Franklin Kirimi

Nairobi

My commitment to social justice and spatial equity began during my first studio tour of Kibera, an informal settlement in Nairobi, Kenya. Volunteering with Kounkuey Design Initiative (KDI) during school holidays cemented my desire to address systemic issues in urban landscape design. These experiences inspired me to bridge the gap between idealistic student visions and the realities of design practice. Over the past decade, I have explored the potential of interstitial public spaces to address the challenges of urban informality. Working as a young professional, I developed skills in participatory design, translating community engagement into actionable plans, and addressing the social dynamics of informal urban areas. This work revealed the deep-seated structural injustices, systemic racism, colonial legacies, and contradictions in state-led planning practices. My engagement with grassroots organizations further enriched my understanding of how to frame design and planning practices that prioritize community needs. I am an early-career network fellow of the NATURA Network, an international collective focusing on nature-based solutions. My passion for integrating social justice into landscape design led me to the 2024 Fall semester Fellowship exchange at Pratt Institute in Brooklyn. This transformative experience broadened my spatial imagination and reinforced my commitment to community-based planning, particularly for waterfront communities facing urban flood risks. These learnings have deepened my resolve to advocate for scaled social justice and spatial equity in green infrastructure planning. Currently, as a senior design associate at Kounkuey Design Initiative, I lead the co-production of nature-based solutions (NBS) interventions, conduct research on the efficacy of these solutions, and contribute to scaling them within informal settlements in East Africa. My work includes participating in a multi-year, UKRI-funded regional project as a research assistant starting 2025. I recently contributed to pedagogy on just cities in the 5th edition of the Manifesto for the Just City, organized by the TU Delft Centre for the Just City. All these combined experiences have allowed me to merge design with research, resulting in impactful, community-driven solutions.