Planning For Coexistence?: Recognizing Indigenous Rights Through Land-use Planning In Canada And Australia

Dispossession, planning and the politics of recognition

Porter, L., & Barry, J. (2016). Planning for Coexistence?: Recognizing Indigenous rights through land-use planning in Canada and Australia. Routledge.

This chapter is talking about four parts; the first part is “dispossession, planning and the politics of recognition”. This part is illustrated that indigenous people have been dispossessed not only of their lands, but also of the political, cultural and socio-economic responsibility to govern those lands according to customary ancestral law. These conditions of dispossession are particularly prevalent in settler-colonial contexts, where generations of colonial agents and migrants not only came to stay, but also worked to destroy and then replace indigenous ways of being with a new political-economic order.

In additional, the united nations draft declaration on the rights of indigenous people provides some indication of the nature of these claims and of the models developed in response, it underscores the right of all people to self- determination in the pursuit of economics, social and cultural development. Moreover, those planning has been one of the important public policy arenas where these new mechanisms have come to ground, and where other response to indigenous demand have been developed.

The second part is “contribution, purpose and framing of the book”. This book seeks to address these gaps, especially the paucity of planning research on indigenous recognition in urban contexts. To that end, the book speaks directly to the practice and theorization of planning, drawing debates, concepts and theoretical lenses from a wide range of other fields. They do this from three points of departure: first that planning as it is conceived and performed today in settler states in an innate part of the process that makes and remakes colonial spatial and political authority normal and coherent.

Second, that the variant of indigenous claims reconfigures colonial domination and reproduces the conditions of dispossession. Third, that neither of the first two points should be conceived as monolithic or inevitable. The intersection of planning with indigenous demands for recognition of sovereign political and spatial jurisdictions has enormous transformative potential. In additional, this book adopts the struggle for coexistence as that critical vet hopeful conceptual framing and this book is grounded in two specific settler- state jurisdictions: Victoria, Australia, and British Columbia, Canada.

The third part is “a reflective account of our research method and procedures”. It talked about that their research design was structured around two interrelated measures of analysis. They began with a detailed analysis of the setter- state document s that catalyze, and then powerfully shape, indigenous recognition in the structures and processes of state- based planning. Moreover, this analysis provided a clearer sense of how the contact zone was conceived through the texts and helped to identify precisely there to what degree and in what way indigenous right, title and interests were recognized. In additional this textual analysis was linked to and helped inform the second stage of the research design: the selection, negotiation and analysis of the four case studies.

Contribution, purpose and framing of the book

The fourth part is “structure of the book”. The book is organized into three parts. Part 1 sets the conceptual and methodological framing. Fleshing out the debates and challenges briefly discussed in this introduction. Part 2 of the book focuses on the four case studies at the heart of this research and as such presents four substantive separate chapters, presenting the story of each of the indigenous peoples with whom we worked. Part 3 places the four cases together in a comparative analysis.

 Analysis

The above book deals with the discussion on the fact that indigenous people have been dispossessed not only of their lands, but also of the political, cultural and socio-economic responsibility to govern those lands according to customary ancestral law. The book discusses that planning has been one of the important public policy arenas where these new mechanisms have come to ground. The book further deals with the addressal of the gaps. The major area of discussion revolves around the rareness of planning research on the indigenous recognition in the urban contexts. The book presents four different case studies and attempts a comparative analysis of the same.

Bounds, M. (2004). Urban social theory: city, self, and society.

Firstly, it gives a general introduction about the whole chapter, then, it tells about the first metropolis in Syria at Tell Hamoukar wherein the archaeologists have unearthed a huge collection of artifacts that had been under burial for almost 6000 years. The only cities that were unearthed by the archaeologists in 4000BC were the Sumerian cities in Southern Mesopotamia.

Secondly, it talked about city history. The establishment of cities enabled the gradual intermingling of races cultures, languages and technology; it enabled the transmigration of populations. City growth brought materials and skills. It brings continuity and heritage. Religion was the basis of power in the earliest of cities. Fundamental to the wealth of cities was the specialized division of labor that the growth of population enabled. The city offered the possibility of civilization and ultimately citizenship for all; it gave birth to the politics and democracy and the possibility of trade and capitalism.

• Urban development and the medieval city

The cities and towns of western word today, and of much of the rapidly urbanizing developing world, are heirs to the legacy of occidental of European urban development, the social aspects of trade most importantly influenced this rise of the medieval city. This was a society ruled by church and warlords who lived of production of the sets or peasants. The industrial revolution of some 5 centuries later was really born. The towns offered freedom, political representation, and citizenship. They were a creature of new professions.

• Mercantile capitalism-city, state and nation

A reflective account of our research method and procedures

The expansion of capitalism, the emergence of the nation state and the growth of laws and bureaucracy had their conjunction from about 16^th century on, to result in the control of cities by the monarchs or nation states.

• Empires and colonial cities

It was the expansion of European commercial empires that enables the industrialization and rapid urbanization of Europe from the 16^th century.

• Industrial cities

The archetypical industrial city emerged in Britain in the 18^th and 19^th centuries. Industrialization and the changes in capitalism that it brought about gave rise a new form of eco and social structure with a new form of urban development.

• Industrial bourgeoisie

The main impetus for changes was the emerging industrial bourgeoisie. The intellectuals and the entrepreneurs of this class began to view the state as not the vested power of king but a vehicle for the pursuit of their interest as a class.

Thirdly, it discusses the Early Australian urban development. The Australian cities were majorly a product of the 19^th century and the British Empire. The characteristic of commercial cities is their establishment at a moment in time and their immediate domination of their region.

• Satellite-Metropolis development

Religion of regions and cities to the global are satellite and metropolis development.

• Australian’s commercial cities

Commercial cities basically growth after the late 19^th century. Most commonly, Melbourne, Sydney and Adelaide in Australia.

Lastly it mentioned Contemporary Australian urbanization. The effect of initial primacy in the development of the capital cites has left the nation with a tiered system of metropolitan centers led by Sydney and Melbourne. With globalization today, competition between Sydney and Melbourne has led to fractured federation. Which these bring larger population resulting in loss of job and migration (international and internal). These migrations have fueled the development of lower-order metropolitan cities.

Analysis

The above-mentioned book dealt with the discusses the unearthing of the first metropolis located in Syria at Tell Hamoukar wherein the archaeologists have unearthed a huge collection of artifacts that had been under burial for almost 6000 years. The author further proceeded to discuss the fact that the establishment of cities enabled the gradual intermingling of races cultures, languages and technology. The author opines that it had enabled the transmigration of populations. The growth of the city had brought materials and skills. The author further states that the major area of power display within the city relied on the religious grounds maintained by the concerned city-dwellers.

References

Bounds, M. (2004). Urban social theory: city, self, and society.

Porter, L., & Barry, J. (2016). Planning for Coexistence?: Recognizing Indigenous rights through land-use planning in Canada and Australia. Routledge.