Wildness: planting new natures in Aotearoa, New Zealand
Mick Abbott, Cameron Boyle and Woody Lee
This article rethinks wildness—not as something untouched or lost, but as something new, messy, and shaped by us. It’s useful because it gives designers ways to work with real, changing landscapes instead of trying to recreate the past. It encourages using what’s already there—native and exotic plants, people and animals—and trying out creative, practical ideas. Rather than aiming to fix nature, the article asks how we might live better with it. The article shows ways design can help grow new relationships between people and place, offering fresh ways to care for land, support life, and imagine more hopeful futures.
“WildLab is our testing platform for this work. Realising the arbitrariness of scale, we explore ways to grow this wild in whatever circumstances we find it – seeking out projects through which new relationships between people and nature can be formed.”
WildLab @ 2020-2025