Best practice models for effective consultation: towards improving built environment outcomes for remote Indigenous communities
Best practice models for effective consultation: towards improving built environment outcomes for remote Indigenous communities Report
AHURI Final Report No. 76
- Author(s): Gini Lee, David Morris
- Published: 2005
- Publisher: Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute
Abstract: This research identified cross-cultural and cross-disciplinary consultation methods to engage remote Indigenous communities and service providers in developing appropriate and sustainable improvements to housing environments. The study involved fieldwork in remote Indigenous communities, as well as interviews with architects, builders and others. It examined consultation protocols and methods used for built environment projects in remote aboriginal communities as exemplified in the Ngaanyatjarra lands and the Anangu Pitjantnatnara lands of Western Australia and South Australia. The research found that consultation to improve housing outcomes in remote Indigenous communities often fail due to a disregard for cultural and domestic issues, a lack of coordination between service providers and the absence of uniform national, state and local government guidelines. Standardised housing and planning solutions often fail in remote communities because the narrow meaning of housing may not encompass cultural and domestic issues, for example, overcrowding cannot be overcome simply by providing more bedrooms. Protocols for cross-cultural and cross disciplinary consultation, project management for coordination and a database to provide common information would address some of these issues.