Rangatahi engagement praised as Te Pātukurea wins top planning awards

A project shaped by rangatahi-led engagement has taken out two major planning awards at the New Zealand Planning Institute (NZPI) Annual Conference in Wellington in March.

Te Pātukurea – the 30-year spatial plan for Kerikeri-Waipapa– is a blueprint for how the rohe will grow and evolve, shaping where people live, how they move and connect with their community.

Developed by Far North District Council in partnership with the Hapū Rōpū Governance Group and project consultants Beca and Boffa Miskell, the plan earned national recognition, receiving the Best Practice Award for Strategic or Non-Statutory Planning and the supreme Nancy Northcroft Award.

Judges singled out rangatahi engagement as a defining feature of the plan, which generated one third of all community submissions.

Lead Systems Innovator of Healthy Families Far North, Tawhi Tua, says the collaborative vision demonstrates what happens when systems genuinely partner with rangatahi.

“Te Pātukurea required more than good ideas, it demanded intentional collaboration, genuine trust, and an openness to change,” she said.

"When our young people are trusted with the tools, time and resources to shape the decisions that affect their lives, the health and wellbeing benefits for their whānau and communities are intergenerational."

Over the past four years, Healthy Families Far North have worked alongside Kerikeri High School and rangatahi from the rohe on 'Te Pātukurea — A Rangatahi Approach', a three-phase kaupapa designed to bring the voices of young people into the planning process.

Local rangatahi were supported to redesign, lead and hold engagement projects in their community, with a focus on those aged 12 to 24.

Resourced as consultants, they translated complex planning material for their peers, and ran pop-up engagement at local hot spots,including skate parks, kura and basketball courts – holding complete design autonomy over how the kōrero happened.

Those involved described the kaupapa as meaningful.

"It actually makes me feel really proud of myself. I’m able to give people a voice," said one rangatahi.

 "I can see myself coming back here when I'm older, and I hope it's as awesome as it sounds cracked up to be," said another.

For Far North District Council, it's meant rethinking how decisions are made, with a structured deliberations process giving rangatahi voice equal weight.

‍'Te Pātukurea – A Rangatahi Approach' reminds us that when whānau hold influence over the conditions that shape their lives, the benefits to health and wellbeing last for generations.

For Healthy Families Far North, the question now is how other system partners across Te Tai Tokerau can recognise and support the role they play in the prevention system – one that shapes the futures of our rangatahi and their whānau across the rohe.