Leading “emerging trails” tours for NACTO

The Baywalk along downtown Miami’s shoreline is emerging, one segment at a time, as the adjacent properties are redeveloped. The public access to the waterfront is the result of 40 years of patience and diligent public policy.

The National Association of City Transportation Officials (NACTO) held their annual Designing Cities conference in Miami, May 7-10, 2024. The event attracted over 1000 transportation experts, decisionmakers and advocates from all over the country. Our Dover-Kohl team (including Kenneth García, Victor Dover, Kessie Estil, and Pablo Dueñas) led two NACTO tours on scooters and bikes. The four-mile tours examined downtown Miami’s emerging trails network, including the Baywalk, the Riverwalk / Miami River Greenway, and the Underline.

NACTO conferences are unique in that more than 40% of the program is held in the field, touring real-world challenges and solutions. The Riverwalk and Baywalk were perfect subjects; segments are gradually filling in and connecting, more than 40 years after the idea was officially adopted. Meanwhile the Underline is being rapidly completed and has become Miami-Dade’s signature urban trail and linear park (and, as the Friends of the Underline put it, a “living art destination”).

Victor Dover explains the history of Miami’s settlement, the Riverwalk, and the Miami River Greenway

The group had many questions for Masi Faroqui, head of community outreach for Friends of the Underline

Bikes, e-bikes, and Bird scooters! Special thanks to Bike Walk Coral Gables and Enrique Nunez for assisting!

NACTO is considered the most forward-thinking of professional organizations in the transportation field, because they bring an urban, livable-communities perspective to street design. (Many county and state transportation officials, and their professional associations, have long seemed to apply a high-speed, car-only, rural/suburban mindset to city streets. In recent years, NACTO has fought back against the one-size-fits-all approach for which the state and county agencies are notorious.)

The route included Bayfront Park, the Miami River, the Brickell neighborhood and its transit station, the newest section of the Underline, and recently completed paths along Biscayne Bay.

This was the twelfth time NACTO has convened such a gathering, and the first time in the southeast United States. Miami-Dade County’s Department of Transportation and Public Works hosted the event. #NACTO2024

Talking about streets on Carie Penabad’s "On Cities" podcast

Professor Carie Penabad hosts the weekly podcast On Cities

On March 22, 2024, architect and professor Carie Penabad interviewed Victor Dover for her weekly podcast On Cities. The theme of the conversation was that there’s so much we can learn from the streets built in our past that is still relevant for the streets (and cities) we need to build today. Somehow, in under an hour, Victor talked with Carie about lessons learned from streets in Hickory Grove, Charlotte, Blacksburg, London, Dublin, Miami, Alexandria, Washington, Shanghai, Los Angeles, Coral Gables, New York, South Miami, Beijing, Paris, West Palm Beach, Charleston, Kendall, Kingston, and from little villages, from megacities and from movies like Alfred Hitchcock’s Notorious, and from TV, including Miami Vice… Give a listen and send us your comments on the conversation.

Naturally, Church Street in Charleston came up in the conversation. Photo by Victor Dover

The in-depth conversations on Carie’s show explore the many ways the designed world affects our daily lives.  Thought leaders from wide-ranging professions talk with her about modern challenges in the built environment and innovative responses to them, covering climate change, housing, infrastructure, art, public policy and much more. 

VoiceAmerica Talk Radio Network is the leading producer, distributor, and online broadcaster of original live and on-demand talk radio programming worldwide. Tune in each Friday for On Cities at 11:00 AM EST, 8:00 PST on the Voice America Channel; and find all previous episodes on Spotify, Apple iTunes or your favorite podcast platform.

Seaside Prize honors South Florida urban visionaries Dover and Kohl

The Seaside Prize is symbolized by a bronze map key, in an exquisite wood enclosure crafted by E.F. San Juan

CORAL GABLES, FLORIDA - Victor Dover and Joseph Kohl, the founders of the town planning firm Dover, Kohl & Partners, have spent their careers spurring the revival of traditional neighborhoods, walkable streets, preservation of livable communities, and conservation of our natural environment.

