The sense of this potential was at the heart of 2023’s Uptown Futures Festival; which facilitated a week of inspiration, conversations, meeting new neighbours and amazing collaborations, all centred around showcasing some of the incredible student work from AUT, Unitec and the University of Auckland.

Alongside local business The Urban Advisory, Uptown had over 550 students from 1st year right through to Masters, reimagining our neighbourhood and creating visions of its potential. The festival showcased a selection of these projects, to act as a catalyst for community input into the development of the area.

We partnered the students with esteemed local design focussed businesses, who as well as supporting the students throughout the semester, sponsored the festival. Huge thank you to ECC, Paul Brown & Associates, Pacific Environments, Frequency, Architecture NZ, and The Urban Advisory.

Below is a selection of these projects which were featured in the festival. Each student design incorporated our six key Place Pillars, so we've grouped them into categories according to the pillars.