Adaptive Urbanism in practice
At Field States, we reveal the potential in buildings, districts, and cities. We design and implement strategies that create new value under conditions of uncertainty.
We believe that every place has potential.
That potential is not always obvious, and often goes unrealized. As experts in urban design and real estate strategy, we bring clarity through assessing complex conditions and designing actionable pathways to bring about lasting cultural and economic value.
A different way of seeing
We discover what a building or district could become. Our projects launch with the momentum of an unexpected insight—one that reveals latent adaptive capacity. From there, we build strategy, design, business cases, and implementation
An original framework, applied
Adaptive Urbanism is an operating system for buildings and cities to adapt in an uncertain future. Developed through MIT research and refined through direct practice, Adaptive Urbanism is the engine behind our work across scales.
Integrating public and private
We work with forward-facing asset owners, cities, institutions, and investors. Pragmatic strategy depends on cross-sector fluency, accounting for regulatory conditions, market dynamics, and community context simultaneously.
From analysis through delivery
We work from first analysis through development management, serving as a single point of accountability as a project moves from insight to built outcome. Our fee structure reflects this – we believe in the value we deliver.
We work across public and private sectors, through a lens of Adaptive Urbanism—our original framework that treats cities as learning systems, capable of adapting to succeed in an ever-changing and unpredictable landscape. We provide a set of clearly-scoped engagements with discrete deliverables. Our focused engagements are designed around the complex challenges we observe in cities, and tailored to meet the specific needs of each client.
“Economic Nutrition has big implications for businesses, communities, economics, and politics. Field States brought clarity and creativity to the process of exploring how to best deploy our ideas in new ways.”
ZITA COBBCO-FOUNDER & CEO, SHOREFAST
“Vernon is in an exciting moment of transformation. Field States assessed the needs of our growing population with rigor, and their creative strategies are unlocking shared wins across the City’s departments as we define the future of public health and urban design.”
ANGELA KIMMEYDEPUTY CITY ADMINISTRATOR, CITY OF VERNON CAReach Out
Let’s have a conversation.
schedule a 30-minute meeting—we would love to learn about your context and share how Field States works.