I’m teaching 2nd Year Architecture Studio at the University of Miami this semester. The focus of the class is town planning to create walkable urbanism. I and the other 2nd Year instructors recently took our students on a cross-state odyssey to visit the new beachfront resort town of Seaside, FL. Seaside is the landmark project that, designed by Andres Duany and Elizabeth Plater-Zyberk 30 years ago, began the international revival of traditional town planning. Seaside has continued to mature and grow more complete over the decades, and today is a wonderfully vibrant example of a highly walkable place.
I’ve been to visit Seaside a number of times in the past, but never the way I would on this trip. I decided to add a few extra days to the trip, give my wife Krisztina a little break, and take my 20 month-old son Benji with me - turning the journey into a father son road trip!
I’ll admit that I was a bit daunted by the prospect of travelling solo with Benji for 5 days. The drive from Miami to Seaside takes about 10 hours, traversing the entire State. And Benji is a very energetic little boy! I planned the trip with two days to travel in each direction, giving plenty of time to stop, stretch our legs, and to show Benji some of my favorite places in Florida along the way.
My epiphany: on this journey, I discovered that the destinations in Florida that I love for their lively urban spaces are also wonderful kid-friendly places!
Stop 1: Winter Park, FL
Our first stop was Winter Park, just north of Orlando. Winter Park has a great main street, Park Avenue, where Benji and I stopped for lunch. Dover, Kohl & Partners, the office I work for, helped to plan for the refurbishment of this street a number of years ago. Park Avenue has a wide sidewalk, narrow travel lanes, on-street parking, street trees, and other details that make activities like outdoor dining work well. These same details made Park Avenue a great location for Benji to stretch his legs!
Park Avenue also has a great collection shops along pedestrian passages leading to beautiful mid-block courtyards with fountains. These passageways, such as Greeneda Court shown here, were a perfect place to let Benji run and explore:
In one of the courtyards, the owners of the little cafe were thoughtful enough to place a couple of toy boats in the fountain for kids! Benji could play while I sat just steps away with a coffee - a perfect kid-friendly and adult-friendly urban space!
Just steps away on the other side of Park Avenue is a large square called Central Park. After our lunch, I took Benji there to run around before the next leg of our trip:
Stop 2: Gainesville, FL
Our next big stop was Gainesville. We visited the University of Florida campus and the central quadrangle was a great safe place to let Benji run free. He especially loved playing on the gator statue:
Stop 3: Madison, FL
Our last stop before Seaside was the little town of Madison, in Florida's panhandle. The town's square has a great gazebo, monuments and fountains that Benji loved exploring!
Seaside, FL!
At long last, after 10 hours of driving over two great days, Benji and I arrived in Seaside!
We met up with the University of Miami students in the town square near Seaside's little classical Post Office, originally the first structure built. Seaside has a great variety of urban spaces and Benji really enjoyed exploring them all!
A farmers market was being held in the town square - another great example of a place where a kid can run free in an environment that is interesting and stimulating for all ages:
The famous Airstream Trailer food truck roundup in Seaside's town square:
Seaside's open-air market bazaar near the beach:
Cool and shady Ruskin Square, surrounded by rowhouses and small shops:
Seaside does have a wonderful, quiet, shady children's playground that Benji enjoyed for a bit, but he was soon ready to get back to the action of the rest of the town!
A testament to Seaside's well-connected, narrow, traffic-calmed streets - I could play with Benji right in the street and not worry about speeding cars!
Benji loved climbing up into the little gazebo in the middle of the roundabout at the end of Tupelo Street.
In the evening, I bought Benji a little toy guitar at a shop on the town square, and then we strolled through the market bazaar, and down one of Seaside's well-marked public beach accesses. The whole route was so easy to follow that I was able to walk behind Benji as he found his own way from the town square to the water's edge!
Alys Beach, FL
After Seaside, we took the University of Miami students to visit nearby Alys Beach, another new walkable beachfront resort town also designed by Elizabeth Plater-Zyberk and Andres Duany. This next-generation project has continued to evolve the state-of-the-art in pedestrian-friendly (and therefore kid-friendly) urban spaces.
