CLIENT
Cook Islands Investment Corporation
DATE
2019 - Ongoing
The islands of Aitutaki lie about 200 km due north of Rarotonga in the Cook
Islands and have long been long celebrated as one of the jewels of the
pacific. However, these seemingly pristine islands with its ringed lagoon
are at a tipping point, as they have increasingly borne the burden of
regional issues such as heightened demands of mass tourism, waste disposal
and flight of their young people to the bright lights of New Zealand.
The island has not had any organised public planning and has little
regulation of land use or development. Traditionally land is owned tribally
and through families. Landowners have long resisted any form of control or
regulation which has presented huge challenges to the coordination of
standards and supply of facilities.
Following a successful spatial planning project of Rarotonga’s main
township of Avarua, Reset Urban Design together with Romani Katoa
Rarotongan based architect and project manager were engaged by Cook Islands
Investment Corporation (CIIC - a wholly Cook Islands Government owned
entity for managing assets and facilities) to carry out the ambitious goal
of providing the first ever spatial plan for the island of Aitutaki.
The ensuing 8 month process the team closely worked with the Mayor and
Aitutaki Island Council (made up of elected representatives that has
responsibility for the management of the island), island ward community
boards, special interest groups and the general public. The Cook Islands
Government and CIIC project manager Anne Taoro encouraged a strong local
direction driven by Aitutakians and took a backseat role enabling local
direction.
‘’Te Papa Tau o Araura’’ - The Aitutaki Plan is a much needed first step to
recognise and address development and management issues across all aspects
of the islands planning including land use, reafforestation, movement, open
space, waste disposal, water supply, housing and even signage in an
integrated and coordinated manner.
This dual language plan ( a fully translated document in Cook Island Maori
was also produced) was developed during 2019 and successfully adopted by
the Aitutaki Town Council and the Cook Islands Cabinet. Our teams
contribution has set a staged implementation plan for the next 30 years and
a benchmark for best practise locally not only in the Cook Islands but
further across the Pacific Islands.
