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Indigenous Planning Studio Community Engagement Exercise (Image credit: Jasreen Sidhu, 2013)

Indigenous Partnership Opportunities

Each year, my Masters of City Planning (MCP) students and I work with two to three different Indigenous communities in Manitoba, on community planning projects that have been identified by the First Nations themselves.

Community planning is a broad term that involves elements of land use, housing and infrastructure planning and seeks to connect these issues to the social, cultural and economic wellbeing of the entire community. Since 2011, the University of Manitoba's Department of City Planning has worked to support a wide variety of activities ranging from cultural mapping, land use planning, designing community surveys, environmental stewardship planning, and comprehensive community plan development.

This work is accomplished through a community-based university course known as the "Indigenous Planning Studio".

What is the Indigenous Planning Studio?
The Indigenous Planning Studio is a 13-week Masters-level course (September to December). The term “studio” simply refers to a different style of teaching; instead of sitting in lectures and seminars, the students are working on a real-world planning project. This particular studio is run by the University of Manitoba’s Department of City Planning and typically involves eight to ten graduate students who are split up into small teams to work with a partnering First Nation.
 
Partnering First Nations identify the projects, with some input from me to ensure the students have the skill-sets to properly support the work. While I provides advice and direction to the students, and maintain contact with each partnering First Nation, the students are encouraged to work directly with their First Nation partners throughout the university term.
 
It is very important for the students to visit the community they will be working with during the second week of the academic term (usually the third week of September), as this gives them to chance to meet their community contacts and to ask questions about the project. After the initial visit, the students will arrange additional meeting times to seek feedback on draft work.

How to Get Involved?
Meet with me to discuss possible planning projects
We'll find a time to talk about what your community is hoping to achieve and how the students might contribute. I do ask that there is a designated person in each community who can act as the students’ primary point of contact. This person will often help them better understand the goals of the project, as well as any distinct community or cultural protocol.
 
Develop an “Expression of Interest” letter
Following our initial meeting, put some of your ideas for possible student work into a short “Expression of Interest”. Please indicate:
  1. What the students might work on and the overall goals of the project (though I do understand that community planning is a very dynamic process and priorities change)?
  2. Who might be the students’ primary contact person? Will that person be available for the entire 13-week term?
  3. Is there a place that the students to work when they come to visit? (Not necessary, but often helpful)
  4. How the proposed work fits with other priorities in the community (e.g. has there been a Band Council Resolution to initiate the project? Or maybe it fits into a larger and ongoing initiative?)

Please bear in mind that the university term starts the first week of September, so I usually like to have a firm commitment by late July . Please contact me as soon as possble, as there is a limited number of First Nations my students and I can work with each year.