Announcing: Fresh Columnists for 2026-2027
Southern Urbanism is growing community through new writers and films
Hi all. It’s Aaron.
Many of you know me as a designer & builder in Durham, NC; others know me through national movements of townbuilding, incremental development, and new urbanism.
As the founder of Southern Urbanism, I am thrilled to announce the new columnists we will bring you in 2026 and 2027.
CONTENT
Starting this winter, we are expanding our columnist partnerships with four talented practitioner writers. This builds on the great work we published last year by Austin Tunnell of Building Culture and Coby Lefkowitz of Building Optimism. In this sense, Southern Urbanism is becoming an aggregator of talent, a curator brand for those committed to building better cities.
This summer, we will start publishing monthly essays from Nick Larkins, Billy Cooney, Jaime Izurieta, and me, Aaron Lubeck.
Each will be published here with all content available to paying subscribers. Subscribers will also have access to our monthly online “Columnists’ Happy Hour”, where we discuss a provocative essay from the previous month, with the subscribing community chiming in. The Happy Hour is penciled in for the first Tuesday of each month around quittin’ time (starting 4 pm EST on May 5th).
Get to know our columnists through their bios:
Nick Larkins is a Philosophy-graduate-turned-craftsman, and has worked as a pipe organ builder, welder, historic home GC, timber framer, motorcycle mechanic, and furniture maker. He presently works in Cartersville, GA, as the head of Craeftworks, a millwork and fabrication shop integrating traditional building practices with incremental development. He writes about the interconnection of the building arts, the liberal arts, and human flourishing. He publishes at With Tools in Hand.
Billy Cooney is an urban planner and writer living in Asheville, NC. By day, he organizes public events for Downtown Asheville and his neighborhood, Five Points. By night, he writes essays and book reviews, drawing on his experience in public and private sector planning to understand the space between idealism and implementation. His essays have appeared in local and national outlets, and he publishes regularly on his Substack, Flâneurbanist.
Jaime J. Izurieta is a Montclair-based architect and designer, founder of Storefront Mastery, a creative agency that designs downtown experiences, and author of Main Street Mavericks. He works with BID managers, downtown directors, and Main Street leaders to reimagine the streetscape experience.
His work spans partnerships with municipalities, BIDs, UEZs, and downtown organizations across the country, and has been featured on Strong Towns, CNU, and The Sidewalk Ballet podcast. Jaime publishes at Vertical Sidewalk.
I am Aaron Lubeck, a designer & builder with The Rocket Shop in Durham. I am the author of Green Restorations: Sustainable Building and Historic Homes and a former adjunct at Duke University’s Nicholas School, where I taught sustainable home building. I am a founding faculty member with Incremental Development Alliance and was the original host of The Townbuilder’s Podcast, a curated conversation with top new urbanist developers. I write about policy reform, urbanism, and incremental development at onHousing.
STUDENT FELLOW
We are also proud to announce our new James Hardie Student Fellow—Empress Henry-Logan.
Empress is a Master of City and Regional Planning student at Georgia Tech with a focus on real estate, economic development, and the neuroscience of spatial design. An Atlanta native, she will be exploring how cities shape behavior, opportunity, and belonging through her interest in neuro-urbanism. Empress sees the brain as the primary stakeholder of urban development and uses real estate as a driver of both healing and economic strategy. Through this, she seeks to leverage spatial intelligence, brain science, and community insight to reimagine cities as restorative systems that reflect healthy minds.
Special thanks to James Hardie for their ongoing support of next-generation talent.
MORE FILMS
Lastly, the Better Cities Film Festival will return in 2027, targeting February, but there is no set date yet. After a successful pilot, we are working through the logistics of expanding the film's events to year-round. Stay tuned.
THANK YOU
We could not be more grateful for the support from our community. Southern Urbanism is a 501c3 non-profit, and all contributions are tax-deductible. To support our work and help us grow our programming, consider giving today.
Thank you for your support. Please remember to follow us on Instagram, X, and LinkedIn. And, as always, share and subscribe!
Aaron Lubeck, Founder, Southern Urbanism
Southern Urbanism will continue working with sponsor James Hardie, who has supported our excellent student writing fellows. James Hardie’s support will continue into 2027.
 | A guest post by
|