CRP Professor Ted Jojola published in Planning Theory & Practice

January 26, 2018

UNM Community + Regional Planning Professor, Ted Jojola, and colleagues published an article titled "Indigenous Planning: From Principles" in the journal, Practice in Planning Theory & Practice. 

Abstract

There is growing momentum in planning research, education and practice as to the commitment these fields must make to a more just and respectful relationship with Indigenous peoples. One dimension of this is the collective efforts towards defining and understanding the concepts and practices of Indigenous planning (see for example Jojola, T. (2008). Indigenous planning: An emerging context. Canadian Journal of Urban Research, 17, 37–47.; and contributions to Walker, R., Jojola, T., & Natcher, D. (2013). Reclaiming indigenous planning. Montreal: McGill-Queen University Press.), recognising distinctive practices of planning that derive from an “indigenous world-view, which not only serves to unite [Indigenous planning] philosophically, but also to distinguish it from neighbouring non-land based communities” (Jojola, T. (2008). Indigenous planning: An emerging context. Canadian Journal of Urban Research, 17, 37–47, p. 42).

There is relatively little opportunity, however, to actually share what it means to try and practice the principles of Indigenous planning, and for non-Indigenous planning to practice making space for Indigenous planning, on the terms of sovereign first peoples. At the Association of Collegiate Schools of Planning Conference in 2016, a group of researchers and practitioners got together to discuss what it means to practice differently in light of the principles and ethics of Indigenous planning. Our discussion, engaging both Indigenous and non-Indigenous scholars and practitioners, helped clarify some of the dimensions and dilemmas with which the field of planning might need to engage to enable a new relationship to be built with Indigenous planning.

In this Interface, we bring together that discussion to think more deeply about what it means to practice the principles of Indigenous planning and the decolonising agenda it suggests. Contributions from both Indigenous and non-Indigenous people follow, bringing perspectives principally from the settler-colonial states of Aotearoa-New Zealand, Australia, Canada and the USA. The contributions cover the ethics, pedagogy and principles of Indigenous planning, the links to health, community development, housing and design, and the theoretical and pedagogical implications of Indigenous planning for mainstream Western planning.

Libby Porter, Hirini Matunga, Leela Viswanathan, Lyana Patrick, Ryan Walker, Leonie Sandercock, Dana Moraes, Jonathan Frantz, Michelle Thompson-Fawcett, Callum Riddle & Theodore (Ted) Jojola, 2017, "Indigenous Planning: from Principles to Practice", Planning Theory & Practice, online first Nov. 15, 2017: https://doi.org/10.1080/14649357.2017.1380961