Making cultural connections through decolonising play

Abstract

This paper describes elements of a landscape architecture student’s research by design project focusing on decolonising play. Decolonisation can be described as the process by which an indigenous people reconnect with those parts of their culture, social order and production systems that were suppressed or marginalised during colonisation by imperial nations. Despite Aotearoa/New Zealand being regarded as a decolonising vanguard through routine inclusion and collaboration with Māori on urban design and landscape architecture projects, it is argued there is still an engrained colonial agenda. Through referring to the student’s Niuean heritage, it is proposed that ‘spirit’ and ‘essence’ are defining elements in creating playspaces that eschew the lens of colonialism. Connecting these elements with youth, culture, nature and the universal innateness of play has produced a proposed Model for decolonising play, which, it is proposed, could be transformative within young people’s journey to reclaim their own culture. The paper explains the contribution and nexus of spirit and essence in the development of the model and walks through some of the design moves. In conclusion, the project evidences the importance of imbuing our urban place-making with greater cultural meaning, inspired by an indigenous lens that is coupled to a decolonised approach. The paper concludes with acknowledgement of limitations and some further research suggestions.