James Miller
Office
Location
AH207, MS-9085
Hours
W 2:00PM - 4:00PMAbout
James Miller (he/him/his/Professor) is an Associate Professor, Urban and Environmental Planning & Policy. A Kanaka Maoli scholar, architect, and urbanist, James runs a design lab, ’Ike Honua, centering Indigenous knowledge in building resilient communities through architectural and planning frameworks. Under the lens of climate change adaptation, James Miller’s research investigates the role of Indigenous Design Knowledge in the creation of culturally supportive environments. James is currently investigating the application of Indigenous, place-based models for building community resilience in response to the housing crises and rising socio-environmental issues in Hawai'i. Miller’s scholarship provides a space for Indigenous knowledge systems tied to the production of the built-environment to be recognized within fields dominated by western-centric world views. He holds a PhD in Sustainable Architecture from the University of Oregon with specializations in cultural sustainability and Indigenous design knowledge.
Education
Research Interests
- Indigenous placemaking
- Indigenous architecture and spatial production
- Pacific Islander Housing
- Place-based housing solutions
- Va Moana and other Oceanic perspectives of Spatial Relationality,
- Indigenous Mobilities
- Climate Change Adaptation and Resilience,
- Post-disaster reconstruction and resettlement
- Remote housing and localized construction processes
These research areas are centered in anti-colonial and Indigenous frameworks with an emphasis on social justice and urban inclusion.
Research clusters include: The Collaborative for Inclusive Urbanism (U.Oregon) and Va Moana (AUT)
Publications
Baloy, Natalie and Miller, James, (In-Press), “Settler Colonial Critique and Indigenous Urbanization,” in Karina Landman, Kundani Makakavhule, and Eric Nay (Eds.) The Meaning of Decolonization in the Built Environment, Routledge.
Deaton, Lyndsey and Miller, James, (2025), “Community Development: How Architectural Adaptations Show Resistance to Assimilation,” Fabrications.
Miller, James and Moses, Kelema, (2024), “ʻLiving in Relation,” The Journal of Architectural Education, 78(2).
Miller, James (2024) “Placemaking as Indigenous Resurgence in the Oceanic Diaspora,” in Heather Dorries and Michele Daigle (Eds.) Land Back: Indigenous Landscapes of Resurgence and Freedom, Washington DC: Dumbarton Oaks.
Miller, James, (2023), “The Resurgence of Indigenous knowledge in Adapting Vernaculars: Implications of Climate Change for Rimajol Architectural Traditions,” in Paul Memmott, John Ting, Tim O’Rourke, and Marcel Vellinga (Eds.) Design and the Vernacular. London: Bloomsbury Publishing.
Miller, James, Bunza, Matt, Miller, Elizabeth, Keju, Dial, and Momotaro, Umeyo. (2022), "Urban Design Handbook for Resilient Public Spaces," Ministry of Works, Utilities, and Infrastructure, Majuro Local Government, RMI. World Bank, RMI Urban Resilience Project.
Miller, James, (2022) “Aelon Kein Ad: A Case Study of Rimajol Place Identity in the United States,” in Lana Lopesi, A.-Chr. Engels-Scwarzpaul, and Leali’ifano Albert Refiti (Eds.) Pacific Spaces: Translations and Transmutations, Oxford: Berghahn Books.
Miller, James and Nay, Eric (2022) “Ontological Upgrade: Indigenous Futures and Radical Transformation,” Spool – Deep Adaptation – the Spatial Dimension, TU Delft Open.
Miller, James (2021) "Indigenous Placemaking in the Climate Diaspora: Rimajol Resettlement in the U.S." Traditional Dwelling and Settlements Review, 32(2), 39-52.
Miller, James (2020) “The Evolution of the Marshallese Vernacular House.” Fabrications, 19, Taylor and Francis.
Miller, James and Nay, Eric (2020) “Architecture, Redress and the Rights of Nature.” Dialectic VIII, School of Architecture, CA+P, University of Utah.
Miller, James (2019) “Post-disaster recovery through the evolution of the lakou, a traditional settlement pattern.” International Journal of Disaster Resilience in the Built Environment; Vol. ahead-of-print, No. ahead-of-print. Emerald.
Teaching Schedule
M, W 2-3:30 in ES 318