Josh Lapp

Josh Lapp

Principal & Co-Founder at Designing Local

Josh is the Principal and Co-Founder of Designing Local with a focus on all things culture, from public art to historic preservation and beyond. He has led numerous projects around the country focused on preserving and expanding cultural ecosystems. This is expressed in a multitude of physical and policy improvements. Project components that Josh has led have focused on multi-faceted issues from the bureaucratic — conceptualizing and implementing new funding streams and creating policy frameworks and guidelines to the physical — analyzing cultural infrastructure needs, facilitating artist selection and implementation, and preserving historic buildings. No matter the project the real end goal is almost always the same: delivering better cultural experiences for community members. Josh has overseen more than 25 large-scale arts and culture planning initiatives across the country, developed broad public engagement opportunities for public art master plans and cultural plans, and managed more than 50 historic preservation projects including over 30 state and federal historic tax credits in Ohio and Kentucky — amounting to more than $70 million in investment in historic buildings alone. His broad knowledge of planning-related issues is frequently called upon to move cultural initiatives forward. Josh holds a Bachelor of Science in City and Regional Planning from The Ohio State University.

9:45 am - 10:45 am

Planning for Placemaking on Main Street

This session explores how comprehensive placemaking can truly transform a Main Street, moving beyond one-off projects to create a more vibrant downtown. Using real-world examples, we’ll show how a solid planning framework uses local culture to spark long-term economic growth. You’ll learn how the planning process helps create authentic local experiences, helping communities build a unique identity people recognize and love. We’ll wrap up by sharing a straightforward approach to building a strategic blueprint that ensures your future projects align with the community’s big-picture vision. Plus, we’ll talk about why the planning phase is so important for securing funding and making sure your ideas actually get built.