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. 

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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.

 

Seven50 Hosts Next Generation Leaders

Seven50 took a step towards planning for the future last week, hosting an event for involved young community members in Miami. New Leaders Lean Forward: Building the Region’s Creative Class for a Next-Generation Future sought to start the conversation on what kind of growth and collaboration will be necessary for Miami and the entire South Florida region to flourish in the upcoming 50 years. Creative entrepreneurship has been exploding with the emergence of collaborative spaces and resources for start-ups, and the event showed the eagerness of the community to grow and produce. Six panelists from many prominent interest groups spoke to a passionate, involved crowd, as the event was streamed and live tweeted to great success.

Panelists

Norberto “Tito” Gil, CEO and Co-Founder, Map Your Startup

Lauren Reskin, Owner, Sweat Records

Marta Viciedo, Founding Partner at Urban Impact Lab, Chair of TrAc (Transit Action Committee)

Estrellita Sibila, Land Development Attorney, Estrellita Sibila, PA

Leah Weston, Law Student and Organizer, Emerge Miami

Moderator

Karja Hansen, President, Urban Environment League

Join the conversation at www.seven50.org & @seven50plan.

Northgate Redevelopment Moves Forward

The largest redevelopment project the City of El Paso has ever taken on is moving closer to reality. The 30 acre site in Northeast El Paso was originally a shopping center built in the 1960s that had lost its economic advantages to newer retail models. The mall complex sat vacant and unused before the city purchased it for demolition. As part of Plan El Paso, the city’s new comprehensive plan, Dover-Kohl designed a mixed-use walkable neighborhood anchored by a new transit terminal to replace the vacant structure. 

The new transit terminal will be a major stop for one of the city’s new bus rapid transit lines. The city recently received a federal grant to build the transit terminal that will make it possible to move quickly and efficiently between the new mixed-use development and Downtown El Paso. 

The city, meanwhile, is in the final stages of selecting a developer for the rest of the site following an RFP process for which three different developers submitted plans to implement the plans drawn up during Plan El Paso. The mixed-use transit-oriented development could break ground as early as next year. 

Read more about the Northgate redevelopment

Learn more about Plan El Paso

Park(ing) Day 2013

 

Dover-Kohl & Seven50 will be joining the FAU School of Urban and Regional Planning in West Palm Beach this Friday for Park(ing) Day. Park(ing) Day is a worldwide event that seeks to highlight just how much public area is preserved for the sake of automobiles. Participants claim a parking spot for a day and transform the space into a park, to show just how little is needed to make a big impact.

Join us on Friday, September 20, at 203 Clematis St. to see how easily public space can be used to service a community. 
Learn more about Park(ing) Day

Kaid Benfield's Blog: Streets as Places

Victor Dover's recent work on street design has been featured on Kaid Benfield's NRDC Blog. In a post about nurturing and strengthening the urban commons, Kaid writes:

The best streets, Victor argues, require beauty, visual decorum, and a sense of completeness that “comes in large part from the dignity of street-oriented architecture and urbanism, not from signs and reflective stripes.”

Read Kaid Benfield's Blog Post

Pre-Order Victor Dover & John Massengale's upcoming book:Street Design: The Secret to Great Cities and Towns

Plans for Veteran's Drive Move Forward

Dover, Kohl and Partners and Jaredian Design Group will present plans for the Veteran's Drive Waterfront Safety and Beautification Project in Charlotte Amalie, St. Thomas on July 16th at 5:30pm at the Grand Hotel Galleria . This meeting has been spearheaded by the Government of the Virgin Islands and Department of Public Works, in partnership with the St. Thomas Chamber of Commerce and Downtown Revitalization, Inc. The work is a continuation of The Town's Blueprint planning effort, a vision for preservation and revitalization of the historic town established by the community through a charrette planning process led by the Dover, Kohl & Partners team.

Learn more about The Town's Blueprint

Seven50 Summit - The Future in Focus

Summit 3 "The Future in Focus" was held June 19-21 at the West Palm Beach Convention Center and included 500+ participants. The Summit was a major event for the Seven50 Regional Prosperity Plan for Southeast Florida headed by Dover, Kohl & Partners working with Duany, Plater-Zyberk; HDR Engineering; Rutgers University, Cardno Entrix and others. Marcela Camblor-Cutsaimanis moderated the discussion panels which included regional leaders in agriculture, ports and airports, social equity and opportunity, and education. Victor Dover presented possible headlines from the future, the many online tools available at the project website, and next steps for the process.

Join the conversation at www.seven50.org & @seven50plan.