OUR PHILOSOPHY
Urban planning and allied disciplines of urban design, zoning, and environmental planning are our focus. Through our work we seek to give form to community aspirations, and foster places that are vital, livable, and reflect environmental stewardship. Our work is place-based – responsive to context, physical and natural settings, economic realities, and community needs. It is directed toward improving the quality of the living environment and promoting sustainable development patterns.
Dyett & Bhatia (D&B) was incorporated in California in December 1975 and has been providing professional services for the last 40 years. D&B's sole office is located in Oakland, CA. Our small size – about 25 employees – allows us to be nimble and responsive in our work, communication, and outreach. We conduct analysis and develop policies on a range of planning topics from land use and urban design, to economic development, sustainability, and social and environmental justice. The professional services we offer are focused on: urban design and specific plans, development codes and zoning ordinances, general plans, environmental planning and assessment, community engagement, geographic information systems (GIS), three-dimensional computer modeling, and visual simulation.
Our firm has won 12 awards in the last four years alone from the American Planning Association (APA), as well as two national awards from the APA in the last six years, including for California's first Public Health Element.
We believe that plan-making is a collaborative effort, involving a diversity of stakeholders, and we are committed to active community engagement, and considerations of social and environmental equity in planning processes. Our work continues to evolve in response to changing concerns of urbanism; however, our underlying commitment to creativity, excellence, and shaping livable and sustainable places remains unwavering.
Dyett & Bhatia (D&B) was incorporated in California in December 1975 and has been providing professional services for the last 40 years. D&B's sole office is located in Oakland, CA. Our small size – about 25 employees – allows us to be nimble and responsive in our work, communication, and outreach. We conduct analysis and develop policies on a range of planning topics from land use and urban design, to economic development, sustainability, and social and environmental justice. The professional services we offer are focused on: urban design and specific plans, development codes and zoning ordinances, general plans, environmental planning and assessment, community engagement, geographic information systems (GIS), three-dimensional computer modeling, and visual simulation.
Our firm has won 12 awards in the last four years alone from the American Planning Association (APA), as well as two national awards from the APA in the last six years, including for California's first Public Health Element.
We believe that plan-making is a collaborative effort, involving a diversity of stakeholders, and we are committed to active community engagement, and considerations of social and environmental equity in planning processes. Our work continues to evolve in response to changing concerns of urbanism; however, our underlying commitment to creativity, excellence, and shaping livable and sustainable places remains unwavering.
Dyett & Bhatia has a highly-trained staff of approximately 25, with academic backgrounds and professional experience in urban and regional planning; urban design; zoning; urban environmental planning; urban economics, architecture; graphic design; and public meeting facilitation. Dyett & Bhatia’s technical staff specializes in Geographic Information Systems (GIS), cartography, three-dimensional computer modeling, and computer-aided visualization.
Each Dyett & Bhatia Partner is an experienced practice leader and firm owner, with full decision-making authority, committed to excellence and nurturing enduring relationships.
LEADERSHIP
We are connected by a shared passion for planning and places, and a fundamental desire to enhance the quality of life of the communities we serve Our work methods are rooted in collaboration and inquisitiveness, and our work culture is engaging and inclusive.
LEADERSHIP
LEADERSHIP
Dyett & Bhatia is a leader in urban planning, renowned for its pioneering, creative, and award-winning projects.
Through our work we seek to give form to community aspirations, foster vital and livable places, and promote environmental sustainability and equity. Our work is place-based, tailored to each community’s specific needs. We believe plan making is a collaborative effort that engages and connects people and communities.
Our areas of practice are general plans; specific and area plans, including station area plans, downtown plans, and corridor and neighborhood plans; zoning; environmental review; and community engagement. Our work is place-based, responsive to context, physical and natural settings, and community needs. It is directed toward improving the quality of the living environment and promoting sustainable, equitable, and just development patterns. Our geographic focus is the western US; we have done projects across the US and overseas.
We are connected by a shared passion for planning and places, and a fundamental desire to enhance the quality of life of the communities we serve Our work methods are rooted in collaboration and inquisitiveness, and our work culture is engaging and inclusive.
Contact Us
Our Team
Dyett & Bhatia has a highly-trained staff of approximately 25, with academic backgrounds and professional experience in urban and regional planning; urban design; zoning; urban environmental planning; urban economics, public health; architecture; graphic design; and public meeting facilitation. Dyett & Bhatia’s technical staff specializes in Geographic Information Systems (GIS), cartography, three-dimensional computer modeling, and computer-aided visualization.
