Kathleen A. Dorgan

Kathleen Dorgan, principal of Dorgan Architecture and Planning (DAP) of Storrs, CT, USA, specializes in participatory design for regenerative neighborhoods of choice. Her work includes human-centered approaches to arts and place-based planning, resilience, high-performance affordable housing, main street revitalization, green initiatives, and technical assistance to not-for-profit and public agencies. Her project Eagleville Green, a mixed-income 42 unit affordable housing project, built to PHIUS Passive House standards, was recognized by the national American Planning Association in their 2025 Complete Neighborhoods Award Program and named the Overall Grand Winner of the Green Builder Magazine 2026 Home of the Year.

Ms. Dorgan received Harvard Loeb and US Department of Housing and Urban Development Fellowships. She was an advisor to the US Delegation to the 2024 UN Habitat Assembly in Nairobi. She is a past chair of the AIA Housing Knowledge Community, the Association for Community Design, and the AIA Housing and HUD Secretary’s Awards Juries. She was a member of the Connecticut Housing Finance Authority Board and the Financing Adaptation Work Group for the Governor’s Council on Climate Change. The Capitol Hill Improvement Corporation in Albany, NY, rehabilitated or constructed 1653 buildings during her tenure as Executive Director. DAP projects have been published frequently and exhibited in the National Building Museum and other museums and galleries.

An active community volunteer, Ms. Dorgan is a frequent international speaker, instructor, facilitator, and writer about regenerative design, and transformative incremental development. She participated in the Rebuilding by Design program and is regarded for the dynamic mechanisms her firm employs to effectively engage diverse constituencies in planning, conversations, and community-building strategies.