Seaside

The resort town of Seaside in Florida is an early example of "New Urbanist" ideals. There are many criticisms of the place such as it's supposed artificiality. It is a resort town so it's fair to question whether or not these ideals work in the "real world." Traditional town design exemplified by Seaside seemed to work well in North America for at least 300 years, but is it possible technology such as teh automobile and Internet have rendered this model of human habtitat obsolete? Big question. One I don't dare attempt to answer on a blog like this. 

A post at Better! Cities and Towns provides some thoughts and shares the video I've included below.

But the story is so much more good than bad.  One has to remember, as the video below reminds us, that the compact, 80-acre town was conceived over 30 years ago, when almost no one was building walkable communities.  If it wasn’t sprawl, it didn’t sell, or so people thought.  Seaside may have been built on decades-old premises, but it was downright radical for its day.