Each Dyett & Bhatia Partner is an experienced practice leader and firm owner, with full decision-making authority, committed to excellence and nurturing enduring relationships.
LEADERSHIP
Rajeev Bhatia, AICP
Partner and President
Rajeev Bhatia is a planner and urban designer, and has led over 70 major general plans, specific plans, and downtown, corridor, and station area plans for cities throughout the western United States. He has led 35 general plans and participated in 20 others, as well as prepared EIRs on most of these. Urban design projects he has led have shaped some of California's most vital and transformed districts, such as the 1,500-acre Downtown San Diego, guiding its evolution into California's most populous and integrated live/work downtown; Capitol Area Plan in Sacramento for the State of California that has shaped the largest State office development in California's history and opened a new eastern vista to the State Capitol Building; new communities around transit stations (10 station area specific plans in the Bay Area, transit-oriented planning for new Honolulu rail system, Seattle's new light rail); and campus plans (such as for Genentech - one of the largest in the Bay Area). He has led several community plans for San Diego, including recently the transformative plan for Mission Valley that will add 50,000 new residents and re-shape a 1960s style car-oriented commercial community into walkable, transit-connected, river-oriented neighborhoods.
He holds a Master of City Planning and Master of Landscape Architecture, both from U.C. Berkeley, where he was a Regents Fellow. Projects directly led by Mr. Bhatia have won 30+ awards from the American Planning Association, as well as additional ones from organizations such as Congress for New Urbanism and Urban Land Institute.
Email Rajeev
Andrew Hill
Principal
Andrew is an award-winning urban planner with expertise in land use planning, transit-oriented development, community engagement, and environmental review. Innovative and collaborative, his work is rooted in a strong commitment to sustainable placemaking and meaningful stakeholder involvement. He has led multi-disciplinary teams in preparing long range plans for communities throughout California, and he possesses over 15 years of project management and leadership experience in the fields of planning, construction management, and engineering. A particular focus of Andrew’s recent work has been on strategies for facilitating infill housing development, including policies and standards to incentivize high density housing along transit corridors.
Email Andrew
Vivian Kahn, FAICP
Principal
Vivian Kahn has 45 years of professional planning experience, and is an acknowledged statewide leader on zoning. She has authored zoning chapters in California Land Use Practice (California Continuing Education of the Bar) and The RLUIPA Reader (American Planning Association and American Bar Association), which are industry-standard reference materials. Since joining D&B in 2001, she has prepared zoning regulations for 20 cities, including Santa Monica, Oakland, Manteca, Concord, Emeryville, Portland, South San Francisco, and El Cerrito, and Los Angeles, Alameda, and Washoe Counties. She is a Fellow of the American Institute of Certified Planners, served on the American Planning Association’s National Board of Directors, chaired the Board’s Legislative and Policy Committee, and chairs the APA California Chapter’s Amicus Curiae Committee. Her service honors including APA California Planners Emeritus Network Honor Award, 2007 and APA California Northern Section Special Recognition Award of Excellence, 2017.
Email Vivian
Michael Dyett, FAICP
Consulting Principal
Michael V. Dyett, FAICP specializes in general plans, transit-oriented land use planning, zoning and transportation policy research. His international planning work includes an Archaeological and Cultural Resources Management Plan for El Mirador in Guatemala, the Abu Dhabi Development Code, Kuwait National Greenery Plan and the Tainan Strategic Plan for the Republic of China.
Mr. Dyett holds a Master of Regional Planning from Harvard University, and an A.B. from Harvard College. He is a member of the College of Fellows of the American Institute of Certified Planners. He was a Trustee for the Headlands Center for the Arts (1999-2002) and served on the Advisory Council for the San Francisco Bay Area Air Quality Management District. He also was Vice Chair of Mill Valley’s Miller Avenue Design Advisory Committee and is on the Boards of Directors of the California Film Institute, which runs the Mill Valley Film Festival, the Mill Valley Library Foundation and the Marin Theater Company
Email Michael
TEAM CULTURE
We are connected by a shared passion for planning and places, and a fundamental desire to enhance the quality of life of the communities we serve. Our work methods are rooted in collaboration and inquisitiveness, and our work culture is engaging and inclusive.
JOIN OUR TEAM
While we are presently not hiring, we welcome your interest for future consideration. Please send a resume and any supporting materials to jobs@dyettandbhatia.com. We keep resumes on file for six months and will contact you if a job becomes available that matches your background.