Kit McCullough

Kit Krankel McCullough is an architectural and urban designer and consultant to cities, institutions, developers, neighborhood and merchant groups around the country. Through her urban design practice and teaching Kit advocates for equitable and socially just development, healthy and sustainable environments, strong communities, and cities that promote wellbeing and happiness. At the University of Michigan, McCullough teaches courses on urban design and real estate development, design studios on housing and neighborhood development, and seminars on transportation and urban economics.

In her current practice, McCullough has developed strategies toward economic and environmental sustainability at a range of scales, from individual properties to entire regions; and for a range of clients, including cities, institutions, developers, and neighborhood groups. Her projects have included a redevelopment plan for the C.S. Mott Foundation for their properties in downtown Flint, Michigan, as a means to help catalyze a regional economic strategy; regional strategies for more sustainable development in Tucson; a plan for the redevelopment of an industrial corridor in Oklahoma City as a mixed-use district focused on eco-industries; and an economic development strategy for Forest City, North Carolina, that capitalizes on the town’s traditional urbanism and heritage.

Prior to joining the faculty at Michigan, McCullough led an urban design studio at Urban Design Associates in Pittsburgh, where she directed downtown revitalization projects and prepared master plans and design guidelines for new and infill neighborhood developments throughout the country. Projects included revitalization strategies for cities as diverse as Washington, DC, Warren, Michigan, Norfolk Virginia, Shaker Heights, Ohio, and La Grange, Georgia. New and infill developments included Biltmore Farms in Asheville, North Carolina, Western Center in Washington County, Pennsylvania, as well as HOPE VI projects, including Louisville, St. Louis, and Norfolk. In her previous experience, McCullough practiced urban design for several years in Austin, Texas, and before that, with Duany Plater-Zyberk in Miami. She received her Bachelor of Architecture from the University of Texas at Austin and her Master of Architecture in Urban Design from Harvard University.