This Major Research Project challenges prevailing perspectives on community engagement processes and spatial design, which are often colonial, capitalist, and anthropocentric. Instead, it proposes a multi-dimensional approach that takes into account planetary life-support systems, natural limits, human rights, and inclusive decision-making processes.
The study explores three main areas: the impact of globalization on colonization, bioregionalism in spatial design, and communal visioning. Through an extensive literature review, the study sheds light on how settler perspectives dominate the design of actions that interact with spaces and shape our envisioned future for the physical environment. Expert interviews uncover critical themes in the ongoing effort to decolonize processes and foresight tools when working with communities. Meanwhile, the literature review on bioregionalism and spatial justice challenges the prevailing mechanistic mindset regarding nature and resource distribution, emphasizing the inclusion of non-human actors and promoting emotional connection and responsible interaction with the natural environment.
Building upon our research findings, this study presents best practices in the realm of decolonization and foresight, and integrates them in a guidance framework for community planning and spatial design. The conceptual foundations of this framework have been previously employed by various foresight and decolonization practitioners who worked with communities, and what this framework aims to highlight are the effective practices and the core principles necessary when conducting inclusive and non-anthropocentric communal visioning with a focus on spatial design. There are six key principles guiding this framework: ‘Culturally informed’,’ Decentering dominant narratives’, ‘Mandatory inclusion of all actors’, ‘Non-anthropocentric approach’, ‘Empowering Stakeholders’, and ‘Forward Thinking’. The framework is portrayed in a 5 stage life cycle of a tree, illustrating the natural progression of life and growth, which emphasizes the holistic and interconnected system of actors and their functions within the framework.