Indigenous Placemaking in Settler Colonial Cities

Placemaking is a process attaching meaning to public spaces in order to increase their desirability and people's sense of connection and community. In settler colonial cities, efforts have been made by governments, organizations and Indigenous residents to include Indigenous cultural narratives in the urban landscape.

The Settler Colonial City

Settler-colonialism is a form of colonialism where the main goal of colonization is the replacement of Indigenous peoples and systems with a "new" society. It is built on an elimination/preservation logic, and seeks to maintain elements of Indigenous culture to create distinct place identities from the imperial metropole while systematically replacing Indigenous societies. Cities in settler-colonial nation states were often built on sites used by Indigenous people (villages, gathering spaces, etc.), but that were historically constructed as untouched or desolate. In order to build this narrative, the Indigenous people inhabiting these sites were removed. Some social theorists argue that these colonial narratives and forced evictions have removed the Indigenous presence from society's perception of the city, and well as Indigenous claims to urban space. Today, there is a growing Indigenous presence in cities as Aboriginal populations urbanize. In Canada, more than half of the Indigenous population now lives in major urban centers, compared to just over 6% in the 1950's.

Traditional Representations of Indigeneity in Urban Space

Colonial frameworks position Indigenous ways of life as incompatible with urban living , as a result urban Indigenous people have often felt it necessary to assimilate into western culture in order to survive. As a result, most of the places constructed as "Indigenous" were created by settler institutions and reflect a western view of Indigeneity. Indigenous cultural artefacts such as totem poles, ceremonies and historical art are often considered as a form of recognition, appreciation and even reconciliation by planners and policy-makers. Others believe they used to market a "new world" narrative that places Indigenous people in the past. Meanwhile, Indigenous communities and their modern spaces are stigmatized and criminalized, such as Vancouver's downtown eastside which has the highest Aboriginal population in the city. Local businesses in the area have been said to market poverty tourism, or use the neighbourhood's perceived danger as a marketing tool Many scholars argue that these representations attempt to separate Indigenous cultures, ceremonies and suffering from their political and social context. Their view is that settlers seek to participate in Indigenous culture without recognizing it as a political act, and interactions with cultural artefacts serve to shape and often replace interactions with Indigenous communities.

Examples in Vancouver, BC

• Vancouver International Airport International Terminal art
• Stanley Park Totem Poles
• Granville Island galleries
• Newspaper articles portraying life in Vancouver's downtown eastside: Asian Journal, Vancouver Sun

Postcolonial and Indigenous-led Placemaking

More recently, policy-makers and communities have begun to create public spaces that reflect a broader, more modern Indigenous identity. These efforts are often led by or at least involve Indigenous leaders and governments, which means they better reflect the way Indigenous people perceive their own culture, instead of the outside perspectives common in traditional Indigenous "places". In this context postcolonialism does not mean simply, "after colonialism". Instead, postcolonialism is a conceptual frame for analyzing and critiquing the dominant western views in urban studies. It has three implications: anticolonialism as a political ideology, a framework for analyzing the impacts of colonialism in modern nation-states, and an academic critique of colonial thinking

Through Planning and Policy

Indigenous planning is a planning theory and practice which incorporates Indigenous worldviews and ways of creating space. Through Indigenous planning efforts, municipal governments are beginning to give new streets, plazas and other public infrastructure names in the Indigenous languages of their territories. In Vancouver, the city has encouraged its transit authority to give Indigenous names to new subway stations, as well as renamed two downtown public plazas in Coast Salish languages In Winnipeg, the city has incorporated "Neeginan", an Indigenous community vision, in planning parts of its downtown core that are considered the center of its large Indigenous community. These efforts are not always well-received by the settler population, who can feel anger, anxiety and entitlement to colonial names.

Through Community Activism and Reclaimation

Placemaking is also initiated by community members and organizations, and urban Indigenous communities have worked through a variety of means to reclaim the settler colonial city. These actions often serve as a form of protest and resistance to colonial structures, as well as a way to strengthen Indigenous communities. Community initiated placemaking can take on a wide variety of material forms, from graffiti and street art to informal ceremony to the establishment of informal camps or structures.

Examples in Vancouver, BC

• Downtown Eastside mural
• Musqueam language street signs at UBC
• Oppenheimer Park tent city
• Vigil for the missing and murdered Indigenous women of the downtown eastside