For Māori, pūrākau are oral narratives of place passed through generations and sustained as a weaving of past, present and future connections with land. Pūrākau are a central force in Indigenous knowledges of whenua and essential to meaningful design of Aotearoa environments. Critically, 80% of marae are sited in low-lying coastal or flood-prone areas, amplifying the vulnerability of whenua Māori to the escalating impacts of changing climates.