Florida’s Future: New Modes of Development for Our Coastal Communities. Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway, Florida

Abstract

Due to an inattention to the impact of human settlement patterns on the hydro-ecologies of many cities on water, the contemporary urban project often involves undoing the legacies of these past relationships while wrestling with the resultant environmental problems of the present. It is also our future and the inevitability of environmental changes that demands rethinking development of cities on water. Nearly ••• of the world’s population lives within 100 km distance of the coast and over the next several decades we will see a continued surge in urbanization, much of it set to occur in coastal cities. This paper will explore new paradigms for water based settlements through a study of urban interventions on the Florida Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway. Historically Florida has been bold with its approach to creating and adapting hydro landscapes; from the desiccation of the everglades and the canalization of its interior to the feat of the Intracoastal Waterway itself. Our project builds upon these daring cultural landscapes of our past tempered with hindsight about the need for environmental stewardship and the use of natural values to improve urban health, the quality of life, and urban equity.