Master-Planned Communities
This is where I talk about Celebration, Florida.
Today I learned about the interesting concept of master-planned communities for the first time. One town in particular strikes me as being particularly intriguing.
The town of Celebration, Florida found its beginning in the early 1990s when the Disney company proposed the idea of building its own master-planned community (a community planned in detail before ever being built). No surprise for a company with as much pull as Disney, the idea was well-received and the community of Celebration was born.
This town is utopian at best and creepy as hell at worst. The rows of houses are practically identical, everything appears to be built very close to everything else, and - just as is the case in Disney theme parks - everything is garishly cheerful.
This town may perhaps seem to be an ideal place to live on the surface; it looks friendly enough and, come on, who can’t love a place built by Disney? But all is not what it seems; in the last few years, Celebration has seen its first suicide, its first murder, and more than its fair share of rough times.
Despite being surrounded by fairly diverse communities, Celebration was comprised of almost exclusively white residents at the last census. This community is an excellent (i.e. horrifying) example of de facto segregation at its finest.
This place is, by all accounts, imperfect. Not only that, but the population is at best that of a fairly small town. There are not a lot of people here, and the people who do find themselves drawn here are too similar to allow for much community growth.
So, logically, this community probably cannot last forever. But what happens when it’s gone?
What happens when all the people have abandoned this weird utopian dystopia and leave only the meticulously-crafted buildings in their wake?
What happens when man collides with nature in this way?
I don’t know, but I’m sure there will be one hell of an urban exploration community eager to find the answers.
