What's New

Introducing the New DoverKohl.com

We're very excited to announce the launch of our redesigned website! We've rebuilt our entire site from the ground up to better highlight all the innovative work we've had the privilege to be involved in over the past 28 years.

We've also added an exciting new resource: Under #This tab, there is now a growing and searchable database of Street of the Day photos and locations from around the world. #StreetoftheDay helps provoke conversation about the essential ingredients of street designs that captivate our imaginations, boost property value, and embody civic life. Explore today to find useful precedents, and pan around in 360° Street View.

Park(ing)'s on Us--Vehicle not Required!

Come PARK with us this Friday--just you, not your vehicle! Dover, Kohl & Partners is hosting its first parking space, joining thousands of organizations across the country, and throughout the world, Friday, September 18.

PARK(ing) Day calls attention to the need for more urban open space, and helps generate critical dialogue on how public space is utilized and its impact on urban human habitat--at least for the day!

PARK(ing) Day is a annual open-source global event where citizens, artists and activists collaborate to temporarily transform metered parking spaces into “PARK(ing)” spaces: temporary public places. The project began in 2005 when Rebar, a San Francisco art and design studio, converted a single metered parking space into a temporary public park in downtown San Francisco. Since 2005, PARK(ing) Day has evolved into a global movement, with organizations and individuals creating new forms of temporary public space in urban contexts around the world.

If you're in the neighborhood, stop on by. We'll be set up from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. in front of our office, located at 1571 Sunset Drive, Coral Gables, FL 33143.

For more information about Park(ing) Day, visit parkingday.org.

Walton Family Foundation Announces Design Excellence Program

 

A new initiative, the Northwest Arkansas Design Excellence Program, was recently announced by the Walton Family Foundation. The foundation aims to promote the highest level of design excellence for public buildings and spaces. 

Victor Dover, principal of Dover, Kohl & Partners, is among the distinguished panel of professionals who form the program’s selection committee. The panel will review the submissions of local, national, and international designers to be considered for future work within the program.

Designers interested in the Northwest Arkansas Design Excellence Program will be able to apply through Sept. 16. The program expects to support up to three projects per year. 

You may read the foundation’s complete release, and also visithttp://www.waltonfamilyfoundation.org/design to learn more.

In Production: Video Courses on Form-Based Codes

 

Victor Dover and colleagues were in Los Angeles last week, filming an upcoming series of educational videos for the Form-Based Codes Institute (FBCI) and Planetizen.  

Victor and Joseph Kohl were co-founders of the non-profit FBCI, which started operations in 2004 and has become a leading think tank and an effective educator on reforming land-development regulations. Form-based codes are an alternative to conventional zoning; they help communities build more of the places people want (and less of what they don’t).

For more information regarding FBCI’s upcoming courses and webinars, visithttp://formbasedcodes.org/courses-webinars.

The Warehouse District Design Workshop is in Full Swing!

ReZone Albany’s Warehouse District Design Workshop is in full swing. Beginning Tuesday, the workshop opened with a presentation and guided questions to foster community ideas on what the area can become, drawing from examples of renaissance occurring in similar industrial-type areas.

Working closely with Clarion, Dover-Kohl is helping lead this event, and the team is making substantial progress. Throughout the Open Design Studio, held yesterday and continuing today, the community has been stopping by and holding discussions with the planners, and seeing how the potential for change is being materialized through engaging illustrations that capture and further advance this new vision.

“This is the first major public event of the ReZone Albany initiative to redraw Albany’s outdated zoning map,” said City of Albany Mayor Kathy M. Sheehan. “The public, the planning department staff, and the design consultant [are] working together to draft a vision that will responsibly build upon what already is a fast-growing neighborhood. For a positive vision to be created, and for the Warehouse District to reach its full potential, we need the community to participate.”

The workshop will conclude Friday May 29, where the Work-in-Progress presentation will describe the work that has been accomplished throughout the week by this collaborative effort between the public and design team. This is the first of likely several more future events planned that will focus on 3-5 more areas of the city as part of this initiative.   


To read more about what's been taking place during the workshop in the news, go to:

http://alloveralbany.com/archive/2015/06/01/one-early-version-of-the-next-warehouse-district#main-content
http://www.twcnews.com/nys/capital-region/news/2015/05/26/druthers-in-albanys-warehouse-district.html
http://m.timesunion.com/news/article/Albany-wants-input-this-week-on-the-warehouse-6284615.php

For more information regarding the City of Albany's rezoning and visioning efforts, visit: www.rezonealbany.com.

