In Conversation: On Downtown Miami History, Chronicling 125 Years, 1896-2021

Aaron DeMayo is an architectural designer, urban planner, and the founder of Future Vision Studios. Born and raised in Miami, he has seen the city transform into a bustling subtropical metropolis and is committed to being a part of its positive evolution. Future Vision Studio’s work spans several aspects of the built environment, and in the face of climate crisis, DeMayo is strategizing resilience adaptations for South Florida by proposing 21st-century planning and zoning policies, designing living shoreline parks, and introducing large-scale mobility and green infrastructure that reimagines how to protect homes while also creating valuable amenities.

Allan Shulman is an architect, author, editor, and curator. He serves as director of graduate programs in architecture and as a professor at the University of Miami School of Architecture, and he is the founding principal of the award-winning architectural and design firm Shulman + Associates. Shulman's research focuses on themes of modernism, tropicality, and urbanism.

Paul S. George, Ph.D., is the resident historian at HistoryMiami Museum, a Smithsonian Affiliate in downtown Miami. A native Miamian and former college professor, George has taught at several universities and colleges, and has authored 17 books and hundreds of articles, book reviews, and columns. He has served as president of the Florida Historical Society, vice chairman of the City of Miami’s Heritage Conservation Board (1984-1987), director of the Historic Broward County Preservation Board, and president of the Louis Wolfson II Florida Moving Image Archive, and he currently serves as a member of Metro Dade County’s Preservation Board (1997-present).

Raul Guerrero is the author of various books of fiction and nonfiction, academic curator of the Downtown Arts + Science Salon, and editor of Downtown News. In Downtown Miami History, Chronicling 125 Years, 1896-2021 (DASS Books), Guerrero offers a broad view of 125 years of Miami’s booms and busts, reinventions, and disasters – natural and human-made – on its way to becoming a global city. He combines book excerpts, essays, articles, memoirs, trivia, interviews, and even a memorable work by award-winning poet Campbell McGrath. The book is illustrated with photos by Niels Johansen.