Dr. Kon Kim is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Urban Planning and Design at Xi’an Jiaotong-Liverpool University (XJTLU), where he also serves as Programme Director of the MSc Urban Planning (Urban Design Pathway). Trained initially as an architect at the Korea National University of Arts (RIBA Part I & II accredited), he later expanded his expertise into urban regeneration and planning through an MSc at University College London (RTPI-accredited) and a PhD in Urban Planning and Design at the University of Westminster, supported by the South Korean Ministry of Education.

He is a Chartered Member of the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) and an Associate Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (UK). Before joining XJTLU, Dr. Kim held positions as Research Professor of Urban Humanities at the University of Seoul and Visiting Lecturer in Architecture at the Korea National University of Arts, alongside earlier professional experience at Suwon City Research Institute, Innocean Worldwide, and STX Offshore & Shipbuilding.

Dr. Kim’s research examines the intersection of architecture, urban planning, and design within the broader field of critical urban studies, with a particular focus on urban–rural transformation, digital urbanism, and community-led spatial practices in East Asia. His recent work has developed across three interconnected areas: youth mobility and counter-urbanisation; the roles of intermediary actors, grassroots innovation, and digital platforms in shaping spatial change; and the integration of practice-based research, including documentary filmmaking, to capture lived, relational, and processual dimensions of urban and rural transformation.

His current projects explore how young people in small and secondary cities, towns, and rural settlements across East Asia rework migration trajectories, local communities, governance arrangements, and everyday forms of spatial practice in response to socio-economic precarity and demographic change.

1. Urban–Rural Transformation and Counter-Urbanisation: Examining how migration, settlement, and local restructuring reshape the relationship between cities, towns, and rural areas in East Asia.

2. Digital Urbanism, Intermediary Actors, and Grassroots Innovation: Investigating how digital platforms, local intermediaries, and community-based initiatives influence spatial change, governance, and everyday life.

3. Community-Led Spatial Practices and Social Infrastructure: Understanding how collective action, local networks, and spatial practices support resilience, belonging, and alternative forms of development.

4. Practice-Based and Visual Research Methods: Using documentary filmmaking and other practice-based approaches to study lived experience, relational space, and socio-spatial transformation.

Research documentary links

• Becoming Otherwise: Undefined Lives Beyond the Given
• Circle: Leaving and Living of Young Individulas, Mokpo

Programme Director, MSc Urban Planning (Urban Design Pathway), 2024-Present

Deputy Programme Director, MSc Urban Planning (Specialization in Urban Design), 2023-2024

Assistant Professor, Xian Jiaotong-Liverpool University, 2023-Present

Research Professor, University of Seoul, 2021-2023

Visiting Lecturer, Korea National University of Arts, 2022-2023

Urban Researcher, Suwon City Research Institute, 2016

Architectural Coordinator, Innocean Worldwide, 2010-2014

Designer, STX offshore shipbuilding, 2010

BNV 402 Urban Design Inquiry (Studio)

BNV 403 Dissertation

UPD 110 Neighbourhood Planning

UPD 201 Environmental Sustainability

UPD 305 Final Year Project and Dissertation

UPD 312 Spatial Project

UPD 313 International Field Class

UPD 407 Place-Making and Urban Design (Studio)

UPD 409 Dissertation

ENT 405TC Work Placement (Smart City Pathway)

Planning Policy and Design Intervention (Studio)

Planning Research: Methods and Skills

Critical Thinking in Architecture

Seminar in Architectural Criticism