What Dyett & Bhatia does

Dyett & Bhatia (D&B) is a privately-held boutique urban planning consulting firm incorporated in 1975 and headquartered in Oakland, California. The firm provides professional planning services — including general plans, specific plans, zoning ordinances, environmental impact reports, climate action plans, and community engagement processes — to California municipal governments and select western US state and regional agencies. D&B has prepared general plans for more than 70 California cities over the past 25 years (20 in the last 10) and has completed more than 40 general plan Environmental Impact Reports. Service delivery relies on a multidisciplinary staff of approximately 25 professionals with backgrounds in urban and regional planning, urban design, zoning, environmental planning, urban economics, public health, architecture, graphic design, and GIS/cartography.

The firm's technical platform is built on GIS, three-dimensional computer modeling, computer-aided visualization, and proprietary methodologies for environmental justice analysis, public health element development, and climate action planning integration — including a NASA partnership for urban heat island effect evaluation. D&B generates revenue through project-based professional services fees earned via RFP processes from municipal clients. Its go-to-market is enterprise field sales targeting city and county planning departments directly, supported by industry award recognition (40+ major awards including 35+ from the American Planning Association) as a credibility credential. Key principals include Rajeev Bhatia (Board Chair), Andrew Hill (CEO), Michael Dyett (Consulting Principal, FAICP), and Alison Moore (Associate Principal). The firm is independently owned by its partners with no external investors, parent company, or subsidiaries.

Name

Dyett & Bhatia

Legal name

Dyett & Bhatia

Website

https://dyettandbhatia.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

1975

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Dyett & Bhatia is a privately-held boutique urban planning consulting firm, founded in 1975 and headquartered in Oakland, California, providing general plans, zoning, environmental review, and community engagement services to California municipal governments and select western US state agencies.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Headquarters

HQ city

Oakland

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Urban Planning Consulting Services: Project-based professional services fees for urban planning consulting. Services include general plans, specific plans, environmental review, zoning, and community engagement for government clients. Revenue is generated through awarded contracts, typically via RFP processes from municipal clients.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels4 records

Core offering

Dyett & Bhatia is a California urban planning consulting firm that prepares general plans, specific/area plans, zoning codes, environmental impact reports (EIRs), climate action plans, and community engagement programs for municipal and state government clients. The firm delivers professional planning documents as consulting deliverables rather than software products, with deep specialization in California planning law and practice.

Product overview

Dyett & Bhatia is a boutique urban planning consulting firm offering a portfolio of professional planning services rather than a unified software product. The core offerings include General Plans (comprehensive city blueprints), Specific Plans and Urban Design (area-specific development guides), Environmental Planning (EIRs and Climate Action Plans), Zoning (regulations and codes), Community Engagement (participatory planning processes), and Health, Equity, and Justice Planning. These services are delivered as consulting deliverables—reports, plans, and codes—not as software products. The firm specializes in preparing these planning documents for California cities, with recent projects including General Plan updates for Oakland, Sacramento, Napa, Carson, and others, along with specific plans for areas like Santa Rosa Downtown/Station Area and the Sonoma Developmental Center.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• General Plans Comprehensive long-range planning documents that serve as a city's blueprint for growth, development, and policy. Prepared for municipal clients as required by California state law, with D&B having prepared general plans for over 70 California cities.
• Specific Plans and Urban Design Detailed area-specific plans including station area plans, downtown plans, corridor plans, and community plans that guide development in particular districts or neighborhoods for municipal clients.
• Environmental Planning Environmental planning and assessment services including Environmental Impact Reports (EIRs) and Climate Action Plans (CAPs) that integrate planning and environmental review processes for municipal clients.
• Zoning Zoning regulations and code updates including citywide zoning regulations, form-based codes, transit-oriented zoning, and mixed-use regulations customized for each community's needs, delivered to municipal clients.
• Community Engagement Collaborative, participatory planning services using both in-person and digital engagement techniques including workshops, online surveys, interactive mapping, and multilingual outreach, delivered as a component of planning projects for government clients.
• Health, Equity, and Environmental Justice Planning Policy-based solutions for social equity, public health, and environmental justice issues integrated into general plans, including Public Health Elements, Climate Change and Resiliency strategies, and Environmental Justice Elements, delivered to municipal clients.

Quantifiable outcome

• More than 750 new residential units approved downtown or under review in Santa Rosa since Downtown Station Area Specific Plan adoption in 2020
• +3 more outcomes

Named customers10 records

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature4 records

Partnerships

Two partnerships are on record, tiered notable and core.

• National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)notableStrategic or Co-development PartnerD&B partnered with NASA to evaluate urban heat island effects and heat-related risks in Sacramento, designing interventions to mitigate heat where vulnerability is most concentrated and direct investments where they would be most effective.
• Community-Based Organizations (CBOs)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerD&B regularly collaborates with community-based organizations to ensure their local knowledge and expertise is integrated into environmental justice and planning work. CBOs facilitate grassroots community input for environmental justice elements and equity analysis.

Scale indicators5 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Raimi + Associates: Raimi + Associates is a Berkeley-based planning and sustainability consulting firm serving California municipalities on general plans, climate action plans, and environmental justice work — directly competing with Dyett & Bhatia in the same Northern California planning RFP ecosystem.
• MIG: MIG is a California-rooted planning, design, and engagement firm that delivers general plan updates, specific plans, and community engagement services to cities and counties — overlapping directly with Dyett & Bhatia's core service portfolio and California municipal client base.
• Rincon Consultants: Rincon Consultants is a California-based environmental and land use planning firm that prepares general plans, specific plans, and CEQA documents for municipal clients — a direct competitor on the environmental planning and EIR scopes that supplement Dyett & Bhatia's general plan projects.
• Environmental Science Associates (ESA): ESA is a California-headquartered environmental planning firm specializing in CEQA compliance, EIRs, and climate adaptation planning — directly competing with Dyett & Bhatia for the environmental planning and EIR component of California municipal projects.
• WRT Design: WRT Design is a planning and urban design firm delivering station area plans, downtown master plans, and specific plans for public-sector clients — comparable to Dyett & Bhatia on the urban design and specific plan scopes of municipal engagements.
• PlaceWorks: PlaceWorks is a California-based urban planning, design, and environmental consulting firm that competes head-to-head with Dyett & Bhatia for municipal general plan, specific plan, and zoning work in the same California city and county RFP pool.
• Lisa Wise Consulting: Lisa Wise Consulting is a Bay Area municipal planning consultancy that delivers general plans, specific plans, and zoning code updates to California cities — competing in the same boutique, RFP-driven planning services market as Dyett & Bhatia.

Broad incumbents

• Stantec: Stantec is a global design and consulting firm with a substantial California urban planning and environmental practice — a broad incumbent whose size and bundled service offerings compete against boutique planning firms like Dyett & Bhatia for the largest municipal comprehensive planning engagements.
• Kimley-Horn: Kimley-Horn is a national full-service engineering and planning consultancy with an active California municipal planning practice — a broad incumbent that competes with Dyett & Bhatia by offering planning bundled with engineering, transportation, and environmental capabilities under one contract.

Emerging players

• Ascent Environmental: Ascent Environmental is a Sacramento-based CEQA and climate planning consultancy serving California public agencies — a regional direct competitor on the environmental review and climate action plan scopes that often accompany Dyett & Bhatia general plan projects.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks7 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/dyett-&-bhatia

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles4 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Dyett & Bhatia