2021 | Research + Urban Design | Unbuilt | Collaborators: Lasse Rau, Ellen Wood

Urban as Aina utilizes the Hawaiian concept of Aina as a term to rethink the indigeneity of the urban context in Honolulu, Hawaii, utilizng the native Hawaiian form of organizing urban space: ahupua’a. Ahupua’a is a spatial, cultural, and familial system that serves as the precedent to rethink Honolulu by decolonizing the space of two colonial forces along the Al Wai Canal in downtown Honolulu: Fort Derussy and Ala Wai Golf Course. The project transforms the program of Fort Derussy into a native Hawaiian fishpond and the glof course into a natvie Hawaiian kalo field, producing thousands of pounds of food on an island that has been transformed into a massive food desert as a result of colonial forces. 

This project investigates borders and access as an element of urban design in a decolonizing context, where access for all is not always wanted or needed, especially in places dominated by non-indigenous forces such as downtown Honolulu. By thinking of urban design through different forms of walls and thresholds as a way to preserve cultural spaces through a blurring of access, utilizing water, grass, openings, etc. along the edge that requires cultural and historical knowledge to traverse these spaces. Therefore, these sites are legally and visually public, but their access and navigation is a form of cultural know-how in order to preserve the space as one for indigenous knowledge.