City Shapers & World Builders
How Architecture Makes or Breaks Our Built Environment
By Sheri Webber
The Florida Association of Architects was founded in Jacksonville in 1912 by a group of 42 architects who together laid the groundwork for professional regulation in the state. Three years later, with the association’s backing, Florida established the State Board of Architecture to oversee the profession, and by 1916 the state had administered its first official licensing exam for architects.
Today, Florida ranks among the top states for the employment of architects, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, alongside California, New York, Texas, and Illinois. However, the Sunshine State failed to rank competitively with states recognized as a top payer and was edged out by California, Washington, D.C., Wyoming, Alaska, and others. However, Florida’s relatively modest cost of living has led to lower compensation as compared to other states.
Beyond employment and income data, how does a city demonstrate its prioritization of architecture, design, and planning?
This is a topic that attendees of the U.S. Conference of Mayors (USCM) considered in 2024. American Institute of Architects (AIA) President Kimberly Dowdell spoke at the USCM last year. A Cornell and Harvard alumna, Dowdell was then AIA’s 100th president. She is the first Black woman to serve in the role and a past president of the National Organization of Minority Architects.
USCM, born out of the Great Depression in 1932, hosts two major annual meetings that draw the top leaders of over 1,400 cities. Among Dowdell’s remarks to that group: “Architects are the civic problem solvers you didn’t know that you needed.”
Many cities employ architects, planners, and designers within various departments. Typically, these well-educated individuals handle day-to-day approval processes concerning inspections, property surveys, permitting, zoning, code compliance, etc. But how many of these individuals have a direct line to their top city offices? Often, such roles would report to a department head or division chief who may or may not be a trained architect, designer, or engineer.
In the Netherlands, the position of chief government architect has existed since the early 1800s, with slight title variations over the decades. Here in the United States, the General Services Administration (GSA) has a chief architect. On a municipal level, the city of New Orleans has a Capital Projects Administration, which involves chief architects advising the mayor. Margaret O’Donoghue Castillo is New York City’s chief architect who “supports the mayoral lenses of growth, equity, sustainability, resiliency, and healthy living,” according to nyc.gov. However, these roles are not the norm at the local or state level.
