Developer Coby Lefkowitz Makes the Case for Building Beautifully
Our practitioner profile showcases the search for better building practice.
Written By Adeleine Geitner
Coby Lefkowitz has a way with words. The urbanist, real estate developer, and writer has developed an enthusiastic following for his articulate Twitter posts and optimistic tone. His core message in everything he creates—from infill housing in San Diego to essays on housing, design, and hope—is that we can still build beautiful places. His message is especially pertinent in the South.
“Despite the cynicism that’s far too commonplace today,” Lefkowitz writes, “I believe that it’s not only possible to solve the challenges our world faces, but that we can do so in aspirational ways that allow us to create the world so many of us dream about living in.” For all the doom and gloom surrounding today’s discussion of our built environment, Lefkowitz is confident America’s urban future can balance affordability, livability, and visual appeal.
Lefkowitz grew up in New England, but has spent time living in several US cities since. He received his Bachelor’s in Urban and Environmental Planning from the University of Virginia, and he credits his time in Charlottesville with igniting his love for the area’s unspoken urban gems.
“I think Southern cities have had, and will continue to have, an outsized opportunity in the national urbanism conversation,” Lefkowitz said in an interview, citing the national population shift toward Southern cities in the past few decades. “Therefore, it's perhaps more important to get it right in the South than anywhere else in the country.”
Lefkowitz does not carry this hope blindly. Rather, he has sought proof of concept all over the US, searching high and low for new developments that return life to their street and the surrounding town. In December of 2022, he completed a small but mighty project he dubbed a “Year of Building Optimism,” through which he shared one example every day of a new multi-unit development in the United States that did not sacrifice charm in its creation of dense, affordable, or infill housing (documented on his Twitter feed, and in this spreadsheet).
The faith Lefkowitz has in the future of American—and, particularly, Southern—citybuilding derives from witnessing municipalities from Richmond to Savannah to Charleston make strides toward becoming exemplary places.
His confidence is grounded in what Lefkowitz sees in many of these smaller cities and towns that he hasn’t seen elsewhere: a “sense of civic boosterism.”
By day, Lefkowitz practices what he preaches, working as a small-scale real estate developer in the San Diego area. His company, Backyard, focuses on 3- to 25-unit apartments and infill projects in areas of San Diego conventionally zoned for single-family housing. By choosing lots within proximity to amenities like shops, restaurants, bars, and grocery stores, but in neighborhoods beyond the downtown core, Backyards aims to create more housing where a walkable life is possible but not yet realized. And to do so with livability, and a little beauty, in mind.
Lefkowitz acknowledges that most Southern cities don’t have the same urbanist roots as many New England and Midwestern cities, which historically kept to a dense footprint, but they do have their historic Main Streets and courthouse squares. As these Southern cities plan to accommodate a rising population, there is reason to trust they can shift gears away from the status quo of the past several decades—in other words, away from embracing exurban sprawl.
“We can go to the historic cores of smaller Southern cities and towns and take kind of a Strong Towns philosophy” Lefkowiz says. “We can say, ‘Let’s incrementally grow this core that we have that’s really good.’ And instead of framing it as, ‘We’re going to densify, we’re going to create more equity’—which are all things that are true—let’s just say, ‘Let’s boost economic development here.’”
His confidence is grounded in what Lefkowitz sees in many of these smaller cities and towns that he hasn’t seen elsewhere: a “sense of civic boosterism.” Where many cities along the coasts talk of adapting to address the hot-button issues (such as climate change, the affordability crisis, and racial inequity), Lefkowitz sees the potential for some Southern cities to take a modified approach but derive similar—and maybe better—results.
Lefkowitz expands on this idea in one of his most recent essays “Progressive Cities Aren’t Living Up to Their Values.” As he writes, “Instead of thinking critically through the ramifications of certain policies, there is more of a ‘vibes’ implementation over doing what is right.” He encourages his fellow progressives in major cities throughout the Northeast and California to reconsider how they address the issues of homelessness and high housing prices which, for all the time that is committed to discussing them, are not seeing improvement. In this vein, he sees opportunity in Southern cities, which tend to be more of an ideological mixed bag. These places are poised to collaborate, focus on lifting up the city as a whole, and create balanced solutions.
“There’s a lot wrong with our current built environment, and the underlying regulations, incentives, and imperatives that drive our development patterns,” Lefkowitz writes. “But we must triumph over this cynicism. There’s so much worth celebrating. Let me modify that; there’s so much that needs celebrating.”
Adeleine Geitner is the Spring 2023 Duke Initiative for Urban Studies Fellow on Sprawl Repair and Nodal Development.