A new book looks at how Aboriginal people are playing an active role in retaining their cultural values in community planning.
Reclaiming Indigenous Planning looks at community planning practices in Aboriginal communities in Canada, the U.S., Australia and New Zealand.
Ryan Walker, an associate professor of urban planning at the University of Saskatchewan and one of the book’s co-editors, says Indigenous community planning is now in a period of re-emergence after being subjected to a few hundred years of colonization.
He adds one of the most prevalent and interesting trends is Indigenous community planning within urban centres.
“The majority are now living in urban areas and a growing number of those people are actually born in urban areas and aren’t people who moved from somewhere to the city but were born and are developing and cultivating an Indigenous urbanism,” he says.
In terms of Saskatoon, Walker says the city could use a little more Indigenous architecture.
The book is split into three sections which include Indigenous community planning within traditional communities, within urban centres and in lands and resources.
The other two editors are University of Saskatchewan professor David Natcher and University of New Mexico professor Ted Jojola.
The book launch took place last week at the U of S.