Leveraging his diverse experience in the public, private, and non-profit sectors, Keith O’Connor works to address some of the most pressing challenges facing cities today—from climate change and resilience to livability, mobility, and equity. With expertise in urban design, landscape architecture, and city planning, Keith leads SOM’s City Design Practice on the East Coast, working on complex multidisciplinary projects to protect natural, cultural, and historic resources and enhance the public realm.
Keith spearheads a wide range of domestic and international projects that revitalize waterfronts, enhance urban neighborhoods, protect historic sites, expand institutional campuses, advance transit-oriented developments, and elevate the public realm. Among his civic work is the Tidal Basin Ideas Lab, an ambitious initiative to preserve and revitalize a unique cultural landscape on the National Mall in Washington, D.C.
We are fortunate to work with many visionary clients on projects where environmental stewardship, robust public engagement, and laudable public purpose are manifest in exceptional urban design.
Prior to joining SOM, Keith led various large-scale planning and design projects in New York, Boston, D.C., Chicago, Hong Kong, and Tel Aviv. His portfolio features vision plans, mixed-use master plans, development frameworks, and public realm design. He has presented at Harvard University and Yale University on topics such as sustainable infrastructure and the relationship between climate change and urban design.