With a background in creative writing, environmental science, and urban planning, Kelsey Zlevor is a spatial strategist and social designer at the convergence of planning policy, climate justice, and social change.
Kelsey is a planner in Chicago, specializing in facilitation and public space design as a guest on ancestral land of the Council of the Three Fires. She is the keeper of Mental Landscapes, a body of trauma-informed design research and scholarship centering depression as a design lens to foster wellbeing in public space. Through Mental Landscapes, she was named the Fall 2023 Artist-In-Residence at Allerton Park and Retreat Center, and a speaker at SXSW 2024.
Mental Landscapes began as an independent research project in 2022, and functions as a small emotion-meets-design lab informed by Kelsey’s 8+ years of experience as a parks planning consultant to public sector clients. Her culture-shifting work weaves understanding around depression with recognition of the oppressive forces that exacerbate its symptoms. Kelsey partners with park districts, outdoor space stewards, and cultural institutions worldwide committed to creating and reimagining spaces that comfort, support, and accompany people through mental health experiences over the course of their lives.
