The Storied Landscape of Tkaronto: Seven Generations Toward the Indigenous City

Abstract

Cities across North America are built on the traditional territories of Indigenous peoples; their design and planning do not reflect this reality. Colonialism sought to disrupt the connections between Indigenous people and their land, culture, and nations through processes of assimilation. In Canada, Reconciliation provides a process to address these wrongs and dismantle systems that led to generations of Indigenous people knowing little of their cultures. With the adoption of the Reconciliation Action Plan in 2021, the City of Toronto committed to: decolonize their “structures, processes, and ways of working”, “give land back to…Indigenous communities”, and make “financial reparations” . This project explores how the colonial city of Toronto can give way to the Indigenous city of Tkaronto over the next seven generations through climate adaptations informed by Indigenous ways-of-knowing centered on storytelling, oral histories, and the regeneration of socio-ecological connections.