Bridging cultures and conservation: Ruby Kimber’s impactful journey in indigenous planning

Her passion and drive have earned the Lincoln University Master of Planning student the New Zealand Planning Institute’s Papa Pounamu Whakatutukitanga Scholarship, including $2000 and a paid summer internship at WSP.

It is awarded annually to a Māori student planner displaying excellence in Māori planning within an environment framework.

The relationship between iwi and environmental planning is a point of passion for Ruby, who has a deep interest in the concept of ‘green colonialism’ — taking environmental action at the expense of indigenous cultures.

“It’s all connected. If you enhance one, it needs to enhance the other. There are ongoing impacts.”

Studying opened her eyes to a lot of issues surrounding indigenous cultures in planning. Ruby wanted to see a world where indigenous people were an active part of the planning process, not just a group to be formally consulted as a legal requirement.

After seeing academic success in her Bachelor of Environmental Management, Ruby was encouraged by her lecturers to continue studying and with Lincoln’s fee waiver scheme it was a valuable opportunity.

Ruby planned to use her Masters education to pursue environmental and iwi planning, focusing on policy surrounding those issues.

“It’s a space that has a lot of room for growth and new initiatives.

“There’s a lot of places you can go, even in iwi planning. It’s not limited to one thing.”

The importance of planning was something that few people recognised or gave thought it, particularly in the context of social issues, she said.

“It’s quite strange, because literally everything around us was planned.

“A lot of people don’t even know it’s a profession.”

Her goal was to make an impact in the space, even if that was helping other indigenous populations overseas struggling with similar issues.

Ruby was nominated for the scholarship by one of her faculty members, who recognised the high-quality work she had done in her undergraduate degree.

The judging panel agreed that her application and academic record demonstrated her alignment with NZPI’s five values: Manaakitanga (hospitality and generosity), Whanaungatanga (relationships), Kaitiakitanga (guardianship), Kotahitanga (unity and solidarity), and Whakatutukitanga (accomplishment).