Smart City: Dover among international sustainability awardees

September 23, 2024 — Victor Dover, president of Dover, Kohl & Partners Town Planning, was recognized for innovation in sustainable, “smart” urban planning by Smart Cities Americas, organizers of the recurring Smart City Expo events. He was among an international group of six awardees who received “Who’s Who in Sustainability” plaques in a ceremony at Miami-Dade College in downtown Miami. In addition to the in-person audience, the fifth annual event was streamed to more than 7000 registrants from 89 countries worldwide.

In his address to the Smart City Expo attendees, Dover spoke about the importance of human factors and making places that reach people emotionally, amid all the enthusiasm for technology in forward-thinking cities. He showed examples of integrating timeless, low-tech design traditions with street redesigns, advising the group that “We don’t to invent some magical technological wonder to achieve smart cities. We already know how to do it. That’s because we have a superpower. That superpower is the power of precedent. Humans have thousands of years of combined experience with making streets, for instance. It’s our inheritance. Streets are sometimes said to be the most lasting of human institutions, slowest to change, so many of the results of thousands of years of experimentation and refinement are still with us. That’s our textbook.”

Dover said, “Electrification, autonomous animation, car-sharing apps, and more gadgets will all be great, but they will not save us from the fundamental problems, that cars take too much space—whether we are driving them or parking them—and in America, we rely on driving alone too much.” He previewed images from the revised, expanded edition of Street Design: The Secret to Great Cities and Towns, due out in February, and now available for pre-order. (The pre-sale discount code ARC20 is valid for 20% off the list price.)

In their recap of the day, Smart City Expo organizers added: “The discussions throughout the day emphasized the shifting meaning of a “smart city.” Dr. Bruno Lanvin from the Smart City Observatory in Lausanne highlighted the importance of flexibility in defining success. “There’s more than one way to be smart,” he said. “The most successful cities integrate technology without making it too visible. It’s about using tech to solve real problems, not just showcasing it.” Lanvin also emphasized that human-centricity is key: “Our future is largely tied to cities, and the smartest cities will be those that focus on attracting and retaining talent while being inclusive and sustainable.”

Awardees with Smart City Expo organizer Bernardo Schenkman

In addition to Victor Dover, the international group of awardees included:

• Dr. Patricia McCarney, president and CEO of the World Council on City Data, for her work on sustainable smart standards (Toronto)

• Dr. Jonathan Reichental, CEO of Human Future, for his outstanding performance in sustainable smart education (Silicon Valley)

• Mashcal, the organization that provides logistical and project management services to all local authorities in Israel, for their work as a sustainable smart hub (Tel Aviv)

• Dr. Bruno Lanvin, president of the Smart City Observatory, for his development of the sustainable Smart City Index (Lausanne)

• Dr. Thomas Spiegelhalter – architect, engineer, urban planner, and Florida International University professor – for his research into sustainable smart environments (Miami, Berlin)

 #SCEM24

Two Major Awards for Kingston Code

In 2023, city leaders in Kingston, New York unanimously voted to replace their 1960s-era zoning with a new, citywide, form-based-code. Dover, Kohl & Partners led the Kingston Forward initiative, devising the new code in an interactive public process. This month Kingston’s bold undertaking was recognized with two major planning awards.

Charter Award

The Congress for the New Urbanism honored the Kingston code at the CNU 32 Charter Awards ceremony in Cincinnati. The Charter Awards are considered the highest honor in urban design. Project director Amy Groves, a Dover, Kohl & Partners principal who has been with the firm since 2002, said, "Kingston is using code reform to help meet City goals for increasing housing options, building sustainably, and preserving its historic core. It is a great example for cities across the country."

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Kingston is an extraordinary, historic place, deserving of the best design and thoughtful development.

CNU wrote: “For the 24th year, CNU's Charter Awards recognized outstanding achievements in architectural, landscape, and urban design and planning worldwide. Regarded as the preeminent award for excellence in urban design, the CNU Charter Awards honor a select number of winners. Winning projects represent major contributions to building more equitable, sustainable, connected, healthy, and prosperous communities.”

Dover, Kohl & Partners was joined in the Kingston Forward effort by Laberge Group, who spearheaded the GEIS; the Pace University Land Use Law Center, who helped integrate the code into Kingston’s legal system; Hall Planning & Engineering, who supervised the multimodal street design standards; and Gridics, who implemented an innovative online code platform.

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Kingston’s new code was the result of an extensive, interactive public process.

Form-based codes have been recognized as one of the “25 Great Ideas of the New Urbanism.” Victor Dover and Joseph Kohl were among the founders of the Form-Based Codes Institute (FBCI). Victor, Joe, Amy and others from DK&P have served as FBCI faculty. Robert Steuteville commented, “Kingston Forward takes the art and communication of a form-based code to a new level.”

The new code is tied to a street-based, transect-based plan for the city, enabling new development to fit the historic pattern without needless variances. The code legalized mixed use and “gently denser” development, repealed minimum parking requirements, legalized accessory dwellings citywide, and lowered the barriers to affordability.

