The award was one of two prizes received by urban design and landscape architecture practice Reset Urban Design, the only New Zealand practice to receive an award at the international event in South Korea in early September.

Te Tau Papa o Avarua, The Avarua Town Plan, was praised by judges for its climate change mitigation and positive contribution to the wider Cook Islands community. The plan was commissioned by the Cook Islands Government and designed in association with traffic engineers Stantec and Rarotonga-based architect Romani Katoa.

“This award recognises the tough calls needing to be made to improve resilience to climate change and that these can be challenging to environmental ideals,” says Reset Urban Design director Garth Falconer. “One of a number of initiatives in this project [pictured at top] involves infilling part of a degraded lagoon to help save the capital’s key institutions and town centre from coastal inundation.”

Reset’s second IFLA award, working with Romani Katoa, was for the development of Aitutaki’s first-ever spatial plan (above). “Te Papa Tau o Araura is a comprehensive long-term strategy for Aitutaki’s growth and development,” says Falconer. “It describes the kind of place Aitutakians have said they want and outlines what is needed to achieve this.” The plan’s strategic direction is designed to enable Aitutaki’s communities to work together in a resourceful, self-sufficient way to protect, manage and develop their environment – both land and water.