Old drains and railways are full of life. Here’s how to make the most of these overlooked green spaces

by bpckle | May 9, 2025 | Media

Across Australian cities, leftover and overlooked green spaces are everywhere. Just think of all the land along stormwater drains, railway lines and vacant lots. While often dismissed as useless or unsightly, there’s a growing understanding of the value these spaces bring to cities.

These informal green spaces can support biodiversity and offer rare freedom to explore, play or connect with nature in a less controlled way than formal spaces such as parks. They also help to cool our cities.

My new research looks at how cities globally are rethinking overlooked green spaces. I identified three ways to unlock the value of these areas: leaving spaces intentionally unmanaged, supporting temporary or informal uses, or formalising them as parks or other public places. Each approach offers different benefits and challenges for cities trying to create greener, more liveable neighbourhoods.

Local councils are under increasing pressure to create more formal green space, with residents, at times, calling on councils to buy land for new parks. But let’s start with what’s already there.

1: Hands off: the case for doing less

In some cases, doing nothing can be surprisingly powerful.

When governments step back, communities and nature can step in, with potentially joyful, creative and ecologically rich results. In the Belgian capital of Brussels, for example, disused railway land, left unmanaged, has become a haven for biodiversity, offering valuable insights into how ecosystems can regenerate without human interference.

Closer to home, there are many examples of railway land being used informally as green space. One site, in the Melbourne suburb of Northcote, has become a makeshift trail used by walkers, dog owners and children on bikes. Though not officially a park, it functions like one, with its informal character fostering a sense of ownership and spontaneity among users. In the past few months, local residents have started planting native vegetation and putting up makeshift art installations, and even a swing.

But this hands-off approach has limitations. It works best where a strong sense of community, or ecological value, already exists. And while nature can bounce back in surprising ways, it often needs a helping hand.

2. Helping out: supporting informal or temporary uses

Where informal installations already exist – such as art installations or unauthorised plantings known as guerrilla gardens – councils can support and even help grow these initiatives.

Some councils may see local-led efforts as a liability, but these efforts represent an opportunity to bring life to underused land at minimal cost. By recognising and supporting such activities, including financially, councils can empower residents to shape their own neighbourhoods in meaningful ways. This can include expanding existing installations or establishing new installations on other underused sites.

There is also benefit in local councils creating their own temporary installations such as pop-up parks. This has been shown to be an effective way to activate underused space and trial initiatives before more permanent plans are developed.

Examples include the creation of a temporary park in Ballarat Street, Yarraville in 2012. Community support for the temporary park led to the construction of a permanent park in 2014.

3. Stepping in: when formalising makes sense

There are times where formal intervention is warranted – for example, where land is contaminated or supports invasive weeds. In such cases, transforming a site into a fully developed park can deliver significant benefits. Land alongside a river, road or railway line, can be readily transformed into a long “linear park” with walking trails and bike paths.

In Paris, the conversion of a former industrial railway line into a linear park is a great example, attracting both locals and tourists.

Melbourne, too, has its own success in revitalising disused infrastructure. The Greening the Pipeline project in Melbourne’s west involves converting a disused sewer main into a vibrant linear park. These projects demonstrate the benefits that can be achieved from developing high-quality, permanent public green spaces from underused land.

But formalising public use of urban green space comes at a cost, financially and otherwise: a highly designed park can crowd out the quirky, unplanned character that makes many informal spaces feel special. That’s why it’s crucial to see formalising green space as one option among many, and to reserve it for sites where potential benefits justify the investment.

A call to action

If you work in urban planning or local government, resist the urge to control and replace. Look at what’s already available. Sometimes the best thing you can do is observe, step back and support. Not all public spaces need a master plan.

If you’re a resident, get out there. Start small: plant something native, or set up a swing (where safe to do so). By engaging with the green spaces already around you, you might help create your own slice of urban paradise – no land purchase required.

Hugh Stanford does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

Even as emissions level off, carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is growing faster than ever. Here’s why

by bpckle | May 8, 2025 | Media

Over the last decade, humanity’s emissions of carbon dioxide (CO?) have stabilised after a period of huge growth. Average growth is now down to just 0.6% per year, compared to 2% per year in the previous decade. But levelling off isn’t the same as declining – and we’ve levelled off at a very high rate of emissions. The Global Carbon Project estimates human activities released a record high of 10.2 gigatonnes of carbon (GtC) in 2024.

