Benefitting Society category

Since 2008, Otago Polytechnic’s Living Campus has transformed urban green space into a dynamic, living model of sustainability education and practice. Encompassing edible gardens, native plantings, compost systems, and cultural storytelling, it is not simply a project—it is the physical embodiment of the institution’s values. Integrating permaculture ethics with mātauranga Māori, the Living Campus supports cross-disciplinary learning, community engagement, and wellbeing. It produces compost, reduces emissions, delivers place-based learning across all faculties, and shares food, knowledge, and cultural practices with the wider community. As a whole-of-campus initiative, it has set a national precedent for integrating sustainability visibly and holistically across education, operations, and community life.

 

“koru” refers to a spiral shape, based on the unfurling fern frond of the silver fern.

Environmental and Social Benefits

  • Diverts more than seven tonnes of organic waste annually, producing up to 14 cubic metres of compost for reuse across gardens, reducing landfill and supporting soil health.
  • Provides open-access gardens and green spaces that enhance staff and student wellbeing, foster community connection, and offer therapeutic, cross-cultural, and inclusive learning experiences.
  • Shares surplus produce, compost, and sustainability knowledge through public workshops, interpretive signage, and student-led events such as banquets showcasing campus-grown ingredients.

 

Leadership and Engagement

  • Over 5,000 students across every faculty have formally engaged with the Living Campus through integrated coursework, with many more participating in informal and volunteer roles.
  • Cross-disciplinary collaboration is central: students in culinary arts, computing, health, horticulture, trades, and design have contributed through practical projects, signage, software, infrastructure, and menus.
  • Mana whenua (Māori land rights) partnerships and a commitment to te Tiriti (Treaty of Waitangi) guide planting design, infrastructure, and interpretation, with the Living Campus recognised as a cultural as well as ecological space.

 

Significance to the Sector

  • As Australasia’s first open-air campus dedicated to sustainable practice, it presents a replicable and holistic model that shifts sustainability from “operations” to an educational and cultural identity.
  • Features in academic research, international summer schools, media coverage, and Otago Polytechnic’s course promotion, helping to disseminate the model and support replication across Aotearoa and beyond.
  • Recognised nationally and internationally for its place-based approach to sustainability, it has inspired similar efforts in other Otago Polytechnic campuses and offers a template for other institutions.

 

Wider Societal Impact

  • Supported newly arrived Syrian refugees through community gardening projects, restoring a sense of belonging and self-sufficiency through food cultivation.
  • Welcomes public participation and school visits, offering hands-on sustainability education to children, families, and local organisations beyond the tertiary sector.
  • Demonstrates a low-cost, high-impact model for local councils and community groups to transform underutilised space into vibrant, inclusive, and regenerative landscapes.
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Top 3 learnings

  • “Think global, act local” carries tensions: making change intended for long-lasting impact within budget.
  • Permaculture principles and ethics are a succinct approach for bringing sustainability to front of house.
  • Pou: Tūroa, Pūtea, Takata, Mātauraka, Tiriti-Living Campus -the face of OP’ strategies for equitable education.

Supported by

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Category finalists

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Benefitting Society category

Since 2008, Otago Polytechnic’s Living Campus has transformed urban green space into a dynamic, living model of sustainability education and practice. Encompassing edible gardens, native plantings, compost systems, and cultural storytelling, it is not simply a project—it is the physical embodiment of the institution’s values. Integrating permaculture ethics with mātauranga Māori, the Living Campus supports cross-disciplinary learning, community engagement, and wellbeing. It produces compost, reduces emissions, delivers place-based learning across all faculties, and shares food, knowledge, and cultural practices with the wider community. As a whole-of-campus initiative, it has set a national precedent for integrating sustainability visibly and holistically across education, operations, and community life.

 

Top 3 learnings

  • “Think global, act local” carries tensions: making change intended for long-lasting impact within budget.
  • Permaculture principles and ethics are a succinct approach for bringing sustainability to front of house.
  • Pou: Tūroa, Pūtea, Takata, Mātauraka, Tiriti-Living Campus -the face of OP’ strategies for equitable education.

Environmental and Social Benefits

  • Diverts more than seven tonnes of organic waste annually, producing up to 14 cubic metres of compost for reuse across gardens, reducing landfill and supporting soil health.
  • Provides open-access gardens and green spaces that enhance staff and student wellbeing, foster community connection, and offer therapeutic, cross-cultural, and inclusive learning experiences.
  • Shares surplus produce, compost, and sustainability knowledge through public workshops, interpretive signage, and student-led events such as banquets showcasing campus-grown ingredients.

 

Leadership and Engagement

  • Over 5,000 students across every faculty have formally engaged with the Living Campus through integrated coursework, with many more participating in informal and volunteer roles.
  • Cross-disciplinary collaboration is central: students in culinary arts, computing, health, horticulture, trades, and design have contributed through practical projects, signage, software, infrastructure, and menus.
  • Mana whenua (Māori land rights) partnerships and a commitment to te Tiriti (Treaty of Waitangi) guide planting design, infrastructure, and interpretation, with the Living Campus recognised as a cultural as well as ecological space.

 

Significance to the Sector

  • As Australasia’s first open-air campus dedicated to sustainable practice, it presents a replicable and holistic model that shifts sustainability from “operations” to an educational and cultural identity.
  • Features in academic research, international summer schools, media coverage, and Otago Polytechnic’s course promotion, helping to disseminate the model and support replication across Aotearoa and beyond.
  • Recognised nationally and internationally for its place-based approach to sustainability, it has inspired similar efforts in other Otago Polytechnic campuses and offers a template for other institutions.

 

Wider Societal Impact

  • Supported newly arrived Syrian refugees through community gardening projects, restoring a sense of belonging and self-sufficiency through food cultivation.
  • Welcomes public participation and school visits, offering hands-on sustainability education to children, families, and local organisations beyond the tertiary sector.
  • Demonstrates a low-cost, high-impact model for local councils and community groups to transform underutilised space into vibrant, inclusive, and regenerative landscapes.

Supported by

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Category finalists