A canal scene, one of the Dover-Kohl designs at I’On

On February 3rd, 2024, their commitment to better cities and towns was honored with the 30th Annual Seaside Prize. The award is named after Seaside, a celebrated Florida town built on traditional neighborhood principles. Seaside’s renown prompted the creation of the Seaside Institute, a driving force for the New Urbanism movement. New Urbanism prioritizes building sustainable places people love, where they can get to know their neighbors, drive less, and live fuller lives. The Seaside Prize was initiated by Robert Davis in 1993 and is awarded annually. According to the Institute, “The Seaside Prize recognizes individuals and organizations who, through design, have changed the way we live. Prize winners are thought innovators in concepts, quality, and character of their industry and considered leaders of contemporary urban development and education, who have made their vision a reality; and ultimately our lives better.”

The Prize has honored a line of towering figures in urban design and architecture that includes Jane Jacobs, Léon Krier, Aldo Rossi and Robert A.M. Stern. Now two thinkers from Coral Gables are part of this esteemed circle.

To commemorate the occasion, Seaside Institute hosted a sold-out “Prize Weekend” celebration with guest speakers, tours, and discussions, leading up to the award ceremony. In addition, dozens of current and former collaborators at the Dover-Kohl office joined in an online reunion to share their stories

Dover & Kohl in their South Miami office in the early 1990s

Dover and Kohl with Robert Davis at the Seaside Prize ceremony, 2024

Collaborators, Leaders, Educators

Dover and Kohl, as urban designers, town planners, and futurists, have been bringing new life to traditional towns, addressing suburban sprawl, and reforming regulations through their firm since 1987. Their connection traces back to their undergraduate years studying architecture in the early 1980s, where they cultivated a passion for innovative visual media experiments and “architecture at the scale of the community, not just the building.” The collaborators were awarded the John Nolen Medal in 2010 for contributions to urbanism, and, more recently, recognized as Fellows of the Congress for New Urbanism (CNU). Dover and Kohl were participants in the very first CNU Congress in 1993, signatories of the Charter of the New Urbanism, and advisors for the curriculum of the National Charrette Institute.

Park Avenue in Winter Park, as reconfigured by Dover, Kohl & Partners. Photo by Jay Hood

Dover lectures widely, and is co-author of Street Design: The Secret to Great Cities and Towns, widely acclaimed as the leading textbook in the field. He has enriched the conversation on urban development through his short film series, Town Planning Stuff Everyone Should Know. He is an adjunct faculty member in urban design and real estate development at the University of Miami. Dover wrote the essay on Streets in the Charter of the New Urbanism book. Known for persistence and challenging the status quo, Dover was nicknamed “the Michael Jordan of urban planning” by business leader Quint Studer. Dover has served as president of the Parks Foundation of Miami-Dade, president of the Rotary Club of South Miami, and a board member of Tropical Audubon Society. As a former triathlete, Dover was a five-time Ironman finisher; today he is likely to be found leading long walks and bike tours to size up conditions in the towns where his team is working. He’s known for admonishing the team to “start with the green parts,” that is, to begin the design with the parks, squares and tree-lined streets, and let these public spaces shape the private real estate prospects.

Kohl helped pioneer “before-and-after” computer imaging that has since become mainstream in city planning. Joe's passion and dedication to detail shows in everything he does, from acting as business manager, code writer, parks planner, housing designer, urban history enthusiast, illustrator, computer modeler, genealogist, or antique furniture collector. He is a leader in site design and redevelopment planning. He is recognized for organizing and leading effective “designing in public” events, working alongside community members with an ear for listening and a patience for finding workable solutions.. Co-founding the Form-Based Codes Institute with Dover and a handful of colleagues, he has served on its board of directors for more than two decades. Recently, Joe attracted national attention for a COVID-era passion project: his plan for Seleneca, a future settlement on the moon; it wasn't just a way to challenge his passion for drawing, but was also an outlet for creative writing. Reflecting on his diverse roles, Kohl said, "There’s nothing quite like watching people take pride in their communities, implementing positive change." 

The Wheeler District, a new neighborhood in Oklahoma City designed by Dover, Kohl & Partners

Impact on South Florida

The Dover, Kohl & Partners team has had lasting impacts on our region. That history played a pivotal role in being selected for the prestigious Seaside Institute honor.

After Hurricane Andrew hit Florida in 1992, the firm orchestrated South Miami’s revitalization by conducting an extraordinarily public planning process, swiftly rewriting land development regulations and implementing street redesigns. The results have included transit-oriented development, rescues of historic structures, neighborhood revival, and walkability upgrades in the heart of town. That plan catalyzed a series of improvements such as the reconstruction of the outdoor scene along Dorn Avenue, now known as the social center of the downtown. “It’s hard to remember, but outdoor dining was actually prohibited by law in South Miami at the time,” Dover said. “We went from boarded-up buildings and $6 per square foot rents to white tablecloth restaurants and $65 per square foot rents, and then more, in just a handful of years.”

The South Miami success story inspired the creation of the Downtown Kendall Master Plan and Code. When ChamberSouth executives first referred to the greater Dadeland Mall / Datran area in the late 1990s as “Downtown Kendall,” heads turned. The plan was created when the area had very little housing, and no walkable places, despite the nearby retail offerings, workplaces, and two Metrorail stations. Following the creative plan, about 10,000 much-needed dwellings have been newly developed in Downtown Kendall, all within proximity to transit and in a walkable neighborhood—no small feat in a region struggling with both housing scarcity and epic traffic congestion. Transit ridership at the two stations has since surged.

Guiding initiatives such as the Ludlam Trail, Dover and Kohl continue to elevate Miami-Dade County. Their plans for transforming 5.6 miles on a former railroad right-of-way into a dynamic linear park and trail system are now funded and construction is slated to begin in 2025. Ludlam Trail will unite schools, parks, residences, shopping areas, places of employment, and transit stops via a world-class trail tailored for safe walking, running, and bicycling. Dover and Kohl are also actively engaged in the Commodore Trail master plan, helping the City of Miami and Friends of the Commodore Trail realize a long-sought five-mile pathway linking Coral Gables and Coconut Grove to the Brickell area. Once fully implemented, the Commodore Trail will secure a nonmotorized connection from the Old Cutler Trail in the south to the Rickenbacker Trail and the Underline in the north.

Pilot project: A “Gables Greenways” temporary cycle track

In Coral Gables, Dover, Kohl Partners contributed to the City’s multimodal transportation plan and the “Gables Greenways” pilot program for combining traffic calming, tree planting and beautification with much-needed bike infrastructure. The firm also produced the innovative design code that governs redevelopment in the Plaza area and conceived dramatic makeovers that have been carried out on the surrounding streets.

The dramatic makeover of Clematis Street in West Palm Beach

In West Palm Beach, Dover, Kohl & Partners produced the award-winning redesign for Clematis Street, the downtown main street. Clematis Street is held up as a national model for its flexible, curbless, slow-speed design.

Another landmark project of the firm is the regional blueprint for the seven counties of Southeast Florida over the next fifty years, popularly known as the “Seven50” plan. Dover, Kohl & Partners organized an extensive public process to create the plan, involving thousands of participants. That undertaking was one of the largest regional planning efforts in modern American history, emphasizing transit-oriented development, resilience, and adaptation to sea level rise and other effects of climate change. The return of passenger rail to the Florida East Coast Railway corridor, the S.M.A.R.T. plan for transit, and regional cooperation on climate were all inspired and accelerated by Seven50.

Above: Images from South Main. Members of the Dover-Kohl team examine a new street with developer Jed Selby. [L-R: Jed Selby, Pam Stacy King, James Dougherty, Robin Crowder, Mike Mayer, Mari Chael, Josh Frank, Buz Selby, Brandon Boudreaux]

National Prominence

By the 1990s, the duo of Dover and Kohl had established a respected national practice. They have consulted on and designed plans in 30 states, the Caribbean, Europe, Asia, Central America, and Australia. The projects have ranged in scale from the redevelopment of a handful of city blocks to regional plans that cover thousands of square miles. Well-known examples include the new neighborhoods of I’On in Mount Pleasant, South Carolina, South Main in Buena Vista, Colorado, Southside and the Bend in Chattanooga, Tennessee, and Glenwood Park in Atlanta, Georgia; and the downtown plans for Richmond, Virginia, Montgomery, Alabama, and Oakland, California. Collaborating with DK&P project directors and principals, Dover and Kohl have recently worked on the detailed vision for removing Interstate 81 through downtown Syracuse, New York, restoring its community grid; post-hurricane recovery plans for Panama City, Florida and St. John in the US Virgin Islands, and a complete reform of the citywide development regulations for Kingston, New York.

