Melissa is the Design Director at KDI’s Los Angeles office. She believes co-creating with community has the power to deliver high-caliber, identity-rich design while strengthening civic engagement and democracy. Melissa oversees KDI’s landscape architecture projects in the US from inception through construction administration. She comes to KDI with over a decade of experience in community-based landscape architecture work with The Trust for Public Land, Los Angeles Neighborhood Land Trust, Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti’s LARiverWorks team, Mountains Recreation and Conservation Authority, Studio-MLA, and New Yorkers for Parks. Her previous work has focused on the conversion of underutilized public land into multi-benefit landscapes, including urban riverfront parks, green alleys, brownfield redevelopments, community gardens and ecologically-functioning parks. Melissa holds a B.A. in Archaeology from Columbia University and a Master of Landscape Architecture from Harvard University's Graduate School of Design.  

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