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Contemporary Urban Indigenous Placemaking in Canada

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The Handbook of Contemporary Indigenous Architecture

Abstract

This chapter examines contemporary trends in Indigenous placemaking in Canada, discussing cases from the cities of Ottawa, Calgary, Saskatoon, and Winnipeg. In these cities Indigenous cultures are being infused into the design and programming of public spaces, although shortcomings exist. Key concepts from the academic literature on place, placemaking, and urban design are discussed, setting up a point of departure for our analysis of Canadian cities. The chapter concludes by highlighting some important principles for Indigenous-inclusive placemaking in Canadian cities that would increase the visibility of Indigenous cultures in the built environment.

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Acknowledgements

The work discussed in this chapter was funded by an Insight Grant from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada , held by the second author. We are grateful to two anonymous referees and the editors for their constructive feedback on the chapter. Finally, we thank all of the people who shared their knowledge and ideas with us about projects from Ottawa, Winnipeg, Saskatoon and Calgary.

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Correspondence to Ryan Walker .

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Nejad, S., Walker, R. (2018). Contemporary Urban Indigenous Placemaking in Canada. In: Grant, E., Greenop, K., Refiti, A., Glenn, D. (eds) The Handbook of Contemporary Indigenous Architecture. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-6904-8_9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-6904-8_9

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