Rebecca Kiddle

Dr Kiddle received her PhD in Urban Design in 2011 from Oxford Brookes University, UK, before working at Royal Holloway: University of London and Xi'an Jiaotong-Liverpool University. Returning to Aotearoa New Zealand in 2015, Dr Kiddle was a Lecturer and Senior Lecturer at Victoria University of Wellington, then became Head of Urban Development for Hutt City Council, before taking up the role of the Director of Te Manawahoukura Rangahau Centre at Te Wānanga o Aotearoa. Internationally recognised, Dr Kiddle is a leading scholar in the field of Indigenous urban design and urbanism and is a prominent voice in advocating for the incorporation of Māori perspectives and values in urban planning and design in Aotearoa New Zealand.

Sometimes difficult to see, the planning, design and eventual structures of our towns and cities have led to benefits for some people, but disadvantages for others. Dr Kiddle's research focuses on spatial justice, defined as the fair distribution of resources and the opportunities to use them, irrespective of the neighbourhood in which you live. Examples include equitable access to kai, healthcare, or employment; distribution of funding across communities; and resilience to the impacts of climate change. Dr Kiddle will build solutions to the growing spatial injustices occurring in Aotearoa New Zealand, by understanding, highlighting, and mapping spatial justice and injustice across the motu. This research considers the settler colonial context of our built environments and aims to move Aotearoa New Zealand toward better, ‘just’ and more caring urban places in which everyone can thrive.

Spatially just cities offer play spaces where all tamariki can learn and thrive (Supplied)