Dover, Kohl & Partners (DK&P) was founded in 1987. Our expertise lies in balancing the visionary ‘civic art’ of planning with the practical consensus building needed to make projects succeed. We are trained in the principles of sustainable town planning, and have perfected techniques for documenting and understanding local traditions in building to enhance each community’s sense of place.

Our plans and codes focus on smart growth, sustainability, and emphasizing that there does not have to be a trade-off between livability, economic prosperity, and environmental concerns. Victor Dover and Joseph Kohl are charter members of the Congress for the New Urbanism and have worked for many public agencies, developers, and citizen groups to create appropriate methods of land development regulations. Victor Dover served on the LEED for Neighborhood Development Core Committee, and the Congress for the New Urbanism Board; both Joseph and Victor are founding members and on the Board of the Form-Based Codes Institute. The firm has produced and facilitated over 400 charrettes during the last decade.

 
 

DK&P has grown to a staff of 21, located in Florida, New Jersey, Texas and Budapest, Hungary. Our experience includes a national and international portfolio of work in a variety of settings. The common thread is the holistic approach to sustainable community building, which includes the formation of complete settlements offering a mix of uses and dwelling types, an interconnected network of walkable streets, and building forms and architecture that reinforce the distinctiveness of the place. We believe that design is the missing element in much of contemporary town planning, and our work centers on re-introducing form and design into master plans, policy and land development regulations. DK&P maintains tight working relationships with collaborators and subconsultants in fields including transportation planning, urban economics, land use law, and historic preservation.

 
 

PRINCIPALS

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Victor Dover, FAICP, LEED-AP, CNU Fellow

Founding Principal

Joseph Kohl, CNU Fellow

Founding Principal

 

James Dougherty, AICP, CNU-A, ASAI

Principal,
Director of Design

Amy Groves, AICP, CNU-A

Principal,
Vice President

Kenneth García, AICP, CNU-A

Principal,
Studio Design Lead

Kristen Thomas

Principal,
Office Manager

 

ASSOCIATES & STAFF

 

Josh Frank, Assoc. AIA, CNU-A

Project Director
Urban Designer & Town Planner

Margaret Flippen

Senior Planner

Andrew Georgiadis

 Senior Project Director / Town Planner & Urban Designer

 
 
 

Lee Dover

Graphic Designer

Claire Morris-Williams

Town Planner & Urban Designer

Natalie Lipsey

Town Planner & Urban Designer

 
 
 

Pablo Dueñas, CNU-A

Urban Designer & Town Planner

Brandon Boudreaux, AIA

Town Planner & Urban Designer

Steve Postma, CNU-A

Urban Designer & Town Planner

 
 
 

Robin Crowder

Town Planner & Urban Designer

Jackeline Del Arca

Town Planner & Urban Designer

 

Camilo Rivas

Town Planner

 
 

Leslie Thomas

Network Administrator

 
 

 

Numerous DK&P projects have received American Planning Association (APA) Awards, including the Downtown Plan for Richmond, VA, the Downtown Plan and for Montgomery, AL, and the Jamestown Mall Area Plan in St. Louis, MO. The firm has also received Congress for the New Urbanism (CNU) Charter Awards for Panama City Downtown Plan, I’On in Mount Pleasant, SC; City Plan 2025 for Fayetteville, AR; Glenwood Park in Atlanta, GA; South Main in Buena Vista, CO; the Columbia Pike corridor in Arlington County, VA; and North Beach in Miami Beach, FL. The EPA awarded Plan El Paso a 2011 National Award for Smart Growth Excellence in Programs, Policies, and Regulations. Dover-Kohl’s work has received the Driehaus Form-Based Codes Award three times since its inception in 2007 for Towns, Villages, Countryside Land Development Regulations in St. Lucie County, Florida; the Compact Communities Code for Lee County, Florida; and the 2012 award for the Bradenton, Florida Form-Based Code.

