While there are a wealth of building products to develop beautiful traditional homes, some synthetic materials can come off as "Traditionalist Kitsch". Here, Krier shows disdain for screw own shutters, cheap doors, and out of place windows Drawing by #LeonKrier, 1946-2025

A little while ago, I (Jaime Izurieta) published on my personal Substack a reflection about the Historic Preservation profession. Being both an architect and a trained preservationist with adaptive reuse and rehab projects under my belt, and having sat at the other side of the desk as an Economic Development official in local government, it's been interesting to feel the effects of the profession in every touch point from idea to built project, regardless of where you sit. Interactions with the project review bureaucracy, which includes architects, politicians, activists, and citizens, the approval process, which involves Iran Hostage Crisis-level negotiation skills to jump through real and imaginary hoops in regulation and civil servant discretion, and the suspicious look from colleagues when the lines on your papers draw cornices and moldings instead of curtain walls. The issue is relevant when we look at the dire need for good new urban spaces, and how the process I describe above blocks us from addressing. Yes, we can build, but are we building well? Will people love the buildings they are getting now? Will those buildings even be around to be loved in 100 years? These reflections brought me to question the preservation ecosystem, to explore how the framework under which it operates reflects on solving what is possibly the single largest issue facing us today: what are the shared values that inspired our society to progress in leaps since 1776, and why so many barriers are now stifling further progress. If new ideas need old buildings, then solving this fundamental issue needs preservation to be a space where we find ourselves and our identity, and where we gather and talk. Is the preservation system doing that for us? The updated piece is now on @SouthernUrb anism. It's my first regular piece since taking over as editor-in-chief. Do come in and read it, and subscribe if you haven't already. We appreciate the support. ->EssayViABiO

Community design take cues from smaller-scale vernacular and duplicate the traditions. Modernism rejects tradition, leading to unloved, placeless architecture. It is often demolished within a generation. Drawing by #LeonKrier, 1946-2025

Cities can be victims of their own success. The key is to duplicate local successes through local practice and tradition. Failures to do so result in "futureless, unreformable over-development". Drawing by #LeonKrier, 1946-2025

Modernism claims to be things it is not and reframes reality to serve its own purposes. Drawing by #LeonKrier, 1946-2025

What people want and what architecture schools train designers to build are not the same thing. Drawing by #LeonKrier, 1946-2025

Community design take cues from smaller-scale vernacular and duplicate the traditions. Modernism rejects tradition, leading to unloved, placeless architecture. It is often demolished within a generation. Drawing by #LeonKrier, 1946-2025

Societies accumulate meaning and value. Or societies accumulate trash. The choice is yours. Drawing by #LeonKrier, 1946-2025

Cheap buildings may cost less to build. But they can be more expensive to maintain and less likely to stand the test of time. Drawing by #LeonKrier, 1946-2025

Extractive, out-of-scale development of city centers can be parasitic. Incremental development via infill can be additive. Drawing by #LeonKrier, 1946-2025

This #MissingMiddle Housing graphic by @opticos has proven transformative to citybuilding. What other graphics have had a large influence on you? #housing #affordability #cities

"If we chase novelty, whether it’s through a shiny new plan or a shiny new machine, we neglect the simple, traditional principles that we know build great cities. And we neglect the hard work we need to do to get there. Great cities won’t come from a denial of change rooted in fear, endless visioning documents without teeth, or through some miracle invention in the private market. They will come from the belief that we can do better, the courage to try, and the faith that, even if we fail, we can persevere." Read the latest essay by Billy Cooney: 👉 viabio

It is easy to identify any university's architecture school because it is almost always the ugliest building on campus.