It encourages the creation of sustainable urban villages and rural settlements where almost everything needed for daily living is found, produced, created, used, re-used and recycled at walking distance from an identifiable center and in closed economic loops.
Self-sufficient Urbanism focuses on the "re-localization" of resources, and on the advocacy and development of technologies attempting to eliminate the existent fossil fuel dependency and reduce the current rate of carbon emissions.
His introductory pamphlet reviews the social, economic and design implications of combining the existing predicament of global warming and Peak oil and offers a positive solution of contraction, simplicity and human dignity.
In a New Towns article, Correa was characterized as a person who "… approaches each day's task with the weight of the world on his shoulders then unburdens himself by sharing his discoveries with an engaging demeanor that seeks to make you both friend and follower.
[11] He is one of the 16 architects and town planners published by Peter Katz in his seminal book: "The New Urbanism: toward an architecture of community"; he is also the recipient of numerous urban planning and architectural awards stretching four continents, including: a Chinese Government Award, the first place at the Marina de Cope competition in Spain, an Honorable Mention shared with Roberto Behar at the Williamsburg Competition; a Progressive Architecture citation for his redevelopment work in Riviera Beach with Mark Schimmenti and his former partners at Dover Kohl; a shared award with OBM International in the International Cities Competition in Dubai for his design leadership and contribution to the new town of The Wave in Oman;[12] a citation to represent the United States in the Bienal de Arquitectura in Chile.
Jaime Correa has lectured to students at the Bauhaus/Dessau, Harvard, Notre Dame, MIT, Tecnologico de Monterrey in Querétaro, Mexico, and in Argentina, Italy, Peru, Guatemala, and Colombia.
[16] His latest professional work includes: a research series on urban evacuation and adaptation, colossal projects for the forthcoming climate disruption, public space interventions in the City of Lauderdale-by-the-Sea, the redevelopment of an Industrial District in Miami, eight mini-skyscrapers in Medellin, urban design advisory for Coral Gables, Florida, charrette collaborations in Coral Springs, Florida, and the North End of West Palm Beach, Florida, urban "letterscapes", various collaborations in Central and South America, including for the towns of Cayala and El Naranjo, in Guatemala and La Serena, in Chile, and the master planning and implementation of "The Wave", a new town with 50,000 residents in Muscat, Oman in collaboration with OBM International and partners around the world.