The role of landscape architecture at public open-air rock art sites - case studies in Canterbury, Aotearoa New Zealand : A dissertation submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the Degree of Master of Landscape Architecture at Lincoln University

Abstract

Rock art is a valuable and vulnerable taonga | treasure both in Aotearoa New Zealand and internationally. The theory and practice of landscape architecture and rock art conservation and management hold many of the same values and concerns. However, very little research addresses the specific overlap between these fields. From the literature, it is difficult to gain an idea of the reality of the situation: what role do landscape architects have in the conservation and management of open-air rock art sites? This dissertation aims to explore the overlap between these fields from a landscape architectural perspective and to begin to bridge this gap in the literature. While the international context of rock art conservation and management informs this project, its focus is on a specific subject and geographic area: publicly accessible open-air Māori rock art sites of Waitaha | Canterbury in Aotearoa New Zealand. This allows for a detailed and context specific investigation. A novel, holistic, hybrid methodology was developed and applied. This included a specialist interview with Amanda Symon, Trustee of the Ngāi Tahu Māori Rock Art Trust, a multiple case study protocol, including the development and application of a case study framework, and the hybrid, critical discussion of the resultant findings. The research demonstrates that landscape architects have had a limited role at public, open-air rock art sites in Waitaha | Canterbury, but that there are many avenues by which landscape architecture may be able to make a contribution to the conservation and management of such sites, as part of a transdisciplinary, tangata whenua led team. These may include responding to the unique risks and opportunities these sites present, finding visitor management solutions, potential involvement in landscape assessment for planning or legislative purposes, facilitating transdisciplinary research or development, and the possibility of mutually beneficial educational and research relationships between rock art conservation and management and landscape architecture institutions. This dissertation has a specific regional focus on Waitaha| Canterbury’s historical, cultural, and environmental context. This research, however, is nested within the global context, and many of the topics addressed, methods discussed, questions raised, and further research opportunities proposed could be adapted to be more broadly applicable.