 
 
 

Landmark Award (I’On)

American Society of Landscape Architects, 2024

Florida Comprehensive Plan Award: City of Punta Gorda

American Planning Association, Florida Chapter, 2024

Award of Excellence, Best Practices, Lake Wales Envisioned

American Planning Association, Florida Chapter, 2024

Award of Merit, Comprehensive Plan, Punta Gorda

American Planning Association, Florida Chapter, 2024

 

Outstanding Study / Plan, Lake Wales Envisioned

Florida Planning & Zoning Association (FPZA), 2024

Outstanding Comprehensive Plan, Punta Gorda

Florida Planning & Zoning Association (FPZA), 2024

Communicator Award, 2024: Lake Wales Envisioned Documentary Film

The Academy of Interactive and Visual Arts (AIVA), 2024

 
 
 

Best Practice Award for Amherst’s Boulevard Central Planning

American Planning Association, New York Upstate Chapter, 2022

Design Awards “Award of Honor” for Clematis Streetscape Improvements

American Society of Landscape Architects. Florida, 2021

 

Jan Johnson Public Participation Award, Florida chapter, Heart of Florida

American Planning Association, 2021

Plan It Award, Florida chapter Heart of Florida

American Planning Association, 2021

 

Addison Mizner Award for Research for El Paso Mission Valley Comprehensive Plan

The Institute of Classical Architecture & Art Florida Chapter, 2020

 
 

Metropolis, City, and Town Merit Award

Congress for the New Urbanism, 2019

Addison Mizner Award “Urban Design” South Main

The Institute of Classical Architecture & Art Florida Chapter, 2017

 
 
 
 

Award of Merit: Seven50: Southeast Florida Regional Partnership Plan

Florida Chapter of the American Planning Association, 2014

Comprehensive Planning Award for Plan El Paso

American Planning Association Texas Chapter, 2012

 
 
 

Neighborhood Design Award: Glenwood Park

International Making Cities Livable, 2010

Award of Merit for Grassroots Initiatives for the Prospects for Lee County Plan

American Planning Association, Florida Chapter, 2009

Faculty Award for Outstanding Contribution to the Profession

University of Miami School of Architecture, 2009

 

Outstanding Master Planning Project, Award of Merit for The Hometown Plan: South Miami, FL

Florida American Planning Association, Gold Coast Section, 2009

Outstanding Planning Award for a Plan: Montgomery Downtown Plan and SmartCode

Alabama State Chapter of the American Planning Association (ALAPA), 2008

 
 

The Outstanding Award for Private Study

Florida Planning and Zoning Association (FPZA), 2007

Achievement in Comprehensive Plan Development Award for the City Plan 2025

American Planning Association, Arkansas Chapter, 2006

 

Charter Award of Excellence for Glenwood Park

Congress for the New Urbanism, 2003

 

Charter Award of Excellence for I’On

Congress for the New Urbanism, 2003

 

Place Planning Award: Collier County Community Character Plan

Environmental Design Research Association / Places Journal, 2002

 

Award of Excellence for Palm Beach County Agricultural Reserve Master Plan

Palm Beach County and the South Florida Water Management District, 2001

Award of Excellence for Outstanding Contribution for the Mobility Study for Outstanding Public Participation and Planning

The Planning Commission (Tampa), 1998

 

Urban Design Award for Outstanding Community Planning Projects

The Miami Chapter of the American Institute of Architects, 1997

 

Our work has been published in Progressive Architecture, in Metropolitan Home, in numerous planning journals, and has been featured on National Public Radio, CNN’s Earthwatch, and in BusinessWeek. DK&P projects have also been profiled in The New Urbanism by Peter Katz, Rural By Design by Randall Arendt, Sustainable Urbanism by Douglas Farr, Retrofitting Suburbia by Ellen Dunham-Jones, Form-Based Codes by Daniel Parolek, as well as Land Use Strategies and Public Participation Tools, both published by the Center for Livable Communities.

Victor Dover and John Massengale’s new book, Street Design: The Secret to Great Cities and Towns, is on bookshelves now. Writing the book has helped the Dover-Kohl team reach a new understanding of the possibilities for streets in American cities in modern times. Dover Kohl especially understands how to preserve local distinctiveness and a sense of place while also enhancing usability for all modes of travel – pedestrians, bicyclists, motorists and transit users – and creating great addresses.

