COGdesign was founded in 1995 by visionaries Rosalie Johnson and Lucia Droby as a community outreach committee of the New England Landscape Design and History Association (NELDHA). As demand for community-driven design grew and designers showed strong interest in these projects, COGdesign became an independent nonprofit in 1997.

Under their leadership, COGdesign built a network of dedicated students and graduates from the Radcliffe Seminars and its successors—the Landscape Institute at Harvard and the Arnold Arboretum (until 2009), and the Boston Architectural College (2010-2015). Since our founding, we have continued to collaborate with professional landscape architects, designers, and students from the regional landscape architecture programs.

COG remains committed to connecting experienced, emerging, and underrepresented landscape designers with meaningful, community-driven projects—fostering professional growth, expanding pathways to future paid design opportunities, and deepening their impact on social and ecological well-being.

To date, over 150 community partners have benefited from COG’s innovative approach, which provides facilitation and concept-phase design services.