[By Kerri L. Post · Photographs courtesy VISIT FLORIDA ]

Communities with a Sense of Place

Downtowns are the heart and soul of Florida communities. Whether big or small, city centers are the portal to an area's cultural, historic and natural resources. Florida's downtowns provide the gateway to explore the larger community, and then initiate a host of day trips to nearby small towns. Visitors and residents alike can experience a distinct sense of place while discovering the wealth of Florida's cultural diversity and heritage in downtowns and small towns throughout the state.

Today, downtown revitalization is one of the most important changes occurring throughout Florida. This revitalization is not by accident. For many years Florida's community leaders and planning professionals have dedicated considerable time, money, and effort to build, revitalize or reinvigorate Florida's downtowns. In many cities, these downtown revitalizations are fulfilling the needs of young singles and older empty-nesters who relocate from the suburbs to seek active and interesting social and professional lives in downtowns that offer sophisticated arts and cultural communities. And Florida's visitors are drawn to where the local residents go.

Increasingly, visitors to Florida are yearning for pedestrian travel, the opportunity to co-mingle with the locals and to experience a diverse array of cultures, lifestyles and surroundings. Long established and vibrant downtowns such as greater Duval Street in Key West, Fernandina Beach, downtown Pensacola, Ybor City in Tampa, and St. Augustine, are some of the state's most popular destinations. The revival of downtowns in St. Petersburg, Delray Beach, Miami's South Beach, the Las Olas district in Fort Lauderdale, and West Palm Beach exemplify the results of downtown revitalization efforts. From metropolitan cities like Jacksonville and Orlando, to small towns such as Apalachicola and Winter Haven, revitalization efforts are clearly underway. So popular - and comforting - is the idea of a colloquial "main street" that even the state's major theme parks feature pedestrian-oriented "downtown-theme" areas with great success. Florida's downtowns and small towns offer visitors the most direct connection to Florida's heritage and cultural attractions. Cultural and heritage attractions have always been, and are increasingly, attractive to tourists. From February 2003 to February 2004, almost half (49.7%) of the more than 75 million visitors to Florida included historic sites in their itinerary. Cultural activities were enjoyed by 48.8% of visitors and 70.3% participated in nature-based activities. These locales provide the "authenticity" and "uniqueness" visitors want, offering connections to the roots of Florida's past. Without exception, Florida's downtowns and small towns are rich in, or provide access to, many of the state's desirable arts, historical, multi-cultural, natural and architectural attributes. The contemporary sociological theory of "generica", or the homogenization of the landscape through commercialism, introduced by VISIT FLORIDA's Vice President of Research, Barry E. Pitegoff, propounds that similarity of place can be a deterrent to tourism, or at least to the recidivism of visitors. "When the destination begins to look like the origin, why go?" can be the reasonable rhetorical question of the traveler. With Florida's unusual, often exotic and enticing range of cultural diversity, the state is uniquely prepared to combat "generica" with a very special sense of place.