Dover-Kohl Projects Receive CNU Charter Awards

Three projects that Dover-Kohl was involved in received Charter Awards from the Congress for the New Urbanism this week.

The Columbia Pike Initiative won the "Best Corridor Plan" Award for its ongoing transformation of a  suburban strip corridor into a multi-story, mixed-use, mixed-income neighborhood. Dover Kohl led an intensive public charrette process that resulted in the adoption of a plan and form-based code in 2003. For the first time in 40 years, mixed-use developments were built, sidewalks were widened, and pedestrian-friendly lighting was installed. In 2011 Dover-Kohl led a follow-up charrette focusing on the multi-family residential portions of the corridor with a special focus on affordability. The result is a comprehensive vision that promotes new infill development as part of a walkable, transit-oriented community, while ensuring the continued availability of affordable housing.

The Curridabat Master Plan won the "Best City Plan" Award for a plan that sets the pace for a Latin-American adoption of CNU Charter Principles. Dover-Kohl collaborated with lead firm Castillo Arquitectos to produce a vision for a reimagined city focused on urbanism and walkability, and resulting in the adoption of the first Form-Based Code in Costa Rica.

Jean Lafitte Tomorrow won a "Special Jury Award" for its locally-driven resiliency plan for this low-lying Gulf Coast community. The Dover-Kohl led plan for Jean Lafitte recommends the slow retreat to the heart-of-town by facilitating the voluntary relocation of residents from indefensible, low-lying areas into more compact, walkable, mixed-use communities with enough investment to warrant reinforcement. The plan was adopted unanimously in 2013 and played a key role in getting Jean Lafitte's proposed levee added to the Louisiana Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority's Coastal Master Plan.

See the full list of 2014 CNU Charter Award Winners

Dover-Kohl Presenting at CNU22


CNU 22: The Resilient Community is taking place in Buffalo, New York this week from June 4-7 and Dover-Kohl is excited to be a part of it. The annual Congress for the New Urbanism is the leading venue for new urbanist education, collaboration, and networking. CNU members come from around the world to discuss development practices and public policies, learn from recent innovative work, and advance new initiatives to transform our communities.

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Dover Kohl Begins Planning for a New District in Oklahoma City

Dover, Kohl & Partners has started working with Humphreys Company to plan Wheeler District. The site is 130 acres and is it located on the south side of the Oklahoma River on Western Avenue just a mile from the center of the city. The charrette is scheduled for July 9 through 16, 2014. More information is available atWheelerDistrict.com. This is a community that will grow over time and become one of Oklahoma City's great urban neighborhoods.

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Siloam Springs Downtown & Connectivity Master Plan

Dover-Kohl has just returned from a week long charrette in Siloam Springs, Arkansas. Team members worked with citizen planners to define a vision for the future of the City. Making downtown more walkable, bikeable and better connected to local destinations was a priority throughout the week. At the interactive kick-off event on Monday, March 31, members of the community identified opportunities and challenges in the downtown. The candid dialogue continued throughout the week in the Open Design Studio. Each person that visited the studio contributed valuable information. 

The charrette concluded with a work-in-progress presentation that demonstrated consensus within the community on strategies for completing road diets that increase on-street parking and sidewalk dining, implementing bicycle infrastructure, and fostering a memorable, livable City.

For more information click here

East Lansing Charrette Builds on Vision for BRT

Last week, Dover-Kohl participated in a weeklong charrette in East Lansing, MI to develop a plan for Bus-Rapid Transit on the Michigan Avenue / Grand River Avenue corridor. The East Lansing Charrette builds on The Capitol Corridor vision to create a better, more cohesive corridor from the Capitol to Meridian. During the Kick-off and Hands-on Design Session, over 60 community members gathered around tables to create new street sections and draw their thoughts for the area. Throughout the week designers, engineers, and planners continued the work in an open design studio which allowed people to stop by and bring new ideas to the table as well as witness the progress.

The week finished with a Work-in-Progress presentation on Sunday, March 23rd that highlighted the details of the emerging plan. The planning effort is being led by the Capital Area Transportation Authority (CATA), through Mead & Hunt; Dover, Kohl & Partners; Kimley-Horn & Associates; and Cambridge Systematics.

For more information click here

To see the article in the Lansing State Journal click here

Nestor Arguello from Dover-Kohl on Telemundo

Catch Nestor Arguello from Dover-Kohl and Celeste De Palma from the Tropical Audubon Society on Telemundo Tuesday April 8th at 6pm! 

Dover, Kohl & Partners - Town Planning, the Tropical Audubon Society and the Telemundo crew from @AlertaVerde talk about the importance of preserving the Everglades and stopping sprawl. Focus is on building a sustainable community, building up rather than out to better utilize our resources while safeguarding our natural resources.

 Click HERE for a SNEAK PEEK!

Capitol Corridor Plan Adopted by Tri-County Regional Planning Commision

On Febuary 26, 2014 The Capitol Corridor plan was presented to a formal meeting of the Tri-County Regional Planning Commision that voted to accept the report on the spot. Following a year-long process working under the leadership of the National Charrette Institute (NCI), Dover-Kohl led two 7-8 day charrettes along the Michigan Avenue / Grand River Avenue corridor that provided the opportunity for an in-depth community conversation about the future urban form of the corridor, and produced a consensus-based vision for urban design, land use, transportation, and economic development. 

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Victor Dover as Virtual Keynote Speaker for the University of Iceland

This year Victor Dover will be the "virtual" keynote speaker for Reykjavik Green Days at the University of Iceland. The lecture on "Sustainable Cities and Their Streets" is going to be beamed from a studio in Arkansas onto the big screen at Háskólatorg, with Q&A across five time zones (and no jet-travel carbon footprint). 

This event will take place on Wednesday, April 2 from 6:30pm - 7:30pm in UTC and is organized in collaboration with the Embassy of the United States in Reykjavik. Please note that this is a remote lecture from the United States.

For more information click here

The Hometown Plan for South Miami, Florida

 

In this new film, Victor Dover, Joe Kohl, Mayor Philip Stoddard and several DKP designers explain the key steps to downtown and main street revitalization based on their own success story. The Hometown Plan for the City of South Miami was initiated over 16 years ago and the plan continues to be actively implemented today. New streetscape improvements and infill buildings have created a walkable, urban downtown.

Click here to watch the video and learn more about The Hometown Plan