After completing over 500 projects across the country and abroad, Joe and Victor aren’t slowing down. Reflecting on the Seaside Prize, Joe said, “We don’t see it as a lifetime achievement award. It has echoes of that, but we will keep doing what we have been doing. I plan to expire leaning over a map, coloring an illustrative plan.” Victor added, “We’re just getting started.”

Design Stories: Victor Dover & Joe Kohl

Last month, our founders Victor Dover and Joseph Kohl were awarded the Seaside Prize for 2024. At the sold-out, weekend-long Symposium held by the Seaside Institute to commemorate the Prize, Victor & Joe shared some of their adventures and insights, plus a sneak preview of the upcoming 2nd edition of Street Design: The Secret to Great Cities and Towns.  Watch the video here.

Joseph Kohl and Victor Dover talk with the Seaside Prize Weekend attendees

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Podcast: Victor Dover & Joseph Kohl on past, present & future

Joseph and Victor at Lee’s wedding, November 2023

To mark the upcoming occasion of the Seaside Prize Weekend, the Seaside Institute director Christy Milliken brought Joe and Victor into a wide-ranging conversation about the origins of the firm, the ideas that have fueled the work, and even a bit of Star Trek. Listen to the podcast here, or on Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts: https://sites.libsyn.com/444042/a-conversation-with-victor-dover-and-joseph-kohl

Focused on the future: The Dover-Kohl team seen in 2012, climbing ladders to draw an enormous, wall-sized map of Southeast Florida in 2060

From Seaside Institute:

“Victor and Joe will be recognized as the 2024 SEASIDE Prize™ recipients.  The Seaside Prize recognizes individuals and organizations who, through design, have changed the way we live. Prize winners are thought innovators in concepts, quality, and character of their industry and considered leaders of contemporary urban development and education, who have made their vision a reality; and ultimately our lives better.

Recipients of the Prize influence how towns and cities are built. They challenge our thinking about promoting diversity, walk ability, sustainability, livability and quality of life. From young to old, where we live is at the core of how we live.”

Promotions to Principal Leadership Roles

Since 1987, Dover, Kohl & Partners Town Planning has been dedicated to creating healthier and more sustainable communities everywhere, a journey made possible through the combined efforts of our exceptional team. We are delighted to announce the promotions of Pamela Stacy King, Kenneth García, and Kristen Thomas, to Principal leadership roles. These individuals, now part of the company’s board of directors, have been entrusted with new responsibilities of guiding the strategic direction of the firm.

 Pamela Stacy King joined our team as an intern in 2006 and progressed to the role of studio director. Pam is CNU accredited. For the past six years, she has served as Studio Director.  " I look forward to continuing my journey and helping to make more communities across the country become their own exciting vision of the future, " remarked Pamela Stacy King.

 Kenneth García joined Dover, Kohl & Partners as a town planner in 2007, and has earned accreditation from AICP and CNU. His proficiency in design and visualization combines with his deep knowledge about street design; in 2017 he rose to the role of Studio Design Lead. "I feel incredibly grateful for the opportunity to work on meaningful projects, creating places where people want to be, and improving people's lives through design - especially for those walking and biking," expressed Kenneth García.

 Since Kristen Thomas first began her journey as Dover-Kohl’s office manager in 1996, her attention to detail has played a pivotal role in the firm.  "I am looking forward to continue to build strong relationships with my colleagues and working together toward our common goals.”

 Please join Dover, Kohl & Partners in congratulating Pam, Kenneth, and Kristen on their well-deserved promotions. Their contributions are integral to the success of our firm, and we look forward to the continued growth and impact they will bring in their new leadership roles.

Experiments: 3D Printing for Urbanism

The DK&P studio has integrated 3D printing into our practice. In this Q&A with our communications intern Hannah Kosoff, Roland Stafford shares his experience crafting a giant study model of the neighborhood surrounding our office. Roland is an architecture student at the University of Miami and an intern at Dover, Kohl & Partners. He sheds light on the 3D printer’s implications when applied at the urban scale. 

