Civitas is a practice of urban designers, architects and landscape architects engaged in strategic planning for urban change and project design for built works. We are a consultancy and a design studio, advising clients on a wide range of strategies for re-imagining city conditions, and designing the ideas, craft and implementation of built spaces and systems at the scale of infrastructure.
Our commitment to critical inquiry and political acumen differentiate us from others. Making meaningful change in cities requires much more than formal design creativity. It requires design thinking, a commitment to testing assumptions, and the capacity to see issues and solutions that others miss.
Our commitment to critical inquiry and political acumen differentiate us from others. Making meaningful change in cities requires much more than formal design creativity. It requires design thinking, a commitment to testing assumptions, and the capacity to see issues and solutions that others miss.
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Our medium is landscape. An urban landscape that is soft, hard, natural, made, seen, felt and perceived. City landscapes, both natural and made places, need to engage people, satisfy and be higher performance than landscapes we made in the past.
New urban landscapes have a new burden - to heal scars, reclaim lost places, connect old and new systems, create cultural and economic value, attract people, activate neighborhoods and connect people to each other and the place they call home.We believe that new landscapes create jobs, clean air, manage water, grow habitats, are beautiful, inspire, feel good, and set new social growth in motion.
New urban landscapes have a new burden - to heal scars, reclaim lost places, connect old and new systems, create cultural and economic value, attract people, activate neighborhoods and connect people to each other and the place they call home.We believe that new landscapes create jobs, clean air, manage water, grow habitats, are beautiful, inspire, feel good, and set new social growth in motion.
We don't rely on a set of skills; we rely on a set of interacting minds to make creativity visible and effective. We are passionate, funny, big, small, quiet and loud. All of these moods and modes are critical to keeping our minds open to new discoveries that might make a difference. But we are not glib or satisfied.
Civitas is an ancient idea that people meet, exchange, settle and build a community around shared resources. They call it home. Cities exist because we need connections and access. The vernacular city sits where paths cross, water and food are available and the climate supports settlement. But as times and technology change, the patterns of the city, values, and meanings change.
To say that everything Civitas, Inc. touches turns to gold may be hyperbole, but it is entirely fair to say the urban design consultancy leaves places better than it found them. Founded by Mark Johnson and Ann Mullins in 1984 out of a passion for design and love of cities, Civitas began as a name scribbled on a cocktail napkin.
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