Planning practice has become increasingly transnational but planning education has lagged in preparing students for the challenges of international work. One emerging and characteristically international branch of the discipline, indigenous planning, has been identified as an area that can contribute significantly to the development of healthy, sustainable and self-reliant indigenous communities. However, North American educational offerings in this important area are limited. The proposed Project will make significant and measurable progress towards filling this gap.

The main objective of the Project is to design and implement international mobility experiences in indigenous planning education for 42 senior undergraduate and graduate students in planning and closely related fields. Meeting this objective will require student preparation in language and cultural awareness.  It will also require significant efforts in curriculum development and the project advances a model for the progressive elaboration and testing of course materials. A curriculum in North American indigenous planning will be devised and adopted by partner institutions during the Project, and it is anticipated that the other colleges and universities across the continent will subsequently do so.

Successful sustenance of indigenous planning will depend on the development of social support networks among educational institutions and stakeholders in North American indigenous planning, including indigenous organizations, professional associations, government and the private sector. One of the IPEX7 members has been instrumental in the development of networking around indigenous planning, and was a founder of the Indigenous Planning Division of the American Planning Association. The project will relate to this important initiative and will help foster linkages among al the named constituencies, on a continental basis. It will develop and maintain a web site where experiences generated within the project will be posted, including student papers and reflections on workplace placements. Input from constituencies outside the project will also be accepted.

The consortium consists of two universities in each country. The partners in Canada are the University of Manitoba (lead) and the University of Saskatchewan; in Mexico they are Universidad Autónoma de Chiapas (lead) and Benemérita Universidad Autónoma de Puebla; and in the USA they are the University of New Mexico (lead) and Arizona State University. Each institution will send 7 students to study in another country, and each will receive 7 international students over the life of the project. A total of 42 students will study abroad, 14 from each country.

The University of Manitoba has an extensive infrastructure in place to support the project, having been the lead institution in a number of mobility projects – three North American and one Canada-European.