The Knowlton School is pleased to announce that Matt Williams will be the 2022–23 Trott Distinguished Visiting Professor. Throughout the academic year, Williams will conduct workshops and field research with landscape architecture students. The Trott experience will also culminate in a symposium and exhibition in spring 2023. 

Matt Williams is an urban planner, landscape designer, and photographer based in Detroit, Michigan. He currently serves as a planner in the City of Detroit Planning and Development Department leading the Warrendale Cody Rouge Strategic Neighborhood Framework plan in addition to offering spatial analysis and design expertise to city-wide planning initiatives. He studied at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School of Business before working as an assistant buyer and planner at Lord & Taylor Co. in New York.

Passion for community, culture, and gardens led Williams to explore large parks, urban agriculture, and environmental justice projects across the nation. He then enrolled at Louisiana State University where he received his Master of Landscape Architecture and worked as an instructor in digital media representation for two years. He also worked as a project manager with the New Orleans Mardi Gras Indian Council, where he helped raise grant funding, built organizational capacity, and managed their cultural campus development project. In 2016, Williams joined the Spackman Mossop Michael landscape architecture firm as a Designer. He relocated to his hometown of Detroit to establish a local office prior to joining the City of Detroit Planning & Development Department in 2019.

Currently, Matt is a board member and Treasurer for the Marcy Houses Memorial Scholarship Fund, a nonprofit scholarship & mentorship organization based in Brooklyn, New York. He also currently serves as a board member and Treasurer for the Black Landscape Architect’s Network, a national nonprofit offering scholarship support to Black landscape students, and advocacy and networking for Black landscape practitioners.

The Trott Distinguished Visiting Professorship Program brings internationally acclaimed architects, landscape architects, and planners to the Knowlton School each year. Trott Professors teach design studios, conduct seminars and lecture courses, and interact with faculty and students.