Designing Local
Matthew Leasure is a Principal at Designing Local, leading planning and design projects in parks and recreation, historic preservation, urban design, site development, and community planning. Matthew also serves as a Lecturer at The Ohio State University, teaching master's level urban design courses. Previously, Matthew worked as a Landscape Architect & Urban Planner at MKSK Studios, handling design leadership and project management. Additionally, Matthew gained experience as a Planning Intern at Columbus and Franklin County Metro Parks. Matthew holds a Master's degree in City and Regional Planning and a Bachelor's degree in Landscape Architecture from The Ohio State University.
This person is not in any teams
Designing Local
Designing Local is a certified woman-owned business that helps communities create beautiful, functional places that engage and inspire. Founded in 2014, Designing Local was born of the belief that design, art, culture, history, and narrative are too often overlooked in the planning process. We are now nationally recognized for successfully weaving these elements into dozens of plans and designs. Our process is simple: we listen. Through creative public engagement, we help to extract the story of a place, then take that story — as told by the community itself — and translate it into the built environment. What we’ve found through this work is that authentic places attract people, and prosperity soon follows. For communities that choose to invest in public art, arts + culture, historic preservation, urban planning + design, landscape architecture, and public engagement, the payoff is substantial.