Last year, the atmosphere’s concentration of CO? rose at the fastest rate on record. Over the last decade, atmospheric CO? increased an average of 2.4 parts per million (ppm) a year. But last year, concentrations jumped by 3.5 ppm, reaching 424 ppm in the atmosphere. These concentrations are more than 50% higher than the pre-industrial period.

While we’re burning more fossil fuels than ever, recent emissions growth has been offset by falling rates of deforestation and other land use emissions.

Why are CO? concentrations still rapidly increasing? We’re still pumping massive amounts of long-buried CO? into our atmosphere. The only way for this carbon to leave the atmosphere is through natural carbon sinks – and they’re struggling to keep up.

How do we know the amount of CO? in the atmosphere?

Perched on a remote and windy clifftop on Tasmania’s northwest tip lies the Kennaook/Cape Grim Baseline Air Pollution Station. This station has an important job: monitoring baseline changes in atmospheric gases. The location was chosen because air here has travelled hundreds of kilometres over the ocean in an area unaffected by local pollution.

For decades, Australian scientists have directly measured the changes to the atmosphere here. Alongside other monitoring stations worldwide, this gives us an accurate and precise record of changes in greenhouse gases and ozone depleting chemicals in the atmosphere.

Filling the bathtub

Carbon dioxide is very good at trapping heat. Over the Earth’s 4.5 billion years, pulses of CO? have created hothouse worlds, very different to the pleasant climate humans have enjoyed since the last ice age, about 11,000 years ago. The last time CO? went past 400 ppm was likely more than two million years ago.

It’s easy to confuse CO? emissions and concentrations of CO? in the atmosphere. Emissions influence atmospheric concentrations, but they are not the same.

Releasing long-buried carbon back into the atmosphere by burning fossil fuels and producing CO? emissions is like turning on the tap in a bathtub and the amount of water in the tub is the atmospheric concentration.

The Earth has natural ways of dealing with carbon dioxide. Plants, soils and oceans are carbon “sinks” – they all draw down carbon from the atmosphere and store it. Think of them as the bath’s plughole.

The problem is, we’re filling up the tub with CO? much faster than the Earth’s carbon sinks can pull them out. As a result, CO? concentration in the atmosphere rises. Atmospheric CO? matters because it is what actually influences climate.

If we apply current global emissions and scenarios where emissions decrease either steadily or rapidly to the CSIRO Simple Carbon-Climate Model, we can estimate how much our bathtub is likely to fill. These graphs show emissions must be significantly cut before we can start to see a fall in atmospheric concentration.

Why did CO? concentration jump last year?

The single largest influence in last year’s spike in CO? concentration is likely to be changes to carbon sinks.

Every year, oceans, forests and soils absorb about half the emissions humans produce. But this figure isn’t set – it changes as the Earth’s systems change.

For instance, plants grow more in wetter years and store more carbon in their structures through photosynthesis and growth.

But climate change is making fires more intense and more frequent. As trees burn, they release stored carbon back to the atmosphere. Emissions from enormous wildfires in Canada in 2023 and South America in 2024 likely contributed to the atmospheric CO? jump.

Recent research suggests a weakened biosphere has strongly contributed. Severe droughts across the northern hemisphere in 2024 cut the ability of the planet’s soils and plant life to soak up and store CO?.

The speed at which carbon sinks soak up CO? depends on environmental conditions, which are largely out of our control. As climate change worsens, the capacity of natural carbon sinks to draw down our emissions will likely reduce.

In the bathtub analogy, water leaves the tub through the plughole. If the plughole narrows, less water can escape and our tub will fill up even faster.

The main lever we can control is the tap on the bathtub – the emissions we produce. Many nations are now cutting their emissions, but not enough to begin the sharp decline in concentration we need.

In the 1980s, the Earth’s thin, protective layer of ozone – just 10 parts per million – was being eaten away by chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) and other chemicals in fridges, air conditioners and aerosol cans. Nations replaced these chemicals and the ozone hole began to close. Fossil fuels are far more important to our current way of life than CFCs were. But we now have good options to replace them across many industries.

This is a crucial moment. Our current rate of emissions will only cause CO? concentrations and global temperatures to rise. Natural carbon sinks will not pull out enough carbon to stabilise our climate on a time frame meaningful to humans. The earlier the action and decrease in emissions, the better our future.

Issy Borley receives funding from the Australian Bureau of Meteorology.

