Future infrastructure needs to be designed and built in ways that address social and cultural impacts equally with environmental and economic ones. To do that, we need to take stock of successes and research needs so that social responsiveness becomes integral in infrastructure design; produce evidence of successful blending of social sciences, Indigenous sciences, and infrastructure designers and builders; contribute to transforming the culture around infrastructure to decolonize and build communities instead of houses or buildings; and link social and cultural wellbeing into investigations of health impacts of infrastructure.
There are many global efforts to include Indigenous knowledge and worldviews into research and practice because of the growing signatories to UNDRIP, which recognizes the individual and collective rights of Indigenous Peoples to strengthen institutions, cultures, and traditions, and to pursue their development in keeping with their own needs and aspirations. In Canada, engineering regulators, licensure organizations, and representative bodies have signed on to UNDRIP and are delivering on the Calls to Action of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. But, Indigenous knowledge on Engineering and the built environment has historically been devalued. In our team, we're working to create a more mutualistic relationship and build towards sovereign research capacity and management.
Examples: Developing community co-design processes for development like subdivisions and water treatment system designs; development of Indigenous-specific water quality standards; primary research into social and cultural impacts of development and impact assessment, and perspectives on green engineering. Designing for multigenerational families.