If there were no rules
what would future Whakatū look like?
Urban Prototype provides a game based structure for rapid prototyping changes to the built environment. It amalgamates expected impacts from both river flooding and coastal inundation projections in the playable space and provides a frame for creating a resilient proposal to reflect the future impacts. The work is currently active at Ngā whare ātaungranga o Whakatū / Elma Turner Library, 27 Halifax Street, Whakatū /Nelson. Scroll down for more detail and the back story of the project or to find the Draft Whakatū Nelson Climate Change Strategy Consultation
A collaborative project designed by architects Rachel Dodd, Stephanie Phillips, Lyn Russell and artist Vicki Smith
Elma Turner Library Installation March 28 - April 17 2025
For the last couple of years Te Kaunihera o Whakatū / Nelson City Council has been engaging with community around the expected change to how we live and thrive with regard to impending future impacts related to our changing climate. Background on this work including the flooding and inundation projections, that helped inform Urban Prototype playing parameters, can be found at Nelson Climate Change Strategy Consultation on Shape Nelson.
Compare the activity types (blocks) via dual developments of our local built cityscape.
Two events were added to the Climate Conversations to provide firsthand opportunities to engage with Urban Prototype and the team behind it, One is the public talk at the end of the business day for providing some background and answering any questions members of the public might have and encourage submissions before the 17th of April cut off.
Additional activities
Have your say before 11 April 2025 to help shape the latest playground to be installed alongside the Mahitahi / Maitai awa
Info here: Council news release
Submit your thoughts and connect to the progress at www.playspacewhakatū.nz
Members of the Small Practice Architects group gathered with Climate Change Advisor Marie Becdelievre. The two tables were introduced with one hosting the usual construction process. The other was covered with tracing paper and pens linking to the building type colours were offered to enable an even more rapid process of creating the future whakatū imaginary.
This iteration of Urban Protoype is kindly supported by the Climate Adaptation team at Te Kaunihera o Whakatū / Nelson City Council. Their engagement programme around the Climate Change Strategy consultation includes this analogue interactive opportunity as well as talks, events, and drop-in sessions.
Read more and share your thoughts with the NCC Climnate Change team or at Whakatū Nelson Climate Change Strategy Consultation (lots of great information). Have your say!
Thanks to all the wonderful people who make up the team running the Library - we really appreciate the service you provide
Sublime Iteration - 10-27 March - 32 New Street - They Rock!!
We are hugely grateful to Emma and the team at Sublime Coffee Roasters, for hosting the Urban Prototype game
in their busy New street premises. Our game was set up in a sunny window site for a couple of weeks.
While the public were initially tentative in their engagement eventually people were gathering around the work, commenting about it and adding their ideas by way of building different elements to add to the urban environment. You can see from the documentary images that there is a keen interest in density and residential over top of retail and other public facing spaces. As reported to our team there were individuals who sought out the game to build what they hope to see in future Whakatū - In keeping this effort intact we photographed the final set up and transferred that to the new site at the Library where the work will remain for the rest of the Draft Climate Change Strategy engagement period.
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Below ARE questions to engage with FROM THE COUNCIL TEAM
- How would you rate your business’s level of understanding of climate change (how climate change will impact your business, sources of emissions, how to strengthen your business’ resilience to climate impacts and how to reduce emissions)
- What are the key information gaps?
- What are you already committed to doing about climate change as a business? Are there particular projects you're working on? (e.g. tracking against emissions reduction targets, educating staff, incentivising active or public transport use, identifying natural hazard risks and vulnerabilities)
- How important do you see climate change in your industry?
- What opportunities do you see for decarbonising in your industry and preparing for climate disruption?
- What barriers do you face in taking climate action?
- What support do you need to increase your efforts to address climate change?
- What level of risk do you see climate change posing to your business?
- Do you see any potential partnerships or collaboration opportunities arising through the Whakatū Nelson Climate Change Strategy and Climate Action Plan?
AT REFINERY ARTSPACE 2022
For AOTEAROA DIGITAL ART (ADA) NETWORK RESEARCH PROJECT - OBJECTS, SIGNALS AND ARCHITECTURES.
Envisaged as an immersive room where building blocks were moved physically by players moving within the built environment. Due to constraints the end result was a type of 'command room' populated with freshly released Council Flooding and Coastal Inundation projections and historic city maps. The two tables set up contrasted a free form imagining with a more studied reconstruction and attracted interest groups from local government, engineering, architects, climate advocates alongside locals and visiting artists.
3/4 of team discussing the Urban Prototype construction at What If....
2023 WHAT IF... Whakatū MAKE/SHIFT | NZIA
Te Kāhui Whaihanga New Zealand Institute of Architects
Reinstated by request of the local branch of NZIA who were part of the organisational team behind What if... A month long, shop takeover, to draw a diverse audience into discussion of future directions for the region. Urban Prototype also engaged in one of the lunchtime talks with a Q&A with Marie and David from the Nelson City Council Climate Change team which illicit some interesting and surprising responses to the scenarios presented.
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