[1] He lived in Redfern, where in the late 1960s[3] he established a collaborative called Archanon[1] which aimed "to empower communities for social equity and environmental sustainability".
[4] In Redfern, a suburb with a large population of Aboriginal people, James worked with Father Ted Kennedy, Mum Shirl, Dick Blair, and Bob Bellear and his wife Kaye on many grassroots community services.
Around 1975–1977 Hollo and James, in collaboration with students, designed and built an autonomous house on university grounds, behind its Wentworth Building.
[1] James promoted the idea of multiple occupancy (MO) homes, and this guide led to the flourishing of MOs in the Northern Rivers region of NSW.
[5] In late 1975, James bought a derelict warehouse on Shepherd Street in Darlington, just behind the university, intending to create a dwelling with shared occupancy along with friends, staff, and students who signed up for it, operating as a "single family" via a cooperative arrangement.
Architects Marra and Yeh moved into the downstairs studio in 2006 and they discussed possible upgrading of the building with James and his wife, which were eventually carried out in 2017.
He also did other work in Redfern, for the Aboriginal Health and Medical Research Council, Boomalli Artists Co-operative, and Bangarra Dance Theatre.
[1] In 2001, the Byera Hadley Travelling Scholarship enabled James to study the use of vacant buildings by the homeless in the UK and Europe.
[1] He also worked with the UTS Community Law and Legal Research Centre to create a model "caretaker lease" for temporary housing.
[1] Lee Stickells wrote in a footnote to a 2017 article about the development of the autonomous house: "Although it is beyond the scope of this paper, Col James' career is deserving of extended consideration", and provides further references to his work.