‘The Mission’ is how children refer to their home in an Aboriginal community in south-eastern Queensland, Australia. And during an intensive one-day co-design workshop, it was their mission to redesign their community which remains burdened by post-colonial and institutional structures after decades of government control. Meaningful participatory design research is evidenced worldwide, but this is far less common with Indigenous people. This chapter presents a case study that engaged Aboriginal Australian children in the redesign of public and shared spaces. This involved an assessment and rethinking of shared spaces using a mixed method approach including Photovoice, focus group discussions, interviews and a co-design workshop. The methods used to engage children in design activities are detailed, along with their planning and design recommendations, and personal reflections on the participatory process itself. Furthermore, a number of guiding principles are presented that can assist individuals and organizations wanting to engage Indigenous children in co-design projects. These are relevant to Australia and other Indigenous communities in the world, where the trauma of colonial events continue to impact their everyday lived spaces.
History
Location
Quebec City, Canada
Start date
2020-06-21
End date
2020-06-26
Language
eng
Publication classification
E3 Extract of paper
Title of proceedings
Running Out of Time 2020 : Proceedings of the International Association of People-Environment Studies 2020 conference
Event
International Association of People-Environment Studies. Conference (Quebec, Canada)