AJ Kim, environmental justice scholar and community organizer, appointed 2026 Cornish Chair
The Department of City & Regional Planning is pleased to welcome AJ Kim, associate professor of city planning in the School of Public Affairs at San Diego State University, as the 2026 Robert S. Cornish Chair of Regional Planning. A specialist in housing and community economic development, participatory methods, environmental justice, and health equity, Kim will co-teach a spring-semester graduate environmental justice studio, Toward Equitable Health Outcomes in Low-income Communities of Color, with Margaretta Lin.
A queer trans scholar and community organizer, Kim has worked with immigrant rights and environmental justice organizations nationally and internationally for more than 20 years. They have led participatory planning activities in immigrant-dense suburbs of Los Angeles, Atlanta, and San Diego, specifically focused on the informal and formal efforts of unauthorized immigrants and refugees working to create safer communities for all across multiple levels of scale and governance.
Kim is the project director and PI of Geospatial Mapping for Alternative Health Assets, funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (2024–2027), and directs community-led research teams for im/migrant health equity with project partners based in Oakland, El Paso, New Orleans, and New York City.
Kim holds a PhD in urban planning from UCLA and a master’s degree in ethnic studies from UC San Diego. In 2018, they received the Dale Prize in Urban and Regional Planning Excellence, an award given annually by Cal Poly Pomona’s Department of Urban and Regional Planning. At San Diego State, they have affiliations with the Graduate School of Public Health and LGBTQ+ studies program.
The Cornish Chair honors alum Robert S. Cornish, FAICP (1925–2013), one of the first graduates of UC Berkeley’s Master of City Planning program. Holders of the Cornish Chair advance his emphasis on regions as natural frameworks for managing growth and promoting sustainable futures.