Restoration as reconnection: A relational approach to urban stream repair

Abstract

Urban stream environments have been significantly altered through processes of colonisation and urbanisation. In Te Whanganui-a-Tara Wellington, Aotearoa New Zealand, there is growing interest in peeling back layers of the city to reconnect with waterways. More-than-human geographies can play a critical role in contributing to these efforts, guiding understandings of what it means to restore and live alongside urban streams. In our case study of the Waimapihi Stream, we explore one community's ideas and practices of restoration and how they envision a thriving place through the notion of stream daylighting. The Waimapihi shows us that restoration activities are both product and process of co-creating an ontologically plural space for the renegotiation of what stream restoration means.