Cathy Trudinger does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

Ray Langenfelds receives funding from the Australian Bureau of Meteorology.

Australia is set to be a renewables nation. After Labor’s win, there’s no turning back

by bpckle | May 8, 2025 | Media

An emphatic election victory for the incumbent Labor government means Australia’s rapid shift to renewable energy will continue. As Climate Change and Energy Minister Chris Bowen said on Saturday:

In 2022, the Australian people voted to finally act on climate change. After three years of progress […] in 2025 they said keep going.

The election result also means the debate about energy policy is now, in broad terms, over. Australia’s energy future is wind and solar, backed by storage.

Coal and gas will have a fast-declining role to play and nuclear energy will have none at all. Australia is set to be a renewables nation. There is no turning back now.

Cementing renewables investment

By continuing to build renewables capacity, the returned Labor government can position Australia on the world stage as a genuine leader on clean energy.

The Albanese government has set a national target of more than 80% of the main national electricity grid running on renewables by 2030. With such a large majority in parliament, Labor may well be in government at that time.

Australia already has the world’s highest per-capita solar uptake, with about 300,000 solar systems installed each year. One in three Australian homes now has rooftop solar.

Labor is complementing this boom with a new home battery discount scheme, which aims to have more than one million batteries installed by 2030. This will help stabilise the grid by reducing demand at peak times.

But more investment in renewables is needed. The policy certainty of a returned Labor government should help to attract international capital. This is important, because more than 70% of investment in renewables in Australia comes from offshore.

Securing climate consensus

Labor’s win also means it can finally bed down a national consensus on climate policy.

A recent survey on Australian attitudes to climate action suggested community views can shift if people see action is taken by governments and big business.

This does not mean community opposition to renewable energy will evaporate – especially in regional Australia. The federal government must work with industry players and other levels of government to ensure proper public consultation. The new Net Zero Economy Authority will play an important role in ensuring the regions and their workers benefit from the energy transition.

For its part, the Coalition needs to do some soul-searching. Australian voters returned a number of climate-friendly independents in key seats. The Coalition also failed to win support from younger Australians, who typically view renewables favourably.

All this suggests continued opposition to renewables is unlikely to help the Coalition form government anytime soon. What’s more, continuing to promote nuclear power – which some in the Coalition are pushing for – makes little sense in an increasingly renewables-dominated grid.

Doubling down on international climate cooperation

Labor’s plans to rapidly expand renewable energy strengthen Australia’s credentials to host the COP31 UN climate talks with Pacific island countries next year.

Australia’s bid has strong support from other nations. Turkey – the only other nation with its hand up to host – has so far resisted pressure from Australia to withdraw its bid. In support of their own bid, Turkish representatives pointed to uncertainty in Australia ahead of the May election – however that uncertainty has now passed.

Adelaide will host the talks if Australia’s bid succeeds. This will be a chance to share our world-beating renewables story – including in South Australia, which is set to achieve 100% clean electricity by 2027.

Australia could also use the talks in South Australia to promote new export industries that use renewable energy, especially plans to produce green iron and green steel at Whyalla.

Hosting rights could attract investment in Australia’s renewables rollout and help promote exports of critical minerals and green metals. And it would enable Australia to cement its place in the Pacific during a time of increased geo-strategic competition, by promoting a renewables partnership for the whole region.

Australia must move fast and secure the COP31 bid at climate talks in Germany next month. Any delay risks a less ambitious summit next year, because building consensus for new initiatives takes time.

Seizing our economic opportunities

As Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said during his victory speech on Saturday, renewable energy is “an opportunity we must work together to seize for the future of our economy”.

Australia is the world’s largest exporter of raw iron ore and metallurgical coal, both used extensively in offshore steelmaking.

But Australia can create jobs and reduce emissions by refining iron ore in Australia using renewables and green hydrogen.

The potential export value of green iron is estimated at A$295 billion a year, or three times the current value of iron ore exports. More broadly, our clean energy exports – including green metals, fertilisers and fuels – could be worth six to eight times more than our fossil fuel exports, analysis suggests.

A key challenge for the returned government is assuring markets such as Japan that Australia is a long-term strategic partner, even while redirecting trade and investment away from coal and gas exports and toward long-term clean energy industries.

Embracing Australia’s future

Australians have delivered a strong mandate for climate action. The returned Labor government must ensure this support is not squandered, and voter trust is not lost.

