The Hidden Histories and Geographies of Neotraditional Town Planning: The Case of Seaside, Florida

Abstract

The neotraditional resort development of Seaside, Florida merits special attention from geographers and urban planners because of the normative claims made by its designers and because it has garnered widespread attention from practising architects, planners, anti social critics, Under the banners of ‘neotraditionalism’ and ‘community planning’ the principles implemented in Seaside have also been employed in numerous other developments in North America. Central to Seaside's appeal and normative content is the deliberate attempt to resurrect an idealised past of uniquely American communitarianism through the skillful manipulation of urban form. We develop our critique of neotraditionalism through a deconstructive analysis of the physical and ideological spaces of Seaside. Specifically, we discuss the origin and development of Seaside, the centrality of its urban and architectural codes, the paradoxical deployment of public and private spaces, and the emergence of a distinctively neotraditional subject. Our basic claim is that neotraditionalism is actually a carefully veiled form of what Foster has called “postmodernism of reaction”.