Starting at Shared Assets coincided with a big life shift for me as I moved back to London after many years living in Copenhagen. It was tough leaving behind so many loved ones – and all the different collectives and organising work I’ve been part of. But being back has been surprisingly good to me. Maybe it’s delusional but in this global political hellscape I have felt slightly more grounded being in a bigger city with more currents of resistance. 

I come into this work with a background in research broadly on spatial justice and the ways physical spaces reflect and reinforce oppression. This has mostly been in a Danish context by inquiring into the deportation camps and the implementation of the so-called “Ghetto Laws” in public housing areas to understand state strategies of bordering and racialised violence. This work has always been collaborative,  primarily through a critical research collective called Rendering the State. Our work has been rooted in political education and a commitment to creating spaces where people can come together to build a shared analysis on the structures that make life unlivable. 

Alongside this, I bring with me experience as a researcher across different academic and organisational contexts – but perhaps more importantly, from being situated in grassroots organising. I find research most meaningful when it’s collaborative and prioritises accessible outputs and resources like toolkits, flyers, zines or guides. I am a big fan of printed material generally – leaving these physical traces is an important way to preserve our collective memories. I have used the format of zines a lot in my research practice, both in the actual doing of research and in sharing findings in an accessible way. The zines in the photo above are from a project I run with a friend called Venom Zine Library. 

Now it’s been almost three months since I joined the Data for Housing Justice project, building on brilliant groundwork led by Samanthi Theminimulle (you can read more about Phase 1 here). I’m stepping in at the point where we get to ask: how do we make data as practical and useful as possible to organising? How do we co-create interventions that respond to the needs laid out in those early findings? All of this is guided by Digital Commons Cooperative’s movement-led tech ethos: listen first, build later. 

There are so many directions this work could take — but we’re beginning by focusing on a few key challenges that emerged clearly during the initial phase of the project. One is building a clearer understanding of who owns what, since ownership is often shrouded in complexity. Another is looking into the different ways rent extraction happens,  and unpacking the mechanisms that enable this.  In Phase 2, which kicks off in the coming months, we’ll be working closely with organisers to explore practical responses to these challenges and test out new approaches together.

This start-up phase of the project has been really energising — there’s a lot of space for me to bring together different experiences and approaches to help shape concrete tools and resources that can build organising power. I’m excited about what’s emerging, and what it can make possible. Keep an eye out as the project launches soon — and feel free to reach me on janna[at]sharedassets.org.uk if you're curious, have questions, or want to collaborate.