Duany Plater-Zyberk & Company

What Duany Plater-Zyberk & Company does

Duany Plater-Zyberk & Company (DPZ CoDesign) is a privately held partnership-style urban planning and design firm founded in 1980 by Andrés Duany and Elizabeth Plater-Zyberk and headquartered in Miami, Florida, with additional offices in Gaithersburg, Maryland (Washington, D.C. area), Portland, Oregon, and Yauco, Puerto Rico. The firm is the originator of the New Urbanism movement and co-founded the Congress for the New Urbanism in 1993; it serves municipal governments, private real estate developers, and civic/town founders across the United States, Canada, the Caribbean, Europe, the Middle East, Asia, Africa, and Australia. Its core product is professional services delivery - master planning, form-based zoning codes (notably the SmartCode), comprehensive plans, downtown revitalization, and suburban retrofit - executed primarily through the firm's signature week-long charrette process, which compresses iterative design, stakeholder feedback, and consensus-building into a single intensive engagement.

Underlying the practice are several proprietary methodologies that constitute the firm's technology platform: the Charrette Process (rapid prototyping workshop methodology), SmartCode (a form-based zoning template), Traditional Neighborhood Development (TND) zoning, the Transect (a rural-to-urban gradient framework), the Sprawl Repair Manual (suburban retrofit methodology), and Pockets of Community (climate-adaptive infill typology). The firm holds U.S. Patent No. 6,574,931 B2 for a Residential Dwelling System and Building (granted 2003). DPZ monetizes exclusively through project-based professional services fees negotiated by scope; pricing is not publicly disclosed and there is no productized software or subscription revenue stream. The firm maintains an "open source" philosophy toward its methodologies, publishing frameworks freely while monetizing the bespoke application of those frameworks through engagements. The firm has no external institutional investors, no parent company, and is owned by its founding partners and senior leadership team (including Managing Partner Galina Tachieva and partners Marina Khoury, Matthew Lambert, and Senen M.A. Antonio).

Name

Duany Plater-Zyberk & Company

Legal name

DPZ CoDesign, LLC

Website

https://dpz.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

1980

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Duany Plater-Zyberk & Company (DPZ CoDesign) is a privately held partnership-owned urban planning and design firm founded in 1980 that pioneered New Urbanism, serving municipal governments and private developers worldwide through charrette-based planning services and proprietary form-based zoning frameworks such as SmartCode and TND.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Urban Planning & Architectural Design Services

NAICS

Landscape Architectural Services (541320), Drafting Services (54134)

SIC

Services-Management Services (8741)

akta.pro primary industry

Planning, Zoning, Permitting & Code Enforcement (BPAIACAE)

akta.pro secondary industry

Construction Codes & Building Standards Publishing (MPAJACAH)

Keywords

• Urban planning services
• Form-based zoning codes
• New urbanism design
• Master planning services
• Architectural design services

Headquarters

HQ city

Miami

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices4 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

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

Revenue model

1. Planning and Urban Design Services: Project-based fees for master planning, zoning code development, community design, and urban revitalization projects for municipalities, developers, and private sector clients.

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels5 records

Core offering

DPZ CoDesign is a professional services firm that provides urban planning, architecture, and urban design services centered on the New Urbanism philosophy. The firm delivers master planning, form-based zoning codes (including SmartCode), community design charrettes, downtown revitalization, sprawl repair, new community planning, and implementation guidance to municipal governments, private developers, and civic leaders. The week-long charrette serves as the firm's primary project delivery and community engagement methodology.

Product overview

DPZ CoDesign is a professional services firm offering urban planning, architecture, and design services centered on the New Urbanism philosophy. The company provides master planning, form-based zoning codes (including the SmartCode), community design charrettes, and implementation guidance. Services include new community planning, downtown revitalization, sprawl repair, and zoning code development. The charrette—a week-long collaborative design workshop—serves as their primary project delivery methodology.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Master Planning Services Comprehensive master planning for new communities, regional plans, downtowns, campuses, and resort towns; serves municipal governments and private developers.
• Form-Based Zoning Code Development (including SmartCode) Development of form-based zoning codes for municipalities and private clients, including the proprietary SmartCode model code and the TND ordinance.
• Urban Design Charrettes Week-long intensive collaborative design workshops that bring together key decision-makers in an iterative cycle of proposals, feedback, and revisions to rapidly prototype and build consensus on design solutions.
• Downtown Revitalization Planning Planning, zoning, and design services for downtown revitalization projects in cities and towns, addressing declining urban cores and redevelopment opportunities.
• Sprawl Repair Services Methodology and project services for transforming auto-centric suburban places into more complete, mixed-use, less car-dependent communities through retrofit planning and design.
• New Community and New Town Planning New town and new community master planning services for developers and civic founders, including town plans, streetscapes, building design guidelines, and community visioning.
• Regional Planning Regional-scale planning services spanning multiple municipalities or jurisdictions, including long-range visioning and strategic plans.

Quantifiable outcome

• 300+ projects built ranging from small infill to regional plans
• +2 more outcomes

Named customers2 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

Feature6 records

Scale indicators5 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Broad incumbents

• Stantec: Stantec is a global design and engineering firm with a sizable urban planning and landscape architecture practice. It competes with DPZ on municipal and developer engagements but offers a much broader engineering and infrastructure portfolio.
• AECOM: AECOM is a global infrastructure consulting firm with urban planning, design, and engineering capabilities. It pursues similar municipal master-plan and form-based code engagements at far greater scale and with integrated delivery.
• Perkins&Will: Perkins&Will is a global architecture and urban design practice with an urban planning practice that addresses similar municipal and developer needs. It competes with DPZ for select commissions while offering a full design and interiors portfolio.

Direct peers

• Sasaki Associates: Sasaki is a roughly comparably sized urban planning, landscape architecture, and design firm offering master planning, urban design, and community development services to municipalities and developers — closely mirroring DPZ's professional services model and client base.
• SWA Group: SWA is a landscape architecture and urban planning firm working on waterfronts, parks, and urban districts globally. It serves similar municipal and developer clients with comparable master planning and design services.
• WRT (Wallace Roberts & Todd): WRT is an urban planning, landscape architecture, and design firm with deep experience in form-based coding and large-scale municipal plans. Its service mix and client base substantially overlap with DPZ's.
• OLIN: OLIN is a landscape architecture and urban design studio that delivers master planning and urban revitalization projects for public and private clients. Its scope of planning and design services overlaps directly with DPZ's urbanism practice.
• Moule & Polyzoides: Moule & Polyzoides is an architecture and urban design firm also rooted in the New Urbanism movement. It provides master planning, codes, and architectural design for similar municipal and developer clients — a close ideological and operational peer to DPZ.
• James Corner Field Operations: Field Operations is a landscape architecture and urban design firm known for High Line and large public-space master plans. It competes with DPZ for high-profile urban design commissions from municipalities and developers.
• Torti Gallas and Partners: Torti Gallas is an urban design and architecture firm focused on mixed-use, walkable community planning and form-based coding. It serves municipal and developer clients with services that substantially overlap DPZ's offering.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Facebookfacebook.com/dpzandco
• Instagraminstagram.com/wearedpz
• Xx.com/dpzandco
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/dpzcodesign

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles12 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 Duany Plater-Zyberk & Company