The Warehouse District Design Workshop Begins Today!

Beginning today May 26, Dover-Kohl is leading the Warehouse District Design Workshop, a four-day visioning, zoning, and form-based coding discussion that will inform the City’s ReZone Albany initiative. This workshop will focus on the Warehouse District, gathering input from members of the public in order to arrive at a collaborative solution, with future workshops focusing on other areas within the City of Albany. 

The rezoning and visioning effort is being led by the City of Albany’s Department of Planning, with participation by various other department, boards and commissions, and professionals comprised of responsible, well-known leaders in the community to ensure alignment with existing community and economic-development plans. 

The workshop will be held at  981 Broadway Albany, NY, 12207; and the schedule is as follows:

For more information regarding the City of Albany's rezoning and visioning efforts, visit: www.ReZoneAlbany.com

Victor Dover to Serve as Moderator for the Streetsmarts: 2015 Transportation Summit

Victor Dover will be this year's moderator for the StreetSmarts 2015 Transportation Summit. 

The summit is a regional event focused on creating safe, livable, connected, sustainable streets for people of all ages and abilities. The event allows participants to collaborate with elected officials, regional experts, and industry leaders to exchange best practices, share innovative ideas. 

Hosted by the City of Fort Lauderdale, the summit will showcase a variety of transportation influencers from multiple disciplines who will host important discussions on topics such as improving pedestrian and bicycle safety, aligning policy, stimulating behavior change, and sharing tri-county successes. 

The Streetsmarts summit will take place on Wednesday, May 20, 2015 from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. and will be held at: 

The Broward Center for the Performing Arts | Huizenga Pavilion
201 SW 5th Avenue
Fort Lauderdale, FL 33312

For more information about the event, visit: 
StreetSmarts Summit

Dover-Kohl Projects Receive CNU Charter Awards

Two projects that Dover-Kohl participated in received Charter Awards from the Congress for the New Urbanism this week.

Plan El Paso was recognized, as Michael Kelly—director of programs for Paso Del Norte Health Foundation—states, for laying “the groundwork for how to create…a healthier city and region.” Unanimously approved by the City Council in March of 2012, the Plan lead by Dover-Kohl identified new capital projects, new land development policies, a focus on Transit Oriented Development (TOD), a new Thoroughfare plan for the entire City and County, and a form-based SmartCode coding for large sections of the City. Within the first three years of the Plan’s adoption, the city built a new baseball stadium downtown, created parks and renovated public spaces, completed future land-use plans based on the SmartCode, and streamlined permitting for developers using the code. 

Code SMTX in San Marcos, Texas may be one of the very least expensive winners of the CNU Charter awards. For one day in June 2014, the City of San Marcos and Dover, Kohl & Partners, joined by The Street Plans Collaborative, helped re-envision downtown utilizing tactical urbanism—yielding low cost/high gain, long-term change. Among several creative elements employed included converting two blocks of street from one-way to two-way traffic using temporary paint; installation of a temporary two-way cycle track; an adjacent block was closed to create a farmer’s market, and creating “pop-up” parks built onto parking areas. This event kicked-off a week-long charrette by Dover, Kohl & Partners to develop a proposed form-based code. The team effectively engaged the city, the public, and transportation engineers. In the end, the City of San Marcos presented a recommendation of changes in full detail, with correct widths for sidewalks, travel lanes, and on-street parking-everything demonstrated, proven, and publicized in the SMTX project, ready for permanent implementation.

To learn more about the 2015 CNU Charter Awards and complete list of winners, visit:


http://bettercities.net/news-opinion/blogs/robert-steuteville/21569/charter-winners-build-healthier-communities-and-economie

WXXI Interviews Victor Dover for NPR's Morning Edition

While in town for the Reshaping Rochester Lecture series, Victor Dover was interviewed by Beth Adams of public radio station WXXI, for broadcast during NPR's Morning Edition. The subject: Street smarts.

Reshaping Rochester, created by Rochester's Regional Community Design Center, focuses on the efforts, strategies and successes accomplished by cities that face similar challenges to Rochester: downtown revitalization, preserving the character of neighborhoods and communities, creating mixed-use centers and walkable commercial districts, and enlisting community involvement.

Listen to the interview below: