All of the Above
Janette Komoda Kim


My work addresses climate justice by empowering communities to realize a more equitable distribution of land and resources. To address such complex issues, I often collaborate with community-based organizations and municipal agencies, and I combine tools of urban, architectural, and multimedia design.

Over the years, I’ve been drawn to approaches that I believe get to the roots of systemic change. One—decision-making tools—deals with the process of community empowerment.  The other—property reform—shapes the space of community life.

My decision-making tools help community members explore, imagine, and debate potential responses to complex urban issues in a healthy, playful way. For example, I designed three board games, called In It Together, Bartertown, and Mix & Match, which play out more just and equitable responses to wildfires and rising seas. I also wrote a book called The Underdome Guide to Energy Reform, which exposes the politics behind sustainable design, and I co-produced a podcast series called Safari, which gives subway riders a tour of urban animal life just outside their windows. I reflect on such methods by writing about public engagement. I advocate for more direct, collaborative governance by those who are most impacted by design. 

I also reimagine the space of property ownership. My goal is to foster regenerative economies and a more reciprocal relationship between people and land. In the Resilient by Design Challenge, for example, our team designed collectively-owned housing to protect communities from displacement due to sea level rise and gentrification. I also designed a hotel in Sichuan, China and a farmhouse in Sonoma, CA, where people can engage with bamboo and chapparal landscapes around them. I also research and write about exceptional community-based initiatives. I am currently writing a book called Property Playbook, which illustrates how activists and architects can co-opt property ownership to foster ecological vitality and repair the dispossession of land from workers and BIPOC people. 


These projects (and a few others) are also linked below. Please be in touch! 


Books

Property Playbook
The Underdome Guide to Energy Reform
 

Articles and Editorial    on Property
on Engagement
on Climate and Justice
on Energy
on Architectural Research
 


Building & Interior Design
Minsu
Farmhouse
Block Pantry
Pinterest Headquarters


Landscape & Urban Design
Resilient by Design Challenge
Fall Kill Master Plan 

National AIDS Memorial


Games & Mixed Media 
In It Together
Bartertown
Mix & Match
Safari


ExhibitionsSeoul Biennial
Oslo Biennial
YBCA


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Safari
2009-2013

The Safari project circulated self-guided audio tours of urban animal life along public transit lines, studying the curious intermingling of human and animal ecosystems. The project started in 2009 in New York City, and expanded in partnership with with residents and transit agencies to Beijing, Saõ Paulo, Hong Kong, and Shenzhen. In each city, we broadcasted and exhibited videos, podcasts, maps, and other media to millions of commuters on subway cars and platforms.


Design Team
Creators and coordinators: Janette Kim and Kate Orff (Urban Landscape Lab) and Glen Cummings (MTWTF). Research assistants: Yuval Borochov, Jordan Carver, Susan Choe, Aliza Dzik, Lisa Ekle, Robin Fitzgerald-Green, Steven Garcia, Kathryn Hotler, Sayli Korgaonkar, Jenny Noguchi, Jonathan Pettibone, Evan Sharp, Gena Wirth, Soohyun Park. Co-creator and co-coordinator in Sao Paulo: Magu Bueno. Shenzhen/Hong Kong: Juan Du.

New York Safari 7 podcasts were edited by Janette Kim, and created in Janette Kim’s seminar on urban ecology at the Barnard and Columbia Colleges Architecture Program by Alex Cook, Emily Glass, Aaron Hsieh, Ryan Johns, Meg Kelly, Sayli Korgaonkar, Lesley Merz, Stephanie Odenheimer, Grace Robinson-Leo, Evelyn Ting, Alexandre Vial, Alison Von Glinow.


MediaAudio, Video, Maps, Drawings, Interactive Exhibits
Grants
$2,000 travel grant, Asian Cultural Council Confucius Institute; In-kind donations, MTA Arts for Transit and Beijing MTR; Exhibition support from Columbia University GSAPP.
Recognition ASLA Honor Award in Communication
Exhibitions
California College of the Arts (2016), Bi-City Biennale of Urbanism/Architecture, Hong Kong and Shenzhen (2013), Sao Paulo Architecture Biennale (2013), Beijing Design Week  (2011), Beijing No. 4 Line (2011), Grand Central Terminal, NY (2010), New York subway system (2009), Columbia University Studio-X (2009), New Museum Festival of Ideas (2011), Eyebeam Art + Technology Center (2010).
Published Reviews
Towards an Urban Ecology (2016), Designing for Social Change (2012), The Studio-X New York Guide to Liberating New Forms of Conversation (2011), Cities and Low Carbon Transitions (2011), Landsscape Journal (2018), Casa Magazine (2013), Azure (2010), amNewYork (2009), Daily News Queens Edition (2009), Columbia Political Review (2009), Good Blog (2009), The Brooklyn Rail (2009), The Architects Newspaper (2009), BLDGBLOG (2009), Radio Cultura FM 103.3
Radio Features
Sau Paulo (2013) , Brian Lehrer Show (2009)