Donggyu Lee

Donggyu Lee is a fourth-year Ph.D. candidate in the City and Regional Planning Section at the Knowlton School. His research interests include urban design, place-making, public participation, and community design in historically underserved communities.

Donggyu's dissertation work focuses on the role of community designers in historically marginalized communities. His past experience in working in and for low-income communities inspired him to explore different approaches and strategies in community design projects and the norms for relevant professionals. By studying various activities of different Community Design Centers (CDCs) in the U.S., he strives to suggest practical implications on the role of community design practitioners, which include architects, landscape architects, public artists, and city planners. 

Before coming to Columbus, he received his master's degree in Urban Planning & Policy from the University of Illinois at Chicago in 2018. In South Korea, where he originally came from, he graduated with a master's degree (2016) and a bachelor's degree (2014) in Architecture from Chung-Ang University.