Conference of Mayors Achievement Award

In May, Kingston Forward was also selected for the 2024 Local Government Achievement Award given by the New York State Conference of Mayors. “This community-led initiative will really change how and where new development is created in Kingston, and we believe this is much more equitable and sustainable,” said Mayor Steven Noble. “We are already starting to see new projects that create much-needed housing, especially the crucial ʻmissing middle,ʼ and affordable development.”

Charrette sketch showing how to repair the effects of 1960s “urban renewal” projects and restore the form of the town

Olmsted Network shines national spotlight on "Lake Wales Envisioned"

Last year, Lake Wales scored two headlines on the same day: One lauded LW for reconnecting to its Olmsted roots (for the #LakeWalesConnected downtown plan). The other screamed that "one of the most imperiled Olmsted legacy landscapes faces new threats" (from ill-conceived sprawl). The followup #LakeWalesEnvisioned initiative is about getting the city’s big picture for future growth (and its form) back on track. Yesterday, I got to introduce #LakeWalesEnvisioned to the national audience of the Olmsted Network as part of their "Conversations with Olmsted" series! My short presentation begins at about 9:00 min in the video. —Victor

Downtown: Shared by All (TPS Ep. 6)

Episode 6 of “Town Planning Stuff Everyone Needs to Know” is about downtowns, and it posts 5/18/2020 on our YouTube channel.

Have you ever stopped to think about which neighborhood is the most important one in your city?

The thing about a downtown is, it’s everybody’s. No matter where you live in a town, if your town’s downtown neighborhood is doing well you probably have a sense of shared ownership and pride in that place. 

When a town grows to the size of several adjoining neighborhoods, it will start to need (and deserve) some things that most individual neighborhoods can’t support all by themselves, like a larger central gathering place, or a Main Street, and seats for the most important shared civic institutions, like City Hall. In healthy cities these are almost always found among workplaces and housing and lodging and places to shop and eat in the downtown neighborhood or center.

When they’re allowed to, downtowns naturally evolve to become mixed-use, mixed-income, multi-modal precincts. Jane Jacobs put it this way:

“The [downtown], and indeed as many of its internal parts as possible, must serve more than one primary function; preferably more than two. These must insure the presence of people who go outdoors on different schedules and are in the place for different purposes, but who are able to use many facilities in common.”

“The Need for Mixed Primary Uses,” from The Death and Life of Great American Cities

Variety, planned on purpose, like you mean it

The wide variety in neighborhoods and building types within the core of a traditional city ultimately provides opportunities for people of all ages, backgrounds, cultures and income levels to live and work together. In contrast to suburban development, which generally offers only the single-family detached home, traditional cities offer a range of housing options, including single-family homes on smaller lots, rowhouses, garden apartments, the loft conversions that are transforming many former industrial districts, and, in some cases, midrise and highrise options for the people Frank Lloyd Wright once called “cliff dwellers.” Each of these housing types is located within mixed-use blocks, allowing for residents to meet their daily needs and conveniences in a dynamic urban neighborhood. As centers of commerce and trade, downtowns also provide an incredible variety of employment opportunities. With a city’s commercial and residential life follows cultural facilities and retail establishments. Young professionals, CEOs, students, doctors, government officials, shopkeepers, retirees, and families alike can all find their place in the heart of the city, due to the incredible diversity of jobs, housing types, cultural amenities, and (hopefully) varied means of transportation. This incredible range of land uses, housing types, employment, and income levels within a traditional urban fabric provides the freedom of choice, a privilege not afforded to residents of mono-functional suburbs.

Renaissance underway (but there is a catch)

Downtowns, even the ones that fell into decline 40 or 50 years ago, are naturally set up to once again become places where people want to be. But they need tender loving care. You must not force suburban zoning or parking requirements or street designs on your downtown, and if that’s happened already, your city is not alone, but it can join the ranks of the cities that have begun reversing the process.

The good news is, Americans have rediscovered their downtowns, in small villages, medium-sized towns, and big cities. According to Walkable Urbanism author Christopher Leinberger, half our downtowns are already revitalizing, and the other half soon will be. Your downtown is the most important neighborhood in your city, shared by all. And that’s #6 on my list of the Town Planning Stuff Everyone Should Know.

For more information, subscribe to the Dover Kohl YouTube channel, and also read up on the Main Street program of the National Trust for Historic Preservation. —Victor

P.S. Next week: Episode 7, Mixed Land Uses

"Connect the Dots" virtual lecture draws huge audience

On May 4, 2020, Victor Dover delivered a “virtual lecture” for the Civic Conversations series, hosted by the Pensacola News-Journal and the Studer Community Institute. Quint Studer introduced Victor as “the Michael Jordan of urban planning” at the start of this extraordinary event, streamed live for an estimated 6000 viewers. The talk features an in-depth discussion of what makes housing expensive, and what to do about it, including how the costs of housing and transportation must be considered as a composite number, and examples of innovation from around the United States. The event concluded with a live Zoom Q&A moderated by Lisa Nellessen-Savage, executive editor of the PNJ.