Yates, A2025-08-112025-08-112025-07-28Asia Pacific Viewpoint, ISSN: 1360-7456 (Print); 1467-8373 (Online), Wiley. doi: 10.1111/apv.700051360-74561467-8373http://hdl.handle.net/10292/19661How can we practice urbanism care-fully, with an attention to the wellbeing and vitality of the more-than-human? Such a question is fundamental now if we are to counter current Anthropocenic processes and actively transition to urban cultures of care. In this text I review recent work on a tool designed to support a care-based ethical attention to urban and wider living systems wellbeing. With diverse communities future-focused ‘compasses’ were co-created which acted as collaborative direction finders and activation tools for mauri ora or living systems wellbeing. I explore here whether such re-orienting methods can provide a meaningful way to assist communities to activate transitions from extractive to care-based urban practices.This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs License, which permits use and distribution in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited, the use is non-commercial and no modifications or adaptations are made. © 2025 The Author(s). Asia Pacific Viewpoint published by Victoria University of Wellington and John Wiley & Sons Australia, Ltd.4406 Human Geography44 Human Society8.1 Organisation and delivery of servicesGeneric health relevance3 Good Health and Well Being1604 Human Geography1606 Political ScienceGeographycare practicesindigenous knowledgeregenerative urbanismtransition toolsurban system changeJournal ArticleOpenAccess10.1111/apv.70005