300 Gathering the pieces
Seaside, Floridawas designed to extend a long distance along, and provide
close-by human access to, a coastal beach. But the beach lies in
akeyarea for rare nesting sea turtles. The town could have
been planned to minimize damage to the coastline and turtle
population.
Kentlands, Marylandextinguished a large meadow-grassland in an area
where a regionally rare bird, the upland sandpiper, requires
large grasslands to survive. Later, runoff from the new town’s
concentrated impermeable surface seems to have significantly
altered existing downslope wetlands.
Lake Carolina, South Carolinawas builtalong the shore of the only rel-
atively large lake/reservoir in the area, a location that with-
out study can be expected to cause significant ecological degra-
dation locally and regionally. A token, presumably ineffective
lakeshore buffer zone separates the lake and stream tributaries
from the built area. Stream flooding and increased lake sedi-
mentation doubtless occur. Some large natural areas are left,
apparently for future development rather than in permanent
protection.
Celebration, Floridais owned, built, and continuously subsidized by the
Disney Corporation (best known for its cartoon film character,
Mickey Mouse), seemingly as a marketing and image investment
(Beardsley1997,Ross1999). In addition to the usual planned
town attributes, electric vehicles and abundant oft-deserted
sidewalks are in evidence. Numerous tourists give a resort fla-
vor.The so-called town hall is a real-estate center, where the
options of large houses, condominiums, and apartments are
clearly geared to the moderately wealthy.
Just as for sprawl, lots of land was consumed for these few
thousand residents. Few jobs and little or no public transport
are available, so vehicles are well used. Water is much in evi-
dence, as expected where considerable wetland was degraded.
Permanent conservation restrictions were placed on some large
undeveloped wetland tracts.
More interesting are the linkages with land elsewhere. To
receive approval for the development, Disney agreed to pur-
chase and restore habitats of an extensive distant pasture-
land under the eye of a major conservation organization. In
developing the community, often mature trees were planted