A Field Guide to the Future
“It’s easy to feel despair and desperation at a time where our decision makers continue to prioritise profit over people and planet, but when I see the community led mahi happening in Te Upoko o te Ika a Māui, it restores my faith in people power as a pathway to the future. This book shows that we don’t have to wait for politicians to create the communities we deserve.”
This statement by Tamatha Paul, Member of Parliament for Wellington Central, opens a recent publication by CERN member Amanda Yates (Ngāti Rangiwewehi, Ngāti Whakaue, Te Aitanga a Māhaki, Rongowhakaata), CEI members Gradon Diprose and Kelly Dombroski, and Social Entrepreneur in Residence from Massey University’s School of People, Environment and Planning, Thomas Nash.
Transitions in Action: An Urban and Regional Transitions Guide for Te Upoko o Te Ika Wellington documents the stories of over thirty initiatives that are oriented towards creating a just, climate-resilient and flourishing future.
Launched in March 2025, Transitions in Action is a field guide to the future and it shows how communities, iwi (tribes), local businesses and organisations are already reshaping the fabric of urban life in response to climate change, inequality and housing pressures.
The guide uses an urban regenerative action ‘compass’ as a further transition tool to help orient actions in relation to mauri (the life force inherent in all living systems). The compass visualises, in five concentric circles, key urban transitions in regenerative ecosystems, zero-carbon energy, regenerative circular economies, connected urban communities, and regenerative buildings.
The compass connects ancient Indigenous knowledge and contemporary regenerative approaches to help conceptualise the wellbeing of planet and people as a connected whole and to shift from a human-centric to an ecological mauri-centric way of thinking, doing and being.
Kelly Dombroski says, “A focus on mauri helps us think beyond metrics and targets to consider the lived experience of places and communities. It asks is life flourishing here? Are relationships – between people, land and institutions – being nurtured or depleted?”
The initiatives documented include:
- Toast Electric, a social energy retailer that aims to eliminate energy hardship and reduce household carbon emissions
- Good Cents, a financial learning course run at the Te Hiko Centre for Community Innovation that uses collective action to help people with unmanageable debt
- Wai Waste, a community organisation that collaborates with food donors, such as supermarkets, local growers and bakeries, to redistribute their surplus food
- Capital Kiwi, a collaborative project uniting iwi, landowners, and community members to help revive the taonga (treasure) species and restore kiwi habitat and populations in the nation’s capital city.
The authors write, “The guide documents real-world stories of how people and organisations are working together to achieve and progress important work. In talking with these groups, we have witnessed people’s passion, engagement, and the gritty work of addressing bureaucratic barriers and rules. We have documented the powerful impacts of the projects, how they connect people across social difference, foster joy, curiosity, and fun, enable relationships, reduce waste, save money, and improve both the environment and people’s lives.”
Image: Capital Kiwi
Jenny Cameron