Gareth Moore-Jones

(ARPro, APF, B.Ed, Dip.Tch)
Community Futures Consultant

Gareth has been involved in the sector for 30-years and has been at various times CEO of NZ Recreation Assn, National Sport & Recreation Manager for NZ YMCA, interim CEO of Outdoors NZ, a long-standing recreation and open-space consultant, and as public health planner in the health sector which provided Gareth with evidence and passion for recreation as a core plank of community wellbeing.

Gareth brings significant futures and trends analysis expertise with a focus on how emerging trends and issues will impact the ways community recreates, congregates and communicates with a focus on community wellbeing through recreation (spaces and places) and a Health in All Policies (HiAP) approach.

Gareth’s consulting credentials include being a founding Director of one of New Zealand’s longest operating recreation consultancies, and in 2012 Gareth founded Ideaus Ltd, a community futures consultancy that looks at probable, possible and preferred community futures specifically within the local government sector.

Gareth’s role with Thrive Spaces and Places brings all of this experience into one role.

Gareth was a recipient of the ‘Mark Mitchell Memorial Award’ for ‘excellence and outstanding personal contribution to the wider industry’. Gareth is also an Accredited Recreation Professional (ARPro) and a Member of the Association of Professional Futurists (APF).

Gareth has spoken nationally and internationally on recreation related topics including spontaneous urban activity spaces for youth, the future of the recreation industry and the opportunities provided by new technology and disruptive innovations. His abiding philosophy was summed by the foreword to Al Gore’s book: ‘My parents – they gave me a future, an abiding curiosity about what it holds and a sense of our common human obligation to help shape it’.

Outside of work Gareth enjoys cooking (very much Asian fusion), writing poetry (waiting for the published volume), researching future scenarios and beach walking with whanau.

WORK HISTORY

(Independently or as part of wider multi-disciplinary or consulting teams)

Wairoa Play, Active Recreation and Sport Plan, Wairoa DC

Future trends informing development of a community wellbeing hub, Gisborne YMCA

Facilitation of various Facility Business Case peer reviews, Sport NZ and NZ Recreation Assn

Eastern Bay of Plenty Physical Activity Strategy, Whakatane DC, Kawerau DC, Ōpōtiki District Council

Hauraki and Thames-Coromandel Physical Activity and Facility Strategy, Hauraki and Thames Coromandel District Council

Active Reserves and 30-Year Aquatic facility Strategy, Matamata-Piako District Council

Greater Waikato Physical Activity and Facility Strategy, Sport Waikato

Rangitikei Physical Activity and Health Strategy, Rangitikei District Council

Recreation Services Review, Whakatane District Council

Recreation Village Feasibility Project, Waihi Sport in Action Trust and Newmont Gold

Arts, Culture and Heritage Strategy, Matamata-Piako District Council

Joint Venture study with Ngati Awa for libraries, museum and cultural centres, Whakatane District Council

Recreation Services and Facility Review, Victoria University Wellington

Recreation Services and Facility Review, Massey University Wellington campus

Community Facility Options Analysis, North Shore City Council

Council and Community Partnership Study into proposed college and council developed swimming pool, Wellington City Council

Landscape and Recreation Assessment of Napier City, Napier City Council and Isthmus Consultants

Urban Umbrella, Youth Recreation and teen activity zone research and development - North Shore City Council

Recreation Services Plan for indoor recreation centres and swimming pools, Manukau City Council

Waipa District Community Leisure Plan (encompassing sport, recreation, arts and cultural facilities and services), Waipa District Council

Greytown ‘Sportville’ Feasibility Study (Need & current provision assessment & gap analysis, option identification, strategy development & priorities), Greytown Sport Management Team

Sports Codes Costs and Equity Study, Auckland City Council