About us

What makes Verdunity different?

Every city says it wants to be fiscally sustainable, environmentally resilient and socially inclusive. Yet in reality, development patterns, daily decisions and investments rarely align with these desired outcomes. 

We’re left with fragile local economies, escalating service costs, and disconnected residents – while frustrated city staff and council are stuck administering policies that create generic places citizens struggle to connect with and invest in. It’s time for a different approach. 

Verdunity (pronounced vur-doo-ni-tee) is not your traditional planning or engineering firm. 

Verdunity provides progressive city leaders with fiscally-based planning, engineering and community engagement services that prioritize civic vitality and long-term sustainability over short-term results. Our core purpose is to ensure prosperity for everyone by helping communities build neighborhoods where people at all stages of life and means can survive and thrive.

We believe that the way we have been building our places is not sustainable, and that America’s approach to how we build our communities and neighborhoods must change – immediately. We are committed to leading this change through the work we do and the lives we lead. 

How Verdunity came about

Our founder spent the first 17 years of his career as a civil engineer at a global architecture & engineering consulting firm designing site development and infrastructure projects for cities throughout Texas. He was taught that infrastructure expansion led to economic growth, so the investments made sense. In 2009 he was given the opportunity to lead his former firm's Community Planning & Urban Design practice, where he was exposed to the world of planners, urban designers, landscape architects and economists and got to work with cities all over Canada and the U.S. 

Thanks to the lingering impacts of the 2008 recession and some timely content from Chuck Marohn at Strong Towns, our founder had his “oh crap” moment in 2010 when he realized that cities would never have enough money to maintain all of the infrastructure being built or continue to provide quality services in an equitable manner if they continued business as usual. Furthermore, he understood that he would be in a better position to drive true change if he was not associated with a large firm that depended on big projects. In 2011, Kevin started Verdunity so he could help communities and design professionals to better understand and address these challenges.

Who we are

We are innovative pioneers, educators, and collaborators who just also happen to have backgrounds in professional planning, engineering, and development. We prioritize fiscal solvency and long-term sustainability over what may be easier or more financially lucrative in the near-term. We’re committed to helping community leaders break down silos, eliminate the excess, and begin implementing projects immediately with resources you already have on hand. Working together, we can preserve and enhance quality of life for current and future generations. 

If you’re satisfied with business as usual, then our team and approach may not be for you. But if you feel like you’re spinning your wheels implementing plans and policies you know aren’t getting the results your community needs, we’re here to help. 

what's up with the name?

There are a lot of consulting firms in the marketplace. Many of them use the owner’s name or initials in the company name. We wanted a name that would help us stand out from the crowd and be representative of our company's purpose, our core clients, and how we work. 

Our name and accompanying tagline represent our vision, approach and company culture, and demonstrate that we approach things differently, starting with a unique name.

Verde + Community became Verdunity.

We believe we can help to improve communities and neighborhoods through education, intentional planning and design decisions, and implementation that is incremental, collaborative, and locally-led. The path to a healthy and prosperous future for our kids begins with bridging the gap between what citizens need and what cities are actually doing. 

Everyone deserves a prosperous life and vibrant community at a cost they can afford.

Our vision and philosophy are based on four guiding principles. Everything we do with our clients, within our organization, and in our home communities can be tied back to these core values.

• Fiscal responsibility

• Environmental stewardship

• Equity & inclusion

• Transparent, consistent communication

“Allow your passion to become your purpose, and it will one day become your profession.”

— Gabrielle Bernstein

How we work.

Successful companies and communities understand the importance of a strong culture and amazing people. We are no different. From the day we started, we have worked to create an environment that respects individual needs, talents and personalities and binds these together into a cohesive team that shares bigger goals. We've invested in an office setup, tools and processes that allow tremendous flexibility for where, when and how our team gets their work done. We strive to work smart (not hard) and have fun while we're doing it. The combination of our people and shared purpose are what makes Verdunity a special place. 

Every day, we're doing what we love, with people we like being around, for clients we enjoy working with. It's awesome.

There are seven behavioral values we look for and cultivate in our team.

Want to join the Verdunity crew? 

We're always looking to connect with others who share our philosophy and passion to upend the status quo of how we're planning, designing, and building our communities. We’re also eager to learn from people who can challenge our own assumptions and help us grow into a more well-rounded, broadly impactful organization.

If you'd like to join our team, check out our careers page for any openings.