Alys Beach incorporates a fascinating blend of influences from places with great walkable urbanism optimized for hot climates including: Bermuda, St Augustine, the Greek islands, Dutch South Africa and the cities of North Africa. The growing town features a number of exquisitely designed, narrow streets and intimate squares that are often free from motorized vehicles.
In conclusion:
Main streets, urban courtyards, parks with fountains, academic quadrangles, farmers markets, food truck roundups, open air market bazaars, pedestrian-friendly streets and squares are all wonderful places to spend one's time, and even better when spending time with a child!
Amazon: The New Urbanism (by Peter Katz)
Stop 1: Winter Park, FL
Our first stop was Winter Park, just north of Orlando. Winter Park has a great main street, Park Avenue, where Benji and I stopped for lunch. Dover, Kohl & Partners, the office I work for, helped to plan for the refurbishment of this street a number of years ago. Park Avenue has a wide sidewalk, narrow travel lanes, on-street parking, street trees, and other details that make activities like outdoor dining work well. These same details made Park Avenue a great location for Benji to stretch his legs!
Park Avenue also has a great collection shops along pedestrian passages leading to beautiful mid-block courtyards with fountains. These passageways, such as Greeneda Court shown here, were a perfect place to let Benji run and explore:
In one of the courtyards, the owners of the little cafe were thoughtful enough to place a couple of toy boats in the fountain for kids! Benji could play while I sat just steps away with a coffee - a perfect kid-friendly and adult-friendly urban space!
Just steps away on the other side of Park Avenue is a large square called Central Park. After our lunch, I took Benji there to run around before the next leg of our trip:
Stop 2: Gainesville, FL
Our next big stop was Gainesville. We visited the University of Florida campus and the central quadrangle was a great safe place to let Benji run free. He especially loved playing on the gator statue:
Stop 3: Madison, FL
Our last stop before Seaside was the little town of Madison, in Florida's panhandle. The town's square has a great gazebo, monuments and fountains that Benji loved exploring!
Seaside, FL!
At long last, after 10 hours of driving over two great days, Benji and I arrived in Seaside!
We met up with the University of Miami students in the town square near Seaside's little classical Post Office, originally the first structure built. Seaside has a great variety of urban spaces and Benji really enjoyed exploring them all!
A farmers market was being held in the town square - another great example of a place where a kid can run free in an environment that is interesting and stimulating for all ages:
The famous Airstream Trailer food truck roundup in Seaside's town square:
Seaside's open-air market bazaar near the beach:
Cool and shady Ruskin Square, surrounded by rowhouses and small shops:
Seaside does have a wonderful, quiet, shady children's playground that Benji enjoyed for a bit, but he was soon ready to get back to the action of the rest of the town!
A testament to Seaside's well-connected, narrow, traffic-calmed streets - I could play with Benji right in the street and not worry about speeding cars!
Benji loved climbing up into the little gazebo in the middle of the roundabout at the end of Tupelo Street.
Alys Beach, FL
After Seaside, we took the University of Miami students to visit nearby Alys Beach, another new walkable beachfront resort town also designed by Elizabeth Plater-Zyberk and Andres Duany. This next-generation project has continued to evolve the state-of-the-art in pedestrian-friendly (and therefore kid-friendly) urban spaces.
Alys Beach incorporates a fascinating blend of influences from places with great walkable urbanism optimized for hot climates including: Bermuda, St Augustine, the Greek islands, Dutch South Africa and the cities of North Africa. The growing town features a number of exquisitely designed, narrow streets and intimate squares that are often free from motorized vehicles.
In conclusion:
Main streets, urban courtyards, parks with fountains, academic quadrangles, farmers markets, food truck roundups, open air market bazaars, pedestrian-friendly streets and squares are all wonderful places to spend one's time, and even better when spending time with a child!
Amazon: The New Urbanism (by Peter Katz)
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