Public Aspirations for a Decolonised City. Food Security and "Re-Storytelling"

In 2017, the Imagining Decolonised Cities (IDC) competition sought submissions for the public’s visions of a decolonised Porirua. The IDC competition was an opportunity for Ngāti Toa Rangatira to solicit utopic ideas for their city post-settlement. This article presents an analysis of the 40 entries, exploring how participants understand decolonisation enacted in an urban setting. We identified two overarching themes from the submissions that can be linked to wider theories of decolonisation, particularly Corntassel’s (2008) theory of sustainable self-determination. The first theme identified was food security, demonstrated through participant designs of community gardens, seafood harvesting stations, and larger food transportation systems. The second theme identified was “re-storytelling”, a centring of Māori identities and stories. While these efforts alone will not result in the decolonisation of Porirua, they represent tangible initiatives at the flax roots level that provide space for Māori to be Māori, and a point from which communities can drive larger decolonising initiatives.