Improving the Interface between Urban Municipalities and Aboriginal Communities [Canadian Journal of Urban Research]

"The ways in which urban municipalities understand and work within the context of Aboriginal community aspirations and needs will affect the quality of future urban development, in physical, social, economic and cultural sectors. Planning is central to shaping the institutional arrangements to help actualise Aboriginal community aspirations. Based on research with academic and practitioner collaborators, municipal officials and Aboriginal community professionals and stakeholders in seven cities, five priority areas were derived to target improvements at the interface between urban municipalities and Aboriginal communities and to help direct further research. The areas are: 1) citizen participation and engagement; 2) governance interface-municipal and Aboriginal; 3) Aboriginal culture as municipal asset; 4) economic and social development; and 5) urban reserves, service agreements and regional relationships. Considerations are discussed under each priority area to help guide strategic thinking as municipalities engage in a transformative future-seeking process with Aboriginal communities. "