
• How can we make homes of the quality we are after while keeping them affordable? • What is the mix of contribution between iwi, hapū and individual? • What does each hapū want for its village, when we take into account the discoveries above? • These are what we can confidently move onto now, as we start working with Tribals to establish Tūhoe villages throughout the valleys.