Transforming communities through culture, art and innovation

Creative Placekeeping

Creative placekeeping engages local community, artists, nonprofits, government entities, and private developers, while being attentive to preserving the existing sense of place. Our Creative Placekeeping practice utilizes community engagement, tactical urbanism, creative urban design, and arts & culture to achieve the following outcomes:

Celebrate & build upon a place’s unique culture
Foster a strong sense of community identity & pride of place
Incentivize private reinvestment
Realize truly unique places & spaces

Empowering communities with vibrant and sustainable spaces

Our Expertise

At Io, we specialize in creative plackeeping, including the following types of projects and scope of services:

Arts District Planning

We've been involved in public arts planning work for several cities, including Springville, South Jordan, Logan, Ogden, and South Salt Lake City.

Tactical Urbanism

Our team has completed design and planning work for numerous tactical urbanism & public art installation projects.

Creative Public Space

Our work incorporates creative parks, plazas, and streetscapes, including projects such as Platforms, Corner Plaza, and Dumke Arts Plaza in Ogden, Utah.

Live-Work

We understand the unique needs of development planning for creative and arts districts, including envisioning mixed-use and live-work developments.

Let's Talk

Would you like to find out more about our process, and how to work with us? Follow the link below to answer a few questions about your project and we’ll reach out to you with more information on next steps.

Highlighted Projects

Downtown plaza in Ogden Utah — THE CORNER PLAZA
Sept 2023

Big O Doughnuts Shop Facade Aug 2022 — Big O Doughnuts
Aug 2022

Jefferson Community Feb 2020 — Jefferson Community
Feb 2020

Women look over a large map for Logan Arts Master Plan Apr 2019 — Logan Arts Master Plan
Apr 2019

Women’s Council Butterfly Healing Garden Feb 2016 — Women’s Council Butterfly Healing Garden
Feb 2016

Nine Rails Creative District Master Plan Feb 2018, Plan view from the nine rails creative district master plan — Nine Rails Creative District Master Plan
Feb 2018

What Clients are Saying...

It was such a great pleasure working with Shalae and Io LandArch on not only one but two Extreme Makeover: Home Edition builds. She was able to listen, and hear, our needs as the client, quickly turn around a clear, cohesive plan, and execute that plan and vision during the install of the landscape. The final landscaping product truly complemented the architecture of the house and successfully blended traditional garden motifs with contemporary styling and modern amenities.

Andy Monaco

Io LandArch has successfully provided a variety of services for Ogden City - from documenting historic landscapes to preparing the master plan for a major redevelopment project. Io created the design concept for the Ogden Business Exchange, a redevelopment project that is transforming a historic but vacant stockyard into a state-of-the-art business park. Io's design weaves in the rich history of the site and it's proximity to natural amenities to create a truly unique sense of place.

Sara Meess

Project Coordinator, Ogden City Business Development

Io LandArch custom-designed my solar-carport. They even got approval from the historic landmark commission where I live (which would have been a headache to do on my own). It turned out beautifully. It's as much a work of art as it is the carport, and it fit my budget, I'm very happy with the results and highly recommend them.

Rebecca Sato

Io has been a tremendous help to the City of South Salt Lake as they have worked over the years to help plan and design numerous city buildings and parks. We are grateful for this consistency and reliability as we complete many projects in phases. Io's attention to detail and quality and willingness to listen to our needs ensures we are always happy with the end product.

Sharen Hauri

Urban Design Director, City of South Salt Lake

Ogden Contemporary Arts were lucky enough to work with Io LandArch on our outdoor sculpture park, PLATFORMS. Shalae was critical to pulling off this community project. She offered their services as an in-kind donation and even went as far as recommending volunteer options, as we are a nonprofit with limited funds. The outcome was astonishing. What was once a lot of overgrown weeds, chain-link, and trash, is now a welcoming park scattered with beautiful native plants and whimsical winding pathways. Ogden is lucky to have such a community-oriented landscape architecture firm in our community.

Venessa Castagnoli Executive

Ogden Contemorary Arts