TREE is an interdisciplinary urban design, landscape architecture, and creative placemaking practice transforming post-industrial cities and landscapes.
Established in 2020, TREE is an interdisciplinary urban design, landscape architecture, and creative placemaking practice helping communities transform underutilized land into parks, connected neighborhoods, and memorable public spaces. We partner with public agencies, nonprofit organizations, and private clients to address complex challenges through thoughtful planning, ecological design, and implementable strategies.
Our work focuses on post-industrial cities and growing communities where public space can serve as a catalyst for reinvestment, environmental resilience, and economic development. Through an integrated approach to civic space, mobility networks, ecological systems, and adaptive reuse, we help reconnect people with nature while creating places that strengthen community identity and improve quality of life.
TREE collaborates closely with public agencies, private development partners, philanthropic organizations, and community stakeholders to align design, policy, funding, and implementation. Through strategic partnerships and civic engagement, we help advance projects that are both ambitious and achievable while creating lasting environmental and economic impact.
Travis Crabtree PLA, Partner
Travis Crabtree is a landscape architect, urban designer, and founding partner of TREE Urban Design + Landscape Architecture. His work focuses on the relationship between ecology, mobility, public space, and civic infrastructure, using landscape urbanism strategies to reconnect cities to their environmental systems and public realm.
As Principal at TREE, Travis leads the firm’s landscape architecture and urban design work across parks and trails, ecological infrastructure, downtown revitalization, riverfront planning, and regional connectivity initiatives. His approach emphasizes green and blue infrastructure, adaptive reuse, walkability, and landscape based strategies that strengthen environmental performance and everyday community life.
Ray Neilsen Partner
Ray Neilsen is an entrepreneur, developer, and philanthropist whose work focuses on advancing civic, environmental, and public space initiatives. As a Partner at TREE Urban Design + Landscape Architecture, Ray contributes strategic leadership, project development, philanthropy, and long term implementation support across the firm’s urban design and community development work.
Ray has played a significant role in advancing a range of public space, parks and trails, health, and civic revitalization projects throughout Jackson and the broader region. He serves on the boards of Jackson Heart Foundation and Great City Mississippi Foundation, helping support initiatives such as the Museum Trail connected to public health, recreation, ecological infrastructure, and quality of life investment.
Ansley Crabtree Designer
Ansley Crabtree develops visual communication, storytelling, and engagement strategies that support public space, environmental, and community development initiatives. Her work helps organizations communicate ideas, build community support, and move projects from planning toward implementation.
She has contributed to projects involving parks and trails, ecological infrastructure, civic engagement, downtown revitalization, and regional planning throughout Mississippi and the broader Southeast. Selected projects include Jackson Rising, Museum Trail, and the Pearl River Revitalization Project.