The South Miami model is a combination of projects, plans, and urban design ideas for downtown that have been curated since 1992. Leading the effort that resulted in the Hometown Plan and an innovative form-based code. That plan led to the narrowing of roadways Dorn Avenue and Sunset Drive, to reclaim space for walking and dining; these were among the first such “road diets” in Florida.

The 3D buildings are separately movable, so they can be rearranged on the metal blueprint base.  This provides a quick way to understand the public spaces and the private developments that give form to those spaces.

Recognition for Service to America's Parks Movement

Handmade mosaic plaque presented at NRPA’s national conference, October 2023

“Start with the green parts,” Victor Dover is always telling the DK&P team as they work on plans, whether for a single neighborhood or a whole city. He advocates for reuniting parks planning, city planning and urban design. At the local level, Victor was on the board of the Parks Foundation of Miami-Dade for many years, ultimately serving as its President. This week, he wraps up a key phase of service to the parks movement at the national level as a member of the National Recreation & Parks Association board of directors. With more than 60,000 members, NRPA is the leading not-for-profit organization dedicated to building strong, vibrant and resilient communities through the power of parks and recreation. Victor has most recently led NRPA’s Advocacy Committee, to help champion legislation expanding access to parks nationwide. He’ll continue to serve on the committee, pushing Congress to enact the Outdoors for All act.

Watch this one-minute video about Outdoors for All.

Victor was honored by NRPA yesterday with a handmade, one-of-a-kind mosaic tile plaque. Presenting the plaque, fellow board member Jose Felix Diaz made these remarks:

“When [former NRPA board chair] Jack Kardys first identified Victor Dover for the NRPA board, he knew that he was recruiting a savvy advocate for parks and public space, who knew how to bring together people from all walks of life; elected officials, government agencies, private developers, and civic advocates, to name but a few.

If you have worked with Victor, you know that he always gets the facts, he listens to everyone’s point of view, and he can guide a group to consensus and action plans so skillfully that everyone thinks it was a completely natural process.

By now, we have all seen Victor in action, working to advance parks at every level, through his professional work and through his role at NRPA-- writing op-ed pieces, stepping up to chair the Advocacy Committee, and bringing his full heart, soul and mind to the table every single time.

We, his fellow board members, have benefited from his generosity, his experience, his wise and calm counsel, even his example for those of us willing to follow his lead and cycle a new path or trail, and to create one where none previously existed.

And this might be most important of all. Where other people see a blank wall, Victor creates a door; he is all about seeing possibilities and making possibilities realities.

So even as he leaves the board, we know that he will stay close to the NRPA and we thank him for giving us his door building hardware to carry on!”

To hear Victor Dover speak about the importance of Parks, Greenways and Blueways, watch this short episode of Town Planning Stuff Everyone Needs to Know.

City of Kingston unanimously approves citywide form-based code

Kingston Forward signing ceremony. Photo credit: City of Kingston

Last July, the City of Kingston, NY declared a housing emergency to help combat housing unaffordability. Last night, Kingston’s Common Council took a definitive step in addressing the limited housing stock by voting 7-0 to approve Kingston Forward, a new, citywide Form-Based Code drafted by Dover, Kohl & Partners to replace its outdated Euclidean zoning ordinance adopted in the 1960’s. The old code applied suburban standards to its treasured historic neighborhoods, paving the way for continued disinvestment in the city’s urban core and the degradation of the community’s naturally-occurring affordable housing stock.

By removing barriers to historic development patterns and building types in the city, the community is able to bring housing back online that may otherwise have been underutilized. Minimum lot sizes, parking requirements, suburban setbacks, etc. were all removed to support neighborhood-scale infill. ADU’s are now allowed citywide, as are “missing middle” building types like duplexes, triplexes, rowhomes, live/work units, and cottage courts. Neighborhood corner stores are now allowed within ¼ mile of almost all Kingston residents. Conserved lands, floodplains, steep slopes and other sensitive habitats are protected in accordance with the Kingston Open Space plan. DK&P is thrilled to see this level of community support behind efforts to increase access to affordable housing, historic preservation, and resilient urbanism.