New Zealand Pavilion highlights nature

The theme of the Shanghai Expo "Better City, Better Life" highlights new thinking, new technologies, and new practices for achieving healthier, more sustainable urban living. In accord with these concepts, the New Zealand Pavilion will follow the theme "Cities of Nature, Living between Land and Sky".

The New Zealand pavilion is located on a 2000 square meter plot of land at one of the prime sites at the expo.

The New Zealand Pavilion will follow the theme "Cities of Nature, Living between  Land and Sky".

The aim of the pavilion is to present a welcoming vision of a nation that is striving to bring its cities into a sustainable balance with nature.

In its form and content, the pavilion takes inspiration from the Maori creation story in which the god Tane separated his parents, the Sky and the Earth, to create space both for the natural world and for human beings.

The visitors' experience will focus on the constant presence of nature in New Zealand's urban life and the benefits it brings. Some of those benefits are intangible, such as inspiration and the encouragement of innovation in business, art and culture, also in the economy and in the everyday lifestyle of citizens.

The "Kapa haka" groups, indigenous New Zealand Maori dancing groups, will perform daily in the pavilion. The pavilion will launch its test run on April 20th and is expected to receive 40-thousand visitors per day.