Worlds Apart, Grounds in Common: A South Korean Scholar’s Fortress-Retreat and the New Zealand Communal Māori Pā

This article presents a comparative analysis of two distinct fortified landscapes: Geumsae-dong, a 17th-century scholar’s retreat in South Korea, and the Māori pā of Aotearoa, New Zealand. Both represent sophisticated responses to sociopolitical instability, where the landscape was employed for defence and the inscription of cultural identity. Geumsae-dong, a private fortress-garden, integrated natural topography with named features that encoded a singular, philosophical resilience. In contrast, the pā was a communal stronghold whose extensive earthworks embodied the collective, ancestral resilience of a kinship group, reflecting a holistic Māori worldview (Mātauranga Māori). By comparing their divergent spatial logics, materialities, and underlying ontologies, we explore how different worldviews produce strikingly similar yet distinct resilient landscapes. This cross-cultural exploration illuminates how societies spatialise security and identity, contributing to a deeper understanding of how landscape architecture can shape meaningful places that negotiate conflict, community, and survival.