 

 

STREET DESIGN

The Secret to Great Cities and Towns

Second Edition

John Massengale and Victor Dover know how to fix America's neighborhoods, cities, and towns: make them walkable again. That begins with great streets where people want to be, streets that are comfortable, safe, interesting, and beautiful. Street Design, Second Edition looks at hundreds of streets old and new, shows us what works and what doesn't, and reveals the secrets behind designing great streets and walkable places.

Revised and expanded, now with full-color images throughout, this indispensable and transformative guide, the only book of its kind:

  • Shows examples of over 150 excellent streets and explains why they are successful and how they were designed and created

  • Reveals crucial elements that many modern street designs lack

  • Offers step-by-step instruction on how to design new streets and improve existing ones to create more walkable cities and towns

  • Highlights common street-design challenges and ways they can be addressed through placemaking

  • Features more than 740 color and black-and-white photos Includes contributions from twenty of the leading design experts in the field, including Andres Duany, Elizabeth Plater-Zyberk, Leon Krier, Nicholas Boys Smith, Jeff Speck, Stefanos Polyzoides, and John Norquist, the former mayor of Milwaukee.

Street Design, Second Edition is the indispensable handbook for urban designers, civic leaders, architects, city planners, engineers, and landscape architects, and essential reading for any person who wants to make their community walkable and create memorable streets that are not mere routes to someplace else, but the great places to which other routes lead.

In stores and online - Order it from:

www.Wiley.com (Pre-Orders get 20% off. Use discount code ARC20)
www.Amazon.com
www.ThriftBooks.com
www.Target.com

 

Street Design Book Photoshop.png

First edition

Victor Dover and John Massengale take a close look at streets old and new, show us what works and what doesn't, and reveal the details behind beautiful, walkable places.

This transformative, illustrated guide reveals:

  • Over 150 excellent streets, why they are successful, and how they were created

  • Crucial elements that many modern street designs lack

  • Step-by-step instructions for designing new streets and fixing existing ones to create a more desirable-- and more valuable-- village, town or metropolis

  • More than 500 photos and drawings, never before published

  • Favorite streets and street-making stories from Leon Krier, Gianni Longo, Gabriele Tagliaventi, John Norquist, and more than a dozen other leading design experts

  • Street Design is essential reading for anyone who wants to make their community more livable. Discover why some streets are not merely routes to someplace else, but the great addresses to which other routes lead.

In stores and online - Order it from:
www.amazon.com
www.streets-book.com

 

Books About Dover-Kohl's Work

Designed for the Future

By Jared Green

(Essay by Victor Dover)

Charter of the New Urbanism

By Congress for the New Urbanism

(Essay by Victor Dover)

Home From Nowhere: Remaking Our Everyday World for the 21st Century

By James Howard Kunstler

(See Ch. 11, "Remodeling Hell," to read Dover-Kohl's thoughts on fixing suburban sprawl in Florida)

 

Other Writings

Digital Design Techniques to Assist in the Composition of Traditional Urban Buildings. Published for the 2020 Places and Technologies international conference at the University of Belgrade, Serbia. By James Dougherty

Urban Growth Patterns and Environmental Performance: A Comparison of Late 20th Century American Suburban Patterns to those of Late 19th Century Central European Urban Fabric. Published for the 2019 Places and Technologies international conference at the University of Pécs, Hungary. By James Dougherty

Architectural Design Techniques of Urban Buildings in the Late 19th and Early 20th Century. Published in Periodica Polytechnica Architecture, journal of the Budapest University of Technology and Economics. By James Dougherty

Alternative Methods of Land Development Regulation
Seminar for Ft. Myers Beach, FL

Charrettes for New Urbanism
by Victor Dover

City View Brings Life to Downtown
Article in July/August 2005 Apartment Finance Today

Creating Resilient Caribbean Communities
Disaster Digest December 2009, by Elma Felix, Andrew Georgiadis and Chris Podstawski

Design Matters
Article in the July 2004 issue of the South Miami Times by Victor Dover

Four Corners of Law
Letter from Victor Dover to Charleston, SC Bar Association

National Audubon Society Smart Growth Conference
Keynote address by Victor Dover

Retrofitting Suburbia
Essay from University of Maryland speaker series publication

Where Would you Prefer to Live?
A visual quiz by Victor Dover & Sam Poole