Meet our Team
Drake James, Lead Land Steward and Designer
Drake (she/her) started dreaming up Urban Village Designs LLC in 2020 as an opportunity to put her knowledge, vision and skills into designing regenerative ecological and social systems. ​Drake holds a M.S. in Sustainability Education (2020), B.A. in Social Sciences, minor in Civic Leadership, and completed her Permaculture Design Certificate at Portland State University in 2014.
Her first experiences with holistic agriculture and regenerative living began in 2011 while living on a biodynamic farm and ecovillage in Peru. Since then, she has continued to develop applied knowledge through personal, professional and academic pursuits in the fields of permaculture design, environmental restoration, biodynamic and organic farming, landscaping, project management, service-learning, event production, group facilitation, outdoor and experiential education for youth and adults, personal coaching and mindfulness practices. The work we offer through UVD is heavily influenced by all these fields.
She's a dog mama, chicken, frog, insect and bee keeper, avid backpacker (both internationally and in the backcountry), writer/memoirist, whole systems nerd and urban village enthusiast.​
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Lucas James, Lead Land Steward and Builder
Lucas (he/him) has been supporting UVD since it's official inception in 2021. Building on his plant nursery, landscaping and organic farm experiences, he's continued to develop his skills over the years to also include a strong knowledge of hardscaping and construction. Additionally, his previous personal and professional experiences brewing beer gave him an initial understanding of working with systems and the importance of process. When coupled with his on-going study of permaculture, he brings a strong whole systems thinking approach to all of our UVD installations.
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When he's not tending to landscapes, you can find Lucas drumming around town with bands like Jay Si Proof, teaching drum lessons, getting into the backcountry, brewing beer, loving on his dogs, helping with the chickens and bees, spouting out knowledge on all matter of subjects, tending to some house project and always crackin' jokes!​​
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Lucas holds a Landscape Construction Professional License through the Oregon Landscaping Contracting Board: #16999