Regional Initiatives
Full PennDesign Florida Report
Jonathan Barnett and the graduate students from the University of Pennsylvania returned to Orlando in March 2007 to work towards giving us a vision of Florida's future in the year 2060. The result of this endeavor is "PennDesign Florida: An Alternative Future for Florida in the 21st Century." But the question remains: Do we have the political will and the financial capacity to create a better Florida for our children and grandchildren? Read what it will take.
Full PennDesign Florida Report
Regional Visioning - 2050 Population Centers
The East Central Florida Regional Planning Council is now working with the various local governments in the region to establish a visionary map of what urban centers will look like in 2050. The idea is that the MPOs of the region could then attempt to link these 2050 population centers with a visionary transportation network that would be balanced between roads and transit.
Each mayor in Lake County and the chairman of the Lake BCC have received a package from the ECFRPC that asks for bubbles to be placed on the county map for each urban center. As a result, each municipality would place a single bubble on the map representing what their community’s population would likely be in 2050 based on that particular community’s vision. Each county would place bubbles in unincorporated area that might serve as urban centers in 2050.
The Lake~Sumter MPO is facilitating this exercise. It is important that each local government participate so that each MPO can fulfill its commitment to envision a 2050 transportation network. MPO staff has placed a bubble on the map for each municipality in Lake County, ranging from hamlets and villages to towns and cities. Three bubbles have been placed in unincorporated Lake County representing Astor, Mount Plymouth-Sorrento and Four Corners. In addition, MPO staff felt it important to emphasize what is also occurring in Sumter County. Therefore, Wildwood and The Villages are also shown on the map.
The map was introduced to elected officials who attended the May 16 Our Community - Our Future discussion. MPO staff was purposefully conservative in suggesting 2050 populations. It is not expected that municipalities will suggest that they will be smaller. However, some elected officials may think that MPO staff has under-estimated their community’s 2050 population.
MPO staff intends to forward the complete map representing the 14 municipalities and the unincorporated areas of Lake County to the ECFRPC. There is no problem should an individual local government choose to communicate directly with the RPC. MPO staff is simply attempting to facilitate what appears to be a worthy endeavor. MPO staff will return later in the summer with a visionary map of a potential transportation network based on the 2050 urban centers.
2050 Population Centers Map (3.9 MB)