Demetri Baches, city planner, urban designer, code writer, and lecturer has dedicated over thirty years to the study of successful communities and the implementation of elements that make them so. His professional career has been at the forefront of the revolution in urban design, and master planning that have brought about today’s renaissance in how communities of all sizes approach planning, and developing places of enduring value

Demetri has participated alongside the world’s top designers, architects, and developers on projects ranging from high profile residential infills such as the 2000 National Home Builder’s & Urban Land Institute’s Millennium Show Home Project in downtown Atlanta, GA; to redevelopment plans for communities such as the Downtown Vision Plan for Bentonville, AR for Walton Enterprises, and the redevelopment of Lakeforest Mall in Gaithersburg, MD. Demetri also works at scale on Greenfield projects inaugurating new cities, such as the master plan of Putrajaya, Malaysia’s new Administrative Capitol City; and the Higher Ground Initiative, a nation-wide strategic & redevelopment plan for the island Nation of Nauru. These, and the many other projects he has been involved in throughout his career, have provided Demetri the skills and tools needed to teach government agencies, developers, and private trusts how to recognize and unlock the untapped potential of their neighborhoods, downtowns and land holdings; a journey of learning that began with his first job as the first planning director for the City of Belmont, NC in 1992.

Since then Demetri has worked on over 170 projects in the US and abroad, first as a director of the internationally renowned planning and architecture firm of DPZ & Company in Miami, FL, then as Founding Partner of DPZ Pacific based in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, and currently as Owner of Metrocology and AGN, both based in Savannah, GA.

With a client base ranging from developing nations, small and medium sized towns and cities, to regional and national developers, and the real estate offices of legacy family trusts, Demetri continues to revise ordinances, create master plans, and develop long-term strategies for projects large and small that support resilient growth and value adding practices. His work has been recognized with numerous awards from the American Planning Association, the Congress for New Urbanism, and the Urban Land Institute.