Proformus is an urban planning practice built on a simple idea: great places are made one block at a time.
We turn data, design and community insight into strategies that grow places from the parcel up.
What we do
Our work spans community engagement, development strategy, urban planning, and the codes and ordinances that shape them — from single infill sites to citywide frameworks. Every project draws on all four, because places don't separate their problems into disciplines.
See Our Work →We don't talk at people to plan — we listen to them. Planning is both a technical framework and a cultural act, and our practice is built on placekeeping: honoring what a community already is while building toward what it wants to become.
Read Our Philosophy →Cities aren't designed once — they emerge, block by block, decision by decision. Emergent Planning is our framework for working with that reality: rules that guide rather than restrict, strategies that adapt as neighborhoods reveal what they need next.
Discover Emergent Planning →-
Community Engagement
Mass Ave told us what it wants to be, block by block.
For the Mass Ave Next vision plan, 400+ voices and 200+ comments pinned to the block they’re about are shaping the future of Indianapolis’s cultural arts district.
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Development Strategy
Chicago grew 25 feet at a time. It still can.
Thinking Big by Thinking Small, the Chicago study that launched Proformus, introduces the Hyperlocal Parcel Model: megaproject sites cut into 25′ × 125′ parcels and collective clusters that everyday builders can fill in.
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Urban Planning
Growth without displacement, for a neighborhood with deep roots.
The Northwest Landing vision plan, with the Aspire Higher Foundation, reads 433 acres and ~2,450 residents parcel by parcel on Indianapolis’s near northwest side.
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Codes & Ordinances
Cities can grow food, if they zone for it.
The Urban Farms Toolkit, co-written with Area 2 Farms of Fairfax, Virginia, is a zoning playbook for bringing working farms back into the urban fabric.
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Honor what’s here.
Build toward what’s next.
Block by block,
decision by decision.
Community Engagement
Community Engagement
We lead with joy to gamify and create memorable experiences that gather community input and aspirations — then combine this with geospatial mapping to understand physical ramifications.
Development Strategy
Development Strategy
We understand market and real estate conditions to project realistic, actionable scenarios for developers and municipalities — then actualize them.
Urban Planning
Urban Planning
We work in a design language to create and craft experiences for neighbors and municipalities — and enact implementable best practices.
Codes & Ordinances
Codes & Ordinances
We work across the country with staff to balance resident priorities and development pressures, crafting development in its best form — and illustrating it in an accessible way.
Northwest Landing Vision Plan // Indianapolis, Indiana
Mass Ave Next Plan // Indianapolis, Indiana
Urban Farms Toolkit // Fairfax, Virginia
10th Street Traffic Calming // Indianapolis, Indiana
Rockville Zoning Code // Rockville, Maryland
10EastArts Corridor Strategy // Indianapolis, Indiana
Infilling Carolina // Charlotte & Raleigh, North Carolina
Freight Street District // Elkhart, Indiana
Danville Zoning Code // Danville, Virginia
Thinking Big by Thinking Small // Chicago, Illinois
Who we’ve worked with
How can we build together?
Great places don’t happen by accident — they are co-created. Proformus bridges the gap between policy, design, and the built environment. Whether it's a single lot or a neighborhood master plan, we help you make your places happen. Let’s talk. →