DPZ was founded in 1980 by Andres Duany and Elizabeth Plater-Zyberk to replace suburban sprawl with neighborhood-based planning. At the time, Duany and Plater-Zyberk were founding partners of the still vital firm, Arquitectonica, renowned for its playful condominium towers on the Miami coast. However, a serious concern began to grow within both young architects, who struggled with how the individual buildings they designed did not relate in any meaningful way to the cities surrounding them. This concern soon evolved into the team finding ways to design environments in which the placement of individual buildings made sense in an urban context and held less importance than the spaces between them.
DPZ creates benevolent urban places in the form of cities, towns, and neighborhoods, which encourage walking, diversity and complexity. Their projects generate the physical framework for a fulfilling human existence. Safe, pedestrian-friendly streets encourage people to walk in and interact with their built and natural surroundings. A well-designed public realm, including “third places”, where people hang out beyond home and work, facilitates the creation of social networks and affiliations. Recent studies correlate the impact of the physical environment on human health and well-being. DPZ's built projects show that, given the choice, people enjoy living in sustainable communities. People seek out their neighborhoods instead of suburban enclaves because they are environmentally responsible, and because they promote fulfillment and well-being.
