Faculty
Annette M. Kim
Associate Professor
Director, Spatial Analysis Lab (SLAB)

Education
Ph.D. in City and Regional Planning, University of California, Berkeley
Expertise
Housing and Land Use
International Development Planning
Art and Culture Placemaking
Urban Spatial Data and Visualization
Biography
Annette M. Kim, Ph.D., is Associate Professor at the Sol Price School of Public Policy. She is also the Director of SLAB, the spatial analysis laboratory at USC Price that advances the visualization of the social sciences for public service through teaching, research, and public engagement. She also holds a courtesy appointment at the USC Roski School of Art and Design.
Her research experiments with ways to recover data of overlooked peoples and phenomenon by incorporating fieldwork and humanities knowledge into spatial analysis. She utilizes critical cartography and spatial ethnography to re-conceptualize contemporary urbanism and find more inclusive and humane ways to design and govern the 21st century city. She has also researched the development of real estate markets and the reformation of property rights in transition countries in Eastern Europe and Asia. Her books include Sidewalk City: Re-Mapping Public Space in Ho Chi Minh City (University of Chicago Press, 2015) and Learning to be Capitalists: Entrepreneurs in Vietnam’s Transition Economy (Oxford University Press, 2008), translated into Vietnamese in 2022 by Nha Nam Press.
Previously, Dr. Kim was Associate Professor at MIT’s Department of Urban Studies and Planning. She received her Ph.D. in city and regional planning and masters of visual studies from the University of California, Berkeley. She received her masters in public policy and urban planning from Harvard University and her B.A. in architecture and studio art from Wellesley College.
Selected Media
- Presentation at Federal Reserve Board of Governors Community Development Research Seminar
- UCLA Lewis Center Podcast about Community Land Trusts
- UN Habitat Quito
- Media coverage around Beijing Underground Housing Research project
- From shopping centers to cultural centers: Los Angeles strip malls as sites of ethnic and immigrant placemaking. Urban Geography, 1–31.
- Community Land Trusts for Sustainably Affordable Rental Housing Redevelopment: a case study of Rolland Curtis Gardens in Los Angeles. Cityscape, 21(1). , A. (2022).
- We Are Here: City Signs and Maps in Ethnic Placemaking. Journal of the American Planning Association, 89(1):1-14.
Selected Publications
In The News
USC Price News
Price professor’s art combines languages and culture to tell story of Asian Diaspora
Featured Faculty: Annette M. Kim
Pasadena Star News
Kim, participating in gallery show, explains how her work is about movement, language and how people communicate
Featured Faculty: Annette M. Kim
Los Angeles Times
Kim Op-ed asks: How do L.A.’s ethnic communities keep their identities while living with others?
Featured Faculty: Annette M. Kim
USC Price News
L.A. county schools use Price professor’s interactive data maps
Featured Faculty: Annette M. Kim