Developing spatial and participatory resolutions for the Canadian Aboriginal housing crisis

The Aboriginal housing situation in Canada is in crisis with a lack of culturally and environmentally appropriate housing. A Participatory Approach towards Housing Solutions (PATHS) Framework has been developed that recognizes and visualizes the strengths and limitations of communities, and assesses pathways with which they may achieve their housing goals. Communities are actively engaged in order to identify their aspirations and translate them into measurable indicators and associated capitals. The PATHS Framework methodology includes: 1) identification and development of aspirations, indicators, and capitals using participatory techniques; 2) visualization of past and present trends using GIS; 3) co-development and interpretation of scenarios to reflect a pathway towards achieving said aspirations and goals; 4) identification of achievable scenarios from collaboratively developed strategies; and 5) evaluation of each strategies’ viability and capability to meet the aspirations of the community. Benefit to Partner Organization: An important component of this project is that the post-doctoral researcher, under the mentoring of the principal investigator, will develop both strong academic skills in participatory research and hands-on experience helping Aboriginal communities achieve their goals. For the latter, she will work closely with the research partner, FPInnovations; in particular with their Aboriginal Forest Sector Program. TO BE CONT’D

Faculty Supervisor:

Christopher Gaston

Student:

Stefania Pizzirani

Partner:

FPInnovations

Discipline:

Forestry

Sector:

Environmental industry

University:

University of British Columbia