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partly explained by the fact that Mississippi, although
neither a prosperous nor progressive state, is blessed
with many fine ‘courthouse square’ towns, such as
Philadelphia, Oxford, and Holly Springs. In these
towns, usually county seats, the neoclassical or neo-
Gothic courthouse commands the middle of the
town square, with a more or less regular grid of streets
extending outward on all sides. This regional cultural
form (it is also common in the American mid-west)
provides a precedent in miniature of European urban
layouts, filtered through several layers of cultural trans-
formation, but still clearly recognizable. Figure 4.3
illustrates clearly the typological similarity between
Neshoba and its grander precedent by means of 
a section through the courthouse and square in
Figure 4.1
Section Through a Typical ‘Street’ at Neshoba County Fair. This drawing illustrates how porches
and verandas on the building façades facing the public space of the ‘street’ may vary in detail and size but
not in their basic form and orientation. The requirement for all structures to include these spaces in their
design contributes hugely to the exciting interplay of public and private spaces throughout the Fair. See also
Plate 2.
(Drawing courtesy of Robert Craycroft)
Figure 4.2
Figure-ground Site Plan of Neshoba
County Fair, 1980s. The newer neighborhoods are
easily recognized by their more regular and
geometric layout. Founders’ Square is toward the
lower left of the plan, with the community assembly
pavilion slightly off-center within it. The large oval
space is formed by the race track.
(Drawing
courtesy of Robert Craycroft)
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Philadelphia. Mississippi, compared with a same-
scale section through Founders’ Square at Neshoba
Fairgrounds.
It is interesting to compare the scale and density of
the Fairgrounds to its urban neighbor, Philadelphia.
The temporary population of the Fair is about 6500
people, the same as the nearby town. However,
Philadelphia covers 370 acres (148 hectares) at a den-
sity of 17 persons per acre (42 persons per hectare) or
about six dwellings per acre (15 per hectare).
Neshoba, by contrast houses its 6500 people on 57
acres (23 hectares) at a density of 115 persons per
acre (287 persons per hectare) or approximately
44 dwellings per acre (110 per hectare) (Craycroft:
p. 130).
The plan of the Neshoba County Fairgrounds
provides a fascinating organic adaptation of this recti-
linear form with the community pavilion located
approximately in the center of Founders’ Square. The
layout is full of site-specific quirks, but everywhere it’s
clear that traditional urban typologies are the basis for
all transformations. Public streets are lined with
‘houses’ constructed with semiprivate porches that
provide the transition from the public world of the
street into the private realm of the interior (see Plate
2). Even more notable is the communal commitment
to what are in effect mandatory urban design regula-
tions for the layout and construction of the dwellings.
In the region beyond the Fairgrounds, the pervading
culture is one of self-assertive property rights, and
individual property owners largely reject regulatory
control over private land and development.
This vernacular example of urban typologies and
their encoding into local custom marks an interesting
intersection with New Urbanism’s focus on creating
urban and building codes for the development of
new communities. Duany and Plater-Zyberk’s code
for Seaside, Florida, produced in 1983, marked the
beginning of this important realization that design-
ing the right code was as important as designing the
master plan for any community. It is noteworthy in
this regard to recall a visit made to the Neshoba
County Fairgrounds by Andres Duany in 1985,
where Professor Robert Craycroft from the School of
Architecture at Mississippi State University, and a
leading authority on the Fairgrounds, explained the
coding of this self-regulating community to Duany.
(The English author was a colleague of Professor
Craycroft at that time at MSU, and also benefitted
from his extensive knowledge of the Fairground’s
urban qualities.) The development of codes that
inform and regulate the design of buildings, and how
buildings relate to public space, is a central thesis of
New Urbanist theory and practice, and the Neshoba
example is important because it shows that using
codes to control urban form is possible even in cul-
tures unsympathetic to regulation. The central point
in this instance seems to be that the codes serve the
community’s self-interest and maintain its unique
character to the benefit of all.
It is not simply the compendium of appropriate
urban design concepts – streets and squares designed
as outdoor public rooms – that makes Neshoba
County Fairgrounds a useful example. One of the
DESIGN FIRST: DESIGN-BASED PLANNING FOR COMMUNITIES