Stories from the land: Revealing plural narratives within one landscape

Abstract

Landscape narrative theory initiates new ways of understanding landscape. This paper explores the concept of landscape narrative within a case study site rich in the cultural history of Aotearoa New Zealand: Maungakiekie | One Tree Hill and Cornwall Park, in Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland. It discusses the complexity of narrative representation within historically significant public spaces and considers the research question first asked by Potteiger and Purinton (1998a) in Landscape Narratives: Design Practices for Telling Stories: ‘how can pluralistic landscape narratives be revealed within shared public landscapes, responding to multiple histories, and relating to a diverse contemporary culture?’ This paper concludes by proposing an ‘open’ narrative approach to revealing historical landscapes, as a method to elicit plural ‘readings’ that traverse conventional boundaries of governance, time and ‘official’ interpretation. In so doing, the approach promotes greater connection, across time, with people and place.