I went to Architecture school in the South. Possibly the best laboratory to understand that architecture needs to last and what makes it lasting is people who love it and keep using lovable buildings that are built to outlast several generations.
The craft, the materials, and the belief that property rights make the core of civilization inspired builders in Savannah to create what is today one of the best preserved, most beautiful historic cores in any city in America.
I spent five years there and I like to say I “grew up” in the South. Thirteen years passed between returning to my hometown of Quito after graduation, and relocating to South Florida and then North Jersey, where I now live with my family.
The South to me is a mindset. Enterprising, rugged, hospitable, expansive, natural, rebellious. The South is the future. It’s a region that sees America from a special lens, and America would do well to see it, and follow its example.
Twentieth-century American planning taught cities to fear the very habits that once made them great. Mixed use, small increments, local capital, property rights, and readable tradition became anathema. The market became a synonym of cronyism, big corporate developers that make rules that are negligible for them but insurmountable for local, small competitors.
Issues that shape cities like Zoning, Economics, Academic Urbanism, the Planning profession, Participatory Planning and others lack serious underwriting literature and practitioner-facing arguments. Academics have no real-world exposure, and the trade press reports the entropy from a broad understanding, without a strong thesis or a robust practitioner perspective.
I believe Southern Urbanism magazine is uniquely positioned at the forefront of this niche. It offers a voice for practitioners, written by practitioners, to discuss city-making from a growth mindset. Southern Urbanism wants to address issues that are important to those making investment and policy decisions, who create opportunities, and make cities more attractive for residents, businesses, and other investors.
The South has been attracting minds and hands from the rest of America, because it still builds and still remembers, and because it is the best laboratory to see the damage and experience the repair. Southern Urbanism is market-oriented because common sense, knowledge of economics, financial literacy, and hard work build cities.
Southern Urbanism is a blueprint for how to build the American cities of the future. And I am thrilled to be its editor. DMs are open.
Jaime Izurieta is an Architect, designer, and urban development consultant, founder of Storefront Mastery. He is the author of Main Street Mavericks and The 10 No-BS Rules For Successful Storefront Design. He has founded a city, a museum, and an architectural practice, planted a few trees, rehabbed a 100-year old farmhouse, co-owned an independent bookseller, worked in the public and private sectors, and taught architectural design studios at university. Jaime now serves downtowns and commercial districts all over the country from Montclair, New Jersey, and writes on Substack at The Vertical Sidewalk. You can follow him on LinkedIn.