Victor Dover and co-author John Massengale have been doing a lot of traveling to talk about their recently released book Street Design: The Secret to Great Cities and Towns. Recent lectures have taken place in Delray Beach, Florida; The University of Texas at San Antonio; CNUFL in Sarasota, Florida; Florida International University in Miami, Florida; and the Savannah College of Art and Design in Savannah, Georgia.
NEW VIDEO: A recording of Victor's lecture at the Savannah College of Art and Design on February 11, 2014 is available online at the SCAD Virtual Lecture Hall
Dover-Kohl Presents at CNU Florida
Victor Dover delivered a keynote presentation last week in Sarasota at the annual meeting for the Florida Chapter of the Congress for the New Urbanism. He discussed themes from Street Design: The Secret to Great Cities and Towns, the new book that he recently co-authored with John Massengale (Wiley, 2014).
The Bridge as Public Space: Plan El Paso cited in a recent TEDx talk by Carlos Gallinar
Carlos Gallinar, El Paso’s Deputy Director for City Development and Planning, recently gave a TEDx talk about the healing and humane benefits that could be realized with a true bi-national civic space bridging the border between El Paso and Ciudad Juarez. Such a civic space was envisioned in George Kessler’s historic 1925 City Plan for El Paso. This vision was reinvigorated in Plan El Paso, the update to the City’s Comprehensive Plan produced by Dover, Kohl & Partners, and adopted in 2013.
Cocoa Beach Community Gathers for Charrette
Last week, Cocoa Beach residents attended a series of public meetings and an open design studio to imagine a future vision for the northern gateways into the City. The Plan Cocoa Beach Charrette began on January 20th with a Kick-off Presentation and Hands-on Design Session in which over 80 community members gathered around tables to draw their thoughts for the area. Throughout the week, a design studio at the Cocoa Beach Country Club allowed people to stop by and bring new ideas to the table. The draft plan focuses on the SR 520 intersection with A1A and the surrounding properties and highlights the numerous opportunities to create a memorable gateway to the City. The draft plan also envisions giving visitors a sense of arrival while building upon the Cocoa Beach character, especially with improvements to streets and parks.
Street Design Book Released to Critical Acclaim
Reviews are pouring in for Victor Dover & John Massengale's new book Street Design: The Secret to Great Cities and Towns. "Authoritative... eloquent... beautifully written... generously illustrated... magnificent..." (Better Cities & Towns) and "This book is exactly what we need at this time" (International Making Cities Livable). In the transformative, illustrated guide, the authors take a closer look at streets—both old and new—to demonstrate what works and what doesn’t. The publication features more than 150 streets with illustrations and a discussion about why they are successful and how they were created. More than 500 photos and drawings (most never before published), reveal the details behind beautiful, walkable places.
Seven50 Report Presented at Final Summit
Leaders from the seven-county region of southeast Florida gathered last week for the last in a series of four public summits held to engage a wide-ranging conversation about the future of the region.
Louisiana Governor Unveils Vision for Baton Rouge Water Campus
Governor Bobby Jindal announced at a press conference on Tuesday, December 17 that a new "Water Campus" will be built in Baton Rouge Louisiana. Dover-Kohl has been working with the Baton Rouge Area Foundation to design the 30 acre campus that will be the new home of The Water Institute of the Gulf. The campus is expected to grow into a major center for the science and research of river deltas.
Leading Experts Contributed to STREET DESIGN
To write our book STREET DESIGN: The Secret to Great Cities and Towns,John Massengale and I traveled a lot, measured and photographed streets we admired, and waged endless late-night debates about why they were successful. Meanwhile, Megan McLaughlin, Emily Glavey, and Kenneth Garcia were indefatigable researchers, combing the literature to probe the stories behind the streets in the book’s case studies. But we also received a boost from a phenomenal group of colleagues who suggested example streets, contributed photos, or pointed us in the right directions. Twenty-two of them went on to write short essays that add greatly to the diversity and depth of content in the book, and we are extremely grateful.
Street Design: The Secret to Great Cities and Towns
Victor Dover and co-author John Massengale have recently completed their compelling book, Street Design: The Secret to Great Cities and Towns (Wiley 2014). In the transformative, illustrated guide, the authors take a closer look at streets—both old and new—to demonstrate what works and what doesn’t. The publication features more than 150 streets with illustrations and a discussion about why they are successful and how they were created. More than 500 photos and drawings (most never before published), reveal the details behind beautiful, walkable places.
Street Design identifies crucial elements that many modern road designs lack and includes step-by-step instructions for designing new streets and fixing existing ones—so that they become a more desirable, more valuable part of their respective village, town or metropolis. Also included are favorite streets and street-making stories from Lèon Krier, Gianni Longo, Gabriele Tagliaventi, John Norquist, and more than a dozen other leading design experts.
Street Design: The Secret to Great Cities and Towns 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.
To pre-order a copy, visit www.amazon.com. Available in January 2014.
DKP's Regional Plan to Adapt & Mitigate to Sea Rise Highlighted
Seven50, the Plan for Southeast Florida for the next 50 years, was cited in a New York Times article entitled, "South Florida Faces Ominous Prospects From Rising Waters." The article describes the very serious challenges Southeast Florida faces in the era of sea level rise.