Authentic Indigenous Design Requires Time in the Community

In the design and construction industry, leadership often shapes the outcome of projects more than any collaborative process. A strong leader can dominate a room: no matter how many town halls, surveys, or workshops are held, the project still reflects 95% of what the leader envisions. The same dynamic exists in design. Designers carry influence simply because they turn ideas into sketches. Once a concept is on paper, it quickly becomes tangible—and it often drives the project, regardless of how much consultation has taken place.

This reality is important to acknowledge because it reveals the limits of conventional engagement methods. Public meetings, focus groups, and surveys can easily become performative, making people feel heard without actually changing outcomes. When applied to Indigenous communities, this approach fails to capture the depth of history, culture, and worldview that should guide the design of spaces meant to serve them.

Why time on the land matters

Design emerges from the subconscious. What designers absorb—people, places, language, ceremony—shapes what they create. For Indigenous projects, this means authentic design can only emerge if designers spend meaningful time in the community. It’s not enough to visit for a single workshop or consultation. The process requires days or even weeks of immersion: listening to Elders, participating in traditional activities, walking the land, and observing how people live and gather.

By doing this, designers allow the culture, stories, and values of the community to permeate their thinking. At a subconscious level, this informs the sketches, plans, and structures they produce. The result is not simply a building placed onto Indigenous land, but a design that emerges out of the land and the people themselves.

The role of Indigenous leadership

Authenticity also requires recognizing limits. Non-Indigenous designers cannot fully lead engagement sessions or dictate priorities. The community must appoint its own trusted voices—Elders, knowledge keepers, or community leaders—to guide the process. Their role is not ceremonial but central: they translate worldviews and values into principles that should underpin the design.

The best design processes for Indigenous communities avoid the temptation to “gather input” in a compressed, performative way. Instead, they create time and space for relationships to develop. Two weeks on the land can have more impact than ten public consultations.

Moving beyond performance

Authentic design isn’t about checking boxes or staging dialogue. It’s about letting go of control, resisting the instinct to dominate, and allowing the community’s own voice to shape the subconscious of the design team. It requires humility, patience, and presence.

When this approach is taken, the results speak for themselves: spaces that resonate with the people who use them, buildings that reflect community identity, and projects that honour Indigenous ways of knowing and being.