UDINZ Whakatipu Tāone Gala Dinner 2026

Join us for our second ever Gala Dinner event: "Whakatipu Tāone: Growing Cities with Mana Whenua”.

It’s a celebration of Urban Development empowered by Iwi Māori Perspectives to be held the evening of 12 November 2026.

The inaugural Whakatipu Tāone explored relationships, partnership and collaboration between iwi and the urban development sector.

This year's event moves the conversation forward, examining how Te Ao Māori perspectives influence the built environment:

• how we understand place,
• what we choose to value, and
• how we make decisions that shape communities over generations.

Central to the event is the influence of Te Ao Māori perspectives.

• How do Te Ao Māori perspectives shape the places we create?
• How do they influence the way we define value, assess impact and make investment decisions? and
• what can the wider urban development sector learn from perspectives that consider both a broader range of outcomes and much longer time horizons?

The programme itself is designed as a journey through place, time and perspective.

Te Waihorotiu: Where the Journey Begins

Participants will gather at the entrance to Te Waihorotiu Station, one of Auckland's most significant new pieces of public infrastructure.

We will break into two main groups and do a walk through of the station, supported by Auckland Transport, taking in the incredible public art commissioned for the station. More than a transport hub, Te Waihorotiu represents the integration of Māori narratives, history, ecology and identity into the design of a major civic space.

Beginning here is intentional.

The station takes its name from the historic Waihorotiu Stream, a waterway fundamental to the history of Ngāti Whātua and the origins of Tāmaki Makaurau. Although largely hidden beneath the modern city, the stream remains part of the cultural and physical foundations upon which Auckland was built.

The station itself tells a story. From the Wāhine and Horotiu sculptures to the kauri carvings, the tears of Ranginui represented in the station façade, and the installation recalling the flow of the historic stream beneath the city, Te Waihorotiu demonstrates how indigenous knowledge can shape infrastructure, not simply adorn it.

In many respects the journey begins at the source of the city itself.

On the train the conversations and reflections on what we have heard about design will continue.

Travelling Through Time and Place

From Te Waihorotiu, attendees will travel by way of the newly-opened CRL train through the central city towards Morningside.

The journey provides a physical expression of the event theme. Participants start at the historic waterway that underpins the story of Tāmaki Makaurau and travel towards neighbourhoods experiencing renewal and regeneration, connecting the city's origins with its future the areas along the transport corridor to the west designed as priority areas for intensified development.

It is a journey through time as much as space, asking how our understanding of the past should influence the development decisions we make today and into tommorrow.

Crave: Community, Connection and Collective Influence through the multi-disciplinary professionals of our sector

The group will pause at Crave, a well-known community enterprise in Morningside that embodies the role local enterprise, connection and social purpose play in creating successful places.

After a formal welcome from UDINZ, attendees will hear over pre-dinner refreshments, from the first of our speakers.

Lucy Tukua (Ngāti Paoa, Ngāti Whanaunga), an influential figure in contemporary Māori architecture, urban design and planning. She, colleague Rau Hoskins and others have spent decades helping to establish and grow Ngā Aho Māori Design Professionals, a national community of practitioners committed to embedding Māori perspectives within the design professions and the development sector. Their work has brought together architects, planners, artists, designers, developers and iwi leaders around a shared ambition: ensuring Māori perspectives help shape not only individual projects, but the systems, institutions and professions responsible for shaping our cities.

This discussion will explore how Te Ao Māori perspectives have influenced contemporary design practice across Aotearoa and the collective effort required to create places that genuinely reflect the identity, stories and aspirations of this country.

Dinner Discussion: Iwi Perspectives shaping Investment decisionmaking

We then move to the dinner venue two doors away, “Glasshouse”.

The evening will begin with a mihi whakatau led by Dane Grey (Ngāti Whātua, Ngā Puhi, Ngāti Maniapoto), a member of our 2025 Alumni. The mihi whakatau will acknowledge those gathered, the significance of the place, and the purpose of the occasion—bringing attendees together, fostering a shared sense of connection, and formally opening the evening. 

After our mihi whakatau, the evening's dinner discussion broadens the conversation from place-making to investment decision-making.

If Te Ao Māori perspectives can influence the places we create and the people responsible for placemaking, how might they also influence the way we define value and make investment decisions?

We will hear from another of our 2025 Alumni, Juliet Tainui-Hernandez (Ngāi Tahu, Ngāti Kahungunu, Te Whakatōhea, Te Whānau a Apanui) on the “size of the prize” in terms of the significance and scale of iwi investment within our wider economy.

We will then hear from iwi leaders from both Te Ika-a-Māui and Te Waipounamu who will explore how Māori approaches to investment often differ, not only in the length of the horizon over which success is measured, but also in the breadth of outcomes considered.

The first of those speakers is Lisa Davis (Ngāti Whātua Ōrākei) who will share her perspectives on place, identity, stewardship and the role of Mana Whenua in shaping the future of Tāmaki Makaurau – a perspective shaped by mokopuna thinking.

The second of those speakers is David Tikao (Ngāi Tahu, Ngāti Irakehu) who will bring a Te Waipounamu perspective to our discussion on investment, exploring how Māori approaches to capital, stewardship and intergenerational responsibility influence outcomes.

The discussion will consider how Māori investment frameworks assess success across multiple dimensions, including cultural, environmental, social and economic wellbeing. It will examine how decisions change when communities consider not only immediate outcomes but the implications for future generations.

This is not simply about thinking longer term. It is also thinking more broadly about the extend of impact.

The Overarching Question

Whakatipu Tāone 2026 brings together perspectives on place-making and investment through a common lens.

How does a Te Ao Māori perspective shape the places we create, the value we seek, and the legacy we leave for future generations?

From the waters of Te Waihorotiu to the future-focused investment perspectives of Ngāi Tahu and Ngāti Whātua Ōrākei, the event invites participants to consider how indigenous perspectives can help shape places that are authentically of Aotearoa New Zealand and decisions that endure well beyond our own lifetimes.

Register now and join other progressive individuals and organisations in:

• Celebrating outcomes that honour mana whenua and intrinsically New Zealand values of inclusiveness in shaping our places; and
• Improving your understanding of how urban development can be sustainable, culturally responsive, community-driven AND attractive to international purpose driven investment

This event is for developers, urban designers, policymakers, consultants and supply chain as well as central and local government and iwi leaders wishing to explore the potential to collaborate on a better futures for us all.