This means seizing the opportunity, once and for all, to shift Australia from our past as a fossil fuel heavyweight to our future as a renewables superpower.

Wesley Morgan is a fellow with the Climate Council of Australia

Ben Newell receives funding from the Australian Research Council

How maximum security prison inmates and officers worked together to create a farm behind bars

by bpckle | May 7, 2025 | Media

At Macquarie Correctional Centre in western New South Wales, a story of collaboration and persistence is unfolding. Inmates and prison officers are farming commercial quantities of fresh food in a purpose-built indoor facility.

One of the 400 male offenders in maximum security at Macquarie contacted me with the idea about five years ago, proposing it would form the basis of a PhD. I agreed to supervise the project.

Inmates at Macquarie Correctional Centre are encouraged to further their education and follow their interests. The approach is modelled on the Scandinavian prison system, which has the world’s lowest re-offending rates.

The project shows food gardening provides a meaningful activity for inmates, some of whom never had the opportunity to learn how to plant and grow produce.

Why farm indoors?

The project involved farming indoors because the environment can be more carefully controlled. Being isolated from the weather means there’s no need to worry about extremes such as frosts or heatwaves.

This type of “controlled environment agriculture” is also more efficient. It requires less resources than traditional agriculture, mainly because there are fewer losses due to pests and diseases.

By controlling the amount of light, water and nutrients each plant receives, it’s possible to optimise the growing system – making it more like a plant factory than a standard greenhouse.

From vision to reality

Inmates studying in prison don’t have internet access. Emails are printed out or relayed. If information needs to be viewed online it is under supervision of an authorised officer.

Despite the challenges, the student published his first conference paper in 2021 and his first academic journal article in 2023. A second article followed in 2024. The student also submitted his PhD 2024.

The project began with a research plan. Then the PhD student ran focus groups with officers and inmates in mixed groups. A series of one-on-one interviews followed.

Officers and inmates co-designed and developed the indoor farming facility. One group of inmates, trained in the in-house design office, used 3D computer aided design (CAD) software to produce technical drawings for the farm. Another group took these drawings and turned them into small-scale indoor farming prototypes.

After extensive testing, the team selected the best prototype and developed the full-scale project, known as M Farm.

The student won a competitive grant of A$50,000 from the NSW Department of Communities and Justice Innovation Fund. This funded construction of the farm.

Another grant from the University of NSW supported a solar-powered food waste composting machine. The machine converts daily food waste from the entire prison into organic fertiliser. This means less food waste is sent to landfill, saving costs and reducing emissions.

Produce from the farm is used in the prison café. Since November 2023, the farm has supplied about $3,500 worth of produce to the café.

Last year, about 30 items were entered in the local agricultural show. M Farm won first place in the district for best fresh produce.

Cooperation is key to success

Inmates ran the project and enjoyed tangible benefits such as access to fresh produce and a sense of accomplishment and pride.

The project proved inmates can be productive without constant oversight. Similar results were achieved in a community-based vegetable gardening initiative in Girona, Spain, where residents formed an intensive farming cooperative without local council administration.

The prison officers also benefited from being part of the process and took pride in the results. They also shared the benefits in the on-site café, which is open to both inmates and prison staff.

This experiment provides further evidence that engagement and collaboration through co-design can lead to social learning, or “informal mutual learning”.

Empowering co-designers enables the development of solutions beyond initial expectations. The best approach is arming people with the skills they need to actively engage and co-lead in the decision-making processes.

Make it grow

The PhD thesis includes a co-design tool kit that other prisons worldwide can follow. Given the global prison population exceeds 11 million people, this presents an opportunity to develop a broad-scale sustainability initiative.

Farming fresh produce in prisons has the potential to improve nutrition and wellbeing. It also offers environmental benefits such as producing compost, reducing waste and cutting greenhouse gas emissions.

Such projects also have the potential to give inmates confidence and hope, and provides them with skills and knowledge that can benefit the community after their release.

Christian Tietz does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

Cheap overseas, ruinous in Australia: here’s how to make double-glazed windows the norm

by bpckle | May 7, 2025 | Media

In Europe, double-glazed windows are standard. But in Australia, these energy-saving windows are remarkably uncommon.

Correctly installed, the effect of double-glazing is remarkable. Instead of a house losing or gaining huge amounts of heat through its windows, double-glazed windows help keep the indoor temperature at a consistent temperature – reducing the need to crank up the air-con or heater.

In hot parts of Australia, these windows would keep out heat. In cold, they would keep heat in. They also slash outside noise. Houses with double-glazing can add resale value and even improve occupant health.

Why are they not standard? There are several reasons. But our research in Victoria found the main one is cost – double-glazing costs much more than a standard single-glazed window.

Heat loss and gain through windows is responsible for about 1.5% of Australia’s total energy use. As climate change intensifies, making double-glazing standard in Australia would cut household energy bills and make life indoors more pleasant. Other countries are moving to even higher performance triple-glazed windows. But Australia is stuck.

Why does double glazing work so well?

Windows let light and often air into a home. But they can also be the main way heat enters or leaves. Double-glazing works by adding a gap between two panes, often filled with dense argon gas, which doesn’t transfer heat well. The window frame material is important, too, to reduce heat transfer.

We measure the insulating quality of a window with a U-value – essentially, how much heat can be transferred through the glass. The lower this value, the more insulating the window.

A basic single-glazed window has a U-value of about 6. On a typical Australian home, these windows mean significant air conditioning is often required to maintain a comfortable temperature indoors during summer and winter.

Double-glazed windows with advanced design features common in North America and Europe typically have a U-value of 2.4 or less. When combined with wall and roof insulation, they can significantly reduce the need for heating or cooling. Triple-glazed are better still, with a U-value of 0.8 or less.

Standard overseas, rare in Australia

In the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom and much of Europe, double-glazed windows have been the norm for several decades. Commonly, these windows use argon gas between the two sheets and improve insulation further with low emittance coatings, thin transparent layers of metal which block solar rays.

In many of these countries, single-glazed windows have largely disappeared and retrofitting older houses with double-glazing is routine.

Anyone embarking on a renovation in Australia will soon discover double-glazing tends to be seen as a specialist eco-retrofit measure rather than something done as standard.

In 2016, only 6% of windows installed in new houses in Australia had U-values below 4. In 2024, that figure was 19%, indicating high performance windows are slowly becoming more common. But there’s still much to do to make them the norm.

Why is progress slow? We spoke to stakeholders in window manufacturing and building in Australia.

These industry experts explained why Australia is lagging:

• historically low-cost energy means the typical response to heat or cold is to install air conditioning

• single-glazed windows have long been the norm

• Australians often haven’t heard of high-performance windows or understand why they matter

• only a few companies make these windows in Australia, meaning competition is limited and costs remain high

• at present, there’s no requirement to include double-glazed windows in new builds or renovations

• housing affordability issues mean owners want to keep upfront construction costs as low as possible.

What should be done?

In our research, many windows industry insiders told us they were ready to scale up production of higher performance windows. The skills and technologies needed are here. What’s missing was the demand.

When we interviewed builders, they told us the choice of windows wasn’t simple. They had to weigh up material costs, existing supplier relationships and industry practices. Some told us it was cheaper at times to import from Europe or Asia than to buy Australian-made.

In part, this is a chicken and egg problem. Prices are high because there’s little demand and demand is limited because prices are high.

So what should be done?

Overseas experience has shown boosting demand is the key. If double-glazed windows become more common, more manufacturers will enter the Australian market and prices will drop.

The quickest way to do this would be to require their use in new construction and renovation.

At first, the industry might struggle to meet this demand. But that would create clear incentives for new players here or overseas to meet the demand.

Government support could help window manufacturers upgrade machinery and processes to be able to meet new demand.

Subsidies could help offset the costs to households, if designed to sunset after a set period. Any subsidies should target groups such as vulnerable older Australians affected by energy poverty as well as renters on low incomes.

Making this a reality is doable. After all, New Zealand did exactly this. In 2007, policymakers introduced new minimum performance requirements for windows. It took about four years to shift the market from single-glazed to predominantly double-glazed. Australia could do the same.

Trivess Moore has received funding from various organisations including the Australian Research Council, Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute, Victorian government and various industry partners. He is a trustee of the Fuel Poverty Research Network.

Lisa de Kleyn received funding from Sustainability Victoria, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 3000, for a short-term research project on the high performance window industry in 2023.

Ralph Horne has received funding from various sources including the Australian Research Council, the Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute and the Victorian government to support research related to this topic.

Tom Simko does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

Moving towns: 4 stories of communities facing relocation show the complex realities of managed retreat

by bpckle | May 7, 2025 | Media

With large parts of New Zealand having recently been pummelled by ex-tropical Cyclone Tam and ongoing bouts of heavy rain, it is important to remember that natural hazards have long shaped our cities.

Two townships in particular – Westport and Kume? – have featured in national stories about floods since the 19th century.

They are now among a growing number of places where flooding infrastructure is losing effectiveness and drastic actions have to be considered, including managed retreat.

This raises understandable concerns about anticipated drops in land value and loss of social connection to a place. But managed or planned retreat is not a new concept nationally or globally. International examples can serve as useful references.

These stories from four communities in three countries show how connection to culture and place can be either challenged or sustained when relocation becomes necessary.

Tallangatta, Australia: six decades later

Back in 1956, the Australian township of Tallangatta in north-eastern Victoria was forced to move eight kilometres west because of the expansion of the Hume Weir.

Originally, “old” Tallangatta was located at the meeting point of the Mitta Mitta River and the Tallangatta Creek. But this was subsumed by a significant water-storage facility, the Hume Dam (Lake Hume).

During periods of low water levels, it is still possible to view the remains of the old town from a lookout.

About a hundred houses and a few shops were relocated, including some Victorian buildings. Residents said there was no cost to the relocation, with relocated houses repainted and given modern plumbing facilities that did not previously exist.

New public and commercial buildings were designed in the modernist architectural style of the era, and in 2016 Tallangatta was acknowledged as a “notable town” by the National Trust of Victoria.

The blend of Victorian and mid-century modernist buildings characterises the new township and represents different eras in its history, including the physical and social upheaval of relocation.

But while it can be possible to physically move timber buildings to a new site, characteristics such as original township layout and social connection to the surrounding landscape can be lost.

Kiruna, Sweden: cultural history, industrial growth

Sweden’s northernmost town of Kiruna faces a similar situation due to land subsidence caused by a huge iron ore mine. Its 18,000 inhabitants now have to move about three kilometres east.

The town’s rich cultural heritage includes a long Indigenous Sami history and a long period of industrial growth driven by the mine which saw it given national heritage recognition in the 1980s.

The relocation process has not been without its challenges. One big question was how many historic buildings to move to help retain authentic connections to place.

It was proposed that new building design would use the aesthetic qualities of the historic buildings. And there was discussion about either creating an “old town” within the site, or dispersing relocated buildings around the town.

Eventually, local representatives and the mining company (which funded the relocation) decided about 50 of the oldest buildings would be relocated while the remainder would be demolished.

Demolition has now taken place, along with construction of a new town hall to replace its predecessor, a heritage-listed building dating to 1964.

Such decisions call for careful balancing of the impacts on local Indigenous cultural heritage, the economic role the mine has played in the town’s expansion, and its contribution to iron production in Europe in general.

Parallel narratives: Westport and Kume?

Climate change is making floods more intense and frequent. New Zealand’s South Island town of Westport is a 19th-century coal mining and trading settlement that experienced severe flooding in July 2021 and again in February 2022.

Although these floods were no larger than ones recorded in the past, their impact on homes and infrastructure was significantly greater due to Westport’s expansion over the years. The July 2021 flood damaged more than 500 houses, resulting in a NZ$54 million flood protection plan.

In 2023, the Buller District Council initiated a master plan to guide Westport’s future growth and development. It focuses on the controlled expansion of the township to higher ground on government-owned P?mu farmland one kilometre southwest of Westport.

The council endorsed Westport’s master plan in March this year, but some residents are still apprehensive about the changes.

In the North Island, the township of Kume? is close to Auckland, the country’s biggest city, but still reflects its farming history. Following recent floods, as well as several major floods since 1926, Auckland Council and local leaders joined forces to devise a plan to improve the town’s resilience.

While the prospect of managed retreat has been raised, proactive river maintenance seems the preferred option, including regular debris clearance by local contractors to optimise storm water drainage.

Managed retreat presents opportunities for improvement to Kume?’s infrastructure. But the long-established cultural relationships between people and landscapes in Aotearoa New Zealand also need to inform inclusive decisions about major relocations.

Connection to heritage rests on relationships with place and setting. These can include buildings, landscapes and views, as well as the historical and cultural values associated with a given site.

Stacy Vallis is affiliated with ICOMOS Aotearoa New Zealand, but this article does not represent the views of ICOMOS Aotearoa New Zealand.

Andrew Burgess, Ann Morrison, Imelda Piri, and Priscila Besen do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.