Mary Vogel, a former co-director of the Center for Changing Landscapes (an interdisciplinary research and outreach center that combines design expertise with science), is currently a senior research fellow with the Minnesota Design Center in the College of Design. Vogel has led community design efforts in the metropolitan area and throughout Minnesota that address transportation systems, environmental issues, recreational opportunities, economic re/development strategies, personal safety issues, neighborhood stabilization, and community enhancement. Her work has emphasized land use as a critical component of transportation systems.
She has led efforts that have included using design to depict how a light-rail system could be effectively sited along University Avenue instead of locating it in the I-94 trench; working with the local neighborhoods to create station area plans for the proposed Hiawatha Light Rail Line, as required for receiving federal funding; working with local communities along I-394 to create land-use plans associated with transit station locations that will enhance transit use; and documenting recreational trails throughout Minnesota, creating a framework for their expansion and enhancement, using trails as a community re/development tool, and creating a twenty-first century re/development strategy for small rural communities. Currently she is leading the Rural Community Transit Project, which is developing strategies to address mobility issues in small rural communities using design thinking and twenty-first century technologies.
Vogel received her master of architecture degree from the University of Minnesota.