Reflecting on the 2023 NZILA Firth Conference in Nelson last week, Kate Orff, a professor at Columbia University and the founder of Scape Landscape Architecture, said she feels Aotearoa New Zealand is a window to the future.

Kate presented on day two of the conference alongside Tama Whiting about landscapes which spark regional transformation.

After conference she spoke generously about her observations of the country and the local landscape architecture profession. 

“Coming to Aotearoa several times now I feel like when I come here I'm looking through a window to the future, particularly around the Maori and Indigenous reparations and repair issues.”

And she feels the “whole world’ will be looking to Aotearoa to find pathways forward. “As an American you know we have this very, very difficult and fraught history of extreme violence against First Nations people.

“When I come here, I'm overwhelmed by the sort of simultaneity of culture and the very difficult but very necessary dialogue and debate that's happening around Maori. I know it's incredibly complex… but what I will say and what I do take back with me to the United States is that the hard questions are being asked here and the work of introspection and reflection is happening here.”

When it comes to the work of the landscape architecture profession Kate is also extremely positive, saying she learnt a great deal about the profession here over conference. She feels the profession is gaining ground and “crystallising a voice.”

“I see here in Aotearoa, an environmental or sort of a landscape awareness that I find enchanting and deeply important. And it's something that I've been trying to fight to include in the American consciousness.

“You really have this incredible need to steward what you’ve got … to really think about landscape architecture in this broader planning and policy context and, and really highlight and preserve the beauty of the intact physical landscape that you have but so many other places around the world have just completely lost.”

Kate was recently named in Time’s 100 most influential people of 2023, an accolade which took her by surprise.

She says her takeaway from being included in the list is that it is time for the landscape architecture profession to find its voice and raise the bar. 

“Shout from the rooftops … get angry …let's get that message out there.”

You can see much more from Kate in her post conference video interview below and her appearance on the TV3 AM show in New Zealand on May the 24th 2023.