Many adjectives attempt to describe what we want our neighborhoods, communities, and cities to look and feel like– vibrant, walkable, diverse, beautiful, resilient, and safe. These words approach a valid sentiment of the places we aspire to be community members of . As urban designers we strive to not only meet these principles, but to exceed them and create places that inspire for generations.

Ancient Romans were brilliant urban designers and town planners. The timeless system they utilized was repeatable, but each town was still unique. Most were planned around two primary streets that people used to travel in and out of the city. The east-west street was called the decumanus and the north-south street, the cardo. It is not a coincidence that cardo is the root of so many words that mean heart. The cardo was the heart of Roman towns. It was mixed-use, an artery for economic activity, and the street that gave places a pulse.

Cardo helps clients create places that have heart, something that is sorely missing in the development world. These are the places where we live, send our children to school, and build our careers– it is more than a collection of building products. As urban designers, we operate in the gap between architecture and planning. Our goal is to help you shape a vision, guide it through entitlements, and above all, work with builders, architects, engineers, developers, and the community to build a successful place that stands the test of time.