several people stand accepting an award

The Selwyn District Council has been honoured for its innovative work on the Waikirikiri Ki Tua Future Selwyn by the New Zealand Planning Institute (NZPI).

The Council last night received two NZPI Best Practice Awards in the Strategic or Non-Statutory Planning category as well as the Digital category for Waikirikiri Ki Tua Future Selwyn, which will guide the council’s planning and decision-making for the next 50-100 years.

"This recognises the outstanding work of our team and their commitment to thinking long term and including our community in decision making,” says Mayor Broughton.

“Waikirikiri Ki Tua Future Selwyn is about planning for the future with foresight and flexibility.”

Strategy Team Leader Ben Baird, Senior Strategy Planner George Sariak and Strategy Planner Ryan Mayes received the awards on behalf of the Selwyn District Council at the NZPI annual conference in Invercargill.

Baird says the web-based tools created by council showcase what can be achieved with in-house resources to deliver an outstanding digital place-based, future-focused spatial strategy.

“We believe that Waikirikiri Ki Tua Future Selwyn is at the forefront of spatial planning in Aotearoa New Zealand, balancing storytelling, exploratory scenarios, data-driven evidence-based planning, collaboration, futures-thinking and spatial direction,” says Baird.

Waikirikiri Ki Tua Future Selwyn was developed to create a strategic approach to intergenerational wellbeing, sustainability, resilience, growth, change and development for the district.

“We wanted to align existing strategies, polices and plans at Selwyn District Council, so we paddle as one towards a better Selwyn.”

Baird explains that creating Waikirikiri Ki Tua Future Selwyn within the ArcGIS Experience Builder technology lowered the technical barriers allow SDC staff to co-develop the website and to make it easily accessible for residents and other users.

Baird says the project started in 2020 during the pandemic “when we realised that our future was more uncertain than ever before”.

“It became apparent it was no longer realistic to set out one unwavering path towards our desired future. Instead, we must accept there are many possibilities in our future and be willing to adapt and evolve as we move forward towards our desired future.”

Last modified: 27 Mar 2025 11:31am