Working Groups

thematic working groups

Since 2006, KDI has focused on equity in the public realm because we know that where you live determines the quality and length of your life. We have covered a broad geographical area, with our projects varying in scope and approach, but we’ve noticed some similar themes across much of our work.

To better build on our areas of expertise and promote collaboration across our four offices, we have launched three thematic working groups for 2024 that address different aspects of equity in the public realm.

The first three themes we are focusing on are:

Design, Climate, Justice
Gender Equity in the Built Environment
Child-Friendly Cities

The groups will meet regularly and aim to advance training, research, and resources in their selected themes. KDI staff works across offices to learn from each other, whether we are addressing a lack of play spaces in informal settlements in Kibera, Nairobi, or heat in the sprawling desert communities of the Eastern Coachella Valley, or in gender equity on Los Angeles’ transportation system. Together, we are striving to strengthen our knowledge of design, policy, and programming and to improve methods to ensure that community members shape their neighborhoods and regions, wherever they might be.

donate to KDI

To help seed our working groups and help them flourish, we are asking for your support as part of our year-end campaign. Make a general donation to KDI, or direct your donation to a specific working group or region. Your donation to the working groups will help support KDI’s mission to build an equitable and just public realm and continue our work to center community members at the heart of planning and design.

Donate to KDI!

design, climate, justice

Cities are at the crux of the climate crisis, with informal and unplanned areas increasingly vulnerable. The communities we work in have faced the brunt of flooding, heat, mudslides, and many other overlapping and compounding risks. For over a decade, KDI has been working on climate change adaptation and learned a lot, but we still have a lot more to learn and share on about design and planning to help mitigate the effects of climate change in these nexus neighborhoods.

project spotlights

gender equity in the built environment

Due to centuries of biased planning and design centering men as the “neutral” user of cities, urban spaces around the world continue to exclude, inconvenience, and endanger women, girls, and people of marginalized genders. Women have different, more complex travel patterns than men and are more likely to be caregivers, often experiencing public spaces with dependents. Matching gender equity policies with practice continues to be difficult. KDI is working with communities to create gender-inclusive spaces that include active participation, integration, universality, knowledge-building, power-building, and investment.

project spotlights

child-friendly cities

When KDI first began working in Kibera in Nairobi in 2006, we found that there were no intentional, planned public spaces or designated play areas for the 300,000 residents, which includes a large population of children. We set out to change this by co-designing a productive public space network for gathering, generating income, and play, and we later brought this concept to the Eastern Coachella Valley in Southern California. Though free play opportunities have been reduced over the past 30 years, and social, economic, and physical barriers to play exist, play is vital for cognitive, social, emotional, and physical development. Play is essential for individuals and communities to thrive, and KDI is working to make play accessible to people of all ages, abilities, and backgrounds.

project spotlights