KDI is a landscape and planning practice focused on making public spaces with underserved communities. Based primarily in Nairobi, Los Angeles, and the Eastern Coachella Valley, KDI works to establish networks of sustainable and scalable Productive Public Spaces that reflect the visions of the people they serve. After almost 20 years of partnering with communities to research, design, and advocate for their needs, KDI is a powerful model of participatory and equitable design.
The Source Report documents KDI’s collaborations with Knowlton students and faculty during spring 2021.
Our main point of contact came through a studio course I taught online. The studio documented different forms of practice in landscape architecture, from state agencies to international for-profit corporations. Studying these established models, where traditions and incentives often work to harden gaps in knowledge and resources, put into relief just how unique KDI’s practice is.
In some ways, the timing was ideal. KDI’s worldview and methods form one of the most credible responses to problems that have become inescapable for the design professions: community disinvestment, environmental racism, and housing insecurity. Entering and established members of the field have come to recognize that good intentions and big ideas are necessary, but not sufficient, to address them; and in such challenging times it was empowering to work with people who have resolutely steered toward these problems—and made headway.
Read Source Reports in Landscape Architecture, Kounkuey Design Initiative
