New Zealand Centre for Sustainable Cities

Shaun's work has three strands

• developing principles, protocols and methods for collecting, recording, and sharing mātauranga Māori
• integrating spiritual, cultural, and traditional resource management principles with those of urban design to develop new design processes
• incorporating mātauranga Māori in urban development policy and planning processes

Current research, “Tu Whare Ora – Building Capacity for Māori Driven Design in Sustainable Settlement Development” seeks to increase Māori capacity and input into housing and settlement design in New Zealand. It reflects a growing desire among many Māori to be more active in planning and shaping living environments for their people and the overall settlement patterns within either their respective rohe or the contemporary environments in which they now live

Shaun leads the FRST programme “Kaitiakitanga nga Taone nui” (Kaitiakitanga of Urban Settlement) which builds on assessment frameworks in other sectors (health and social policy, housing), the articulation of iwi/hapū aspirations in first-generation iwi management plans, and previous work in developing Māori urban design principles . Conceptual and methodological exploration of the interface between western and indigenous understanding and knowledge of urban environments is key to the research and will be explored in recent and current planning initiatives to produce knowledge and methods to facilitate the inclusion of Mātauranga Māori in urban planning practice.

Shaun is currently completing a PhD which assesses how traditional and contemporary Maori values and principles can improve urban settlement patterns, especially for but not limited to, Maori.