Australian Institute of Architects introduces glossary of First Nations terms and concepts
Working with spatial designer and Country-Centred designer Danièle Hromek, the Australian Institute of Architects’ First Nations Advisory Committee (FNAC) has released two new guides to support architects and built environment professionals in their understanding of, and engagement with, First Nations terminology and concepts.
The first resource, titled First Nations Terminology, collates and defines words that are broadly relevant when discussing First Nations Peoples and Country, supporting readers to use language correctly. It includes definitions of over 40 words and phrases, including “Country”, “Colonisation”, “Indigenous”, “Invasion” and “Traditional Custodians”.
The second resource, titled Terms, Concepts and Shared Understandings, lists the meanings of eight architecture and built-environment-specific concepts, which have been collectively workshopped and authored by First Nations built environment professionals and allies.
Some of these terms and their meanings, as defined in the Terms, Concepts and Shared Understandings resource, include:
Country Centred Design:
Country Centred Design integrates relationships, as well as tangible and intangible aspects of Country, in design outcomes. Country Centred Design is a process that enables deep history understandings, care for Country, stewardship activities, kinship, culture and cultural practices, spiritual and Indigenous ways of knowing to be integrated into the design process.
It is a means of ensuring that the design of the built environment happens with Country at the centre of the design, and in doing so, all decisions made in the design process are filtered through a consideration of Country. Country Centred Design stands as a counterpoint to human centred design.
Human Centred Design is a design methodology that places humans at the centre of the design process. It focuses on humans first, involving them in all steps of the process. Human Centred Design works to solve problems for people, seeking to deeply understand the perspectives, needs, experiences and behaviours of humans and caters to their desires and challenges through design.
Designing with Country:
Designing with Country is integrating the process of design holistically with Country through genuine First Nations’ design methodologies, processes and perspectives. To be able to Design with Country you must be of Country. Designing with Country must be First Nations led. It is an approach to design that centres Country informed by First Nations knowledge systems, cultures and ways of being. Designing with Country requires designs to originate and find inspiration from First Nations’ design thinking and the connection to the story, spirit, Ancestral memory, ecology and energy of Country as understood by local communities.
While they may not have always used the term ‘designing with Country’, First Nations Peoples have always designed Country. Designing with Country does not prioritise non-Indigenous methods of design over thousands of generations of experience designing this continent. However, in this context and use of the term, it applies to contemporary built environment practices.
Designing with Country is more than just being a qualified First Nations designer. To ensure genuine Designing with Country, from before the brief has been written, First Nations leadership and design thinking must have been integrated – from authoring the brief, choosing a site, and developing a business case, all the way through the process of design and construction to the point of practical completion and beyond to consider ongoing relationships.
Designing with Country is a sensitive term that risks being commodified and colonised. As a term it was first used in 2020 in a discussion paper by the Government Architect NSW during the development of their Connecting with Country Framework. The definition has been further developed since then to be a term specific to First Nations Peoples practising architecture and design with experience and capacity to influence the entirety of the design process and outcomes.
Non-Indigenous designers cannot Design with Country. They can be culturally responsive in design and undertake co-design, but they cannot fully connect with the foundational epistemological backgrounds, knowledges, or deep understandings of place. Designing with Country incorporates the cultural obligations First Nations designers have to Country and their communities. Non-Indigenous designers may be aware of these obligations, however they cannot be fully aware of the implications. As such, non-Indigenous designers can design with respect for Country. Non-Indigenous architects and designers can use terms such as ‘Culturally Responsive’ as noted in the National Standards of Competency, and ‘Connecting with Country’ as required in NSW when responding to the Connecting with Country Framework.
Hromek commented that “to date, most of the ways of defining what architecture or design means has been decided by non-Indigenous people. However, as First Nations voices rise, so too do the ways they choose to define and decide for themselves what architecture and design means to them.”
“Words have power – otherwise why did colonisers feel the need to forcibly remove our own languages from our tongues? … Authoring a set of terms, concepts and shared understandings provides a shared grounding in which the industry can start to respond,” she said.
The two new resources complement an existing suite of tools available on the Institute’s website, including a Cultural Safety Policy, which provides principles to create a culturally safe environment for First Nations Peoples; a First Nations Resource Hub that features projects which exemplify respect to Indigenous culture; and a guidance note on Protecting Cultural Knowledge and Intellectual Property in Built Environments, which provides an understanding of Indigenous Cultural and Intellectual Property (ICIP). More
