Florida is synonymous with urban sprawl, soulless suburbs and environmental destruction — a concrete jungle rather than a tropical one, where highways outnumber beaches. So it comes as a surprise that one corner of the Sunshine State is at the vanguard of eco-towns that are ditching the car and recapturing a sense of community spirit.
The Emerald Coast, on the Florida Panhandle, has been dubbed the Redneck Riviera: it’s closer to Alabama than to Miami. Yet its scenic Highway 30A, a 24-mile stretch of snow-white beaches, turquoise seas and pine forests, has become home to an architectural experiment that has transformed urban planning in North America and is shaping the debate over here.
Seaside, Rosemary Beach and Alys Beach are “new urbanist” towns, architect-designed communities
