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International gifts of creativity for The Block

I am a Black American woman from California. I studied at the University of California in Los Angeles, with a specialisation in African Areas. Soon after I graduated, I went on to work in Africa and was based in Harare, Zimbabwe. This extensive experience in international work has helped contribute to my work with the Aboriginal community in Redfern writes Angela Pitts in the July 2006 edition of the South Sydney Herald.

In Zimbabwe I worked with the Southern African Development Community. This included research on culturally and environmentally sustainable economic development strategies. In the U.K., I worked on affordable and emergency housing, and in the US on community and strategic planning, and public safety. I have completed additional research in countries including Egypt, Kenya, Mexico and Jamaica and am currently working on a project with the First Nations peoples in Vancouver, Canada.

My interest in Human Rights and Social Justice has evolved throughout all these experiences and, more recently, with the Australian Indigenous community. Since arriving in Australia in 1999, I have worked on various Aboriginal research projects and consultancies in Sydney. As a result of my work with the Aboriginal Housing Company, the Community Social Plan won national and international awards and set the agenda for the Pemulwuy Redevelopment Project.

The Plan outlined a grassroots response to the magnitude of the physical and social degeneration on the Block, the severe stress and social disadvantage experienced by the Aboriginal residents, and the continued inaction on the part of relevant government bodies and institutions. The plan has guided and facilitated the AHC’s commitment to generating new sustainable housing options for the Redfern Aboriginal community and rebuilding a spirit and sense of community for current and future residents.

I am currently working on my PhD thesis at the Faculty of Architecture, University of Sydney looking at Indigenous planning and sustainable futures for Aboriginal community development. The Block is my case study. Through stories and storytelling, through listening and learning, my research on this Aboriginal community will directly reflect the experience and insights of the community and is not research about Indigenous planning but is research from an Indigenous perspective.

My background ethnicity as part Black American and Native North American Indian has enriched my research on Australian Aboriginal issues as we share similar cultural values and belief systems in respect to the land, community structure and social behaviour, as well as similar characteristics – historically and politically. The work in relation to The block has also enriched and deepened my research experience.

Today we are in the midst of a powerful shattering of our beliefs that mainstream ways of knowledge are the ways for planning and structuring Aboriginal society. Currently, significant questions are raised for Indigenous communities who are not only beginning to fight back against the invasion of their communities by mainstream planning policies and political agendas, but are beginning to think about and create their own legitimate planning agenda, and carry out sustainable development from an Aboriginal perspective and ‘ways of knowing’. I am proud of being part of this grassroots Aboriginal planning process, which not only gives Aboriginal people a voice but maps the path to truer self-determination, governance, capacity building and leadership.

The University of Sydney has made contributions in design for the Pemulwuy Project and has also researched the actual housing needs of Aboriginal people in Redfern. A recent survey conducted by me and Col James (IB Fell Housing Research Centre, USYD) reveals that out of 40 Aboriginal people interviewed so far, 100% wished to live in the new development on the Block. The people interviewed lived and worked or studied in and around Redfern.

Aboriginal people expressed a desire to live here for a variety of reasons. It is close to transport, the city and to Aboriginal services such as Aboriginal Medical Services. People are near their mobs, their Aboriginal extended families; they feel a strong sense of place, a sense of community and of “home” here on The Block.

The survey also showed that there was a mix of housing needs. Not only was there a demand for 3 & 4 bedroom homes required, but also 2 bedroom dwellings. Out of the 40 surveyed, 29% required 2 bedroom Units. The remaining 71% required 3 & 4 bedroom homes for their families, extended families and visitors. Further the majority of interviewees (79%) expressed the wish to purchase their own homes. Although many believed that this was an impossibility due to their current financial situation, they would be happy to rent until their financial situation improved. The preferred housing option for people was equally split between ground floor single-level dwelling and ground and upper floors -2 storey terrace-style dwelling. Half the people requiring 2 bedroom dwellings wanted to live in the upper floor single level units.

Some of the things Aboriginal people preferred most about a new home included a yard for kids and a garden or an outdoor area like a balcony or courtyard. They preferred open space or open plan design, large rooms and large kitchen, natural ventilation and natural sunlight. They want to be able to interact with their neighbours, and to live in a safe and secure area. Affordability was important as well as pride in being a homeowner.

Many surveys and community views, needs and values normally are given lip-service by government and inaction is the norm. However, it is time the community makes a stand and demand that their views are heard. The Pemulwuy Project is a great opportunity to stabilise a community which has been in turmoil and to create social cohesion. It is a great opportunity to give Aboriginal people a stable home environment and foundation to achieve better education and health, to find employment and to build economic capacity. It can only achieve positive results for all the Redfern community, both Indigenous and non-Indigenous.

We as students, planners and architects, politicians and policymakers, face the challenge of how to plan for sustainable and healthy Aboriginal communities. In order to do that, we first must ask Aboriginal people want they want. The solutions lie in Aboriginal knowledge systems - the perceptions, experiences and traditional wisdom of how this urban Indigenous community want their environment planned, their houses designed, and their future defined.

So let’s continue to support the Pemulwuy Redevelopment Project and make it happen for us and for the next generation of Aboriginal children!

Mutang yenmabangoon darraburra! (strength walking together today)

[South